Wedding Interview at Loon Mountain

Chris: Hello RiverWalk community and welcome back to another update. It's been more than a few months, we thought it was time to say hello and show you what's going on around town. Well, I'm not at the resort today because on a beautiful spring day like this in New Hampshire, who wouldn't want to be at Loon Mountain. 

Now as we've been enjoying the trails today, we've actually bumped into some very important RiverWalk folks. We're going to go meet Mike and Nicole. Well, here we are, beautiful spring day in New Hampshire, going up the lift with my good friends Mike and Nicole, who are famous at RiverWalk. 

Now, Mike and Nicole, what are you guys doing up here at Loon during the week? What brings you up to this area?

Nicole: Back to our happy place.

Mike: Yeah, we love this area. We got engaged here, we got married here. We just love skiing at Loon. Yeah, just love the area.

Nicole: I’ve been coming up here for about 8 years and Mike kinda grew up coming up with his family, so for us together, it's literally our home away from home.

Mike: It's perfect, yeah.

Chris: Love that. Me too. I'm not too far away, so I get it. So the both of you have been coming up here for quite a while. Mike, you said since you were a little kid, about 10 years old. Nicole, for about eight years for you, right?

Nicole: Yeah. 

Chris: So what is it that keeps drawing you up here and bringing you back?

Mike: It feels like home, really. I mean, it's our second home. We love it here. A lot of great memories together so far. It's the first place we've ever skied together.

Nicole: I would say, like, I just love the mountain. I think the mountain is special. It's just easy to ski and ride here. And then also having everything that you have access to at RiverWalk and the brewery and the winery, the hotel. We often come up and stay a couple nights. We have family that comes up with us, friends. So it's just kind of an all-inclusive package right here in Lincoln. 

Chris: Hard to beat. What a beautiful spring day to be up here enjoying this weather. I can't believe we're getting fresh powder in the middle of March. This is incredible. Well, folks, you heard it here. We've got some more skiing to do. We'll catch up with you in a little bit.

All right, Mike and Nicole, you just told me that not only do you love coming to this area for all the wonderful things that it offers, but you got engaged and married here. Tell me more. How did that happen? Where did that all happen?

Nicole: So last February, February 3rd, we actually got engaged right up here up at Walking Boss Trail. On the mountain.

Mike: On the mountain. 

Nicole: I was completely surprised. Black diamond. Yeah, it was a black diamond. Casual. But my best friend and actually our best friend and my matron of honor was actually there filming everything. And it was a special moment that Mike definitely hit out of the park. 

Chris: Good for you, Mike. Well done, sir. Nicole, were you surprised?

Nicole: I was so surprised. I was shocked. I think I was a little like awkward at first. I made like a little face like, what are you doing? I didn't take my snowboard off because who does that on a black diamond? And yeah, my leg was awkwardly twisted while he proposed, but it all worked out. 

Chris: Makes for an interesting run down the rest of the hill and what the rest of your life will entail. I love that. All on the mountain. You guys really are connected to this area. So engagement here. And wedding was?

Nicole: At RiverWalk. And actually our engagement party was at La Vista Restaurant at the RiverWalk. And then my mother actually kind of pre-booked the RiverWalk site unseen for first right of refusal. So we had a tour the next day for basically a construction site, which is now the expansion of the RiverWalk Resort. And we signed that next week, I think. 

Chris: So let me get this straight from a timeline perspective. Your father booked the location for the wedding, but the warm light popped the question?

Nicole and Mike: Yep.

Chris: I guess mother-in-law knew what she wanted. 

Nicole and Mike: Yeah.

Chris: That's awesome. What a wonderful story you guys have. And like I said, these are some very important RiverWalk guests, as you can clearly see the connection to the area, the love for the area, the connection to the resort, everything that it has to offer. It's my absolute pleasure to get to ski with you guys today on a Monday, no less.

Nicole: I know. This is excellent.

Chris: The snow coming down like this.

Nicole: How cool. Yeah, I love it.

Chris: So I think I'd like to see where the engagement happened.

Nicole: All right. Let’s do it.

Chris: So this is the spot. This is where the McCarthy family all began. Tell me about it. What was the day? What was the weather like? I want to hear all the details. 

Mike: Yeah, this is it. February 3rd, 2024 is a beautiful bluebird day. It snowed the day before, so all the mountains were covered in fresh powder and it just was the right spot. I planned it out months and months in advance and knew exactly where on the mountain would be the most picturesque and here we are.

Chris: Sounds like you did the right thing there, Mike. 

Mike: Absolutely.

Chris: Well, this trail will forever hold a special place in my heart. I've been thinking of you guys every time I come by this point here. Let's get to the bottom and go have a beer.

Nicole: All right, let's do it.

Chris: I don't know about you guys, but my quads are burning after some fresh spring powder. I think this is the perfect spot to be right now. How about you?

Nicole: Yeah, I totally agree.

Mike: Yeah, definitely.

Nicole: It's crazy. It's a lot different than when we got engaged, though. It was clear, no snow. We saw the mountains in the background. Beautiful bluebird day. This is cool, too. 

Chris: Sure, you could probably see the red roof in the background then, too.

Nicole: We could, yeah.

Mike: We got a picture the day before the engagement and yeah. 

Chris: That's a classic photo from the area. Classic photo. Glad you guys got one on the engagement day. That's incredible. So tell me a little bit more about, obviously, you have the connection to the area. You guys have expressed your love of RiverWalk. How did you actually, aside from mom booking it, how did you decide that that was the place where the two of you were going to start your life together?

Mike: We just knew this area is so special and you know, when we took the tour of the facility, we knew that RiverWalk was going to knock it out of the park. We just felt really confident. We had Debbie Lombardi to help us wedding coordinate and she did an amazing job. Very communicative, very helpful, had some good suggestions.

Nicole: It was a stress-free process. 

Mike: Yeah, stress-free.

Nicole: It really was. It really was. And not only just Debbie, but everyone, all the crew, just the venue itself lends to what we call a campus-style wedding. You park your car on Friday, you leave Sunday, no one has to drive, no shuttles. It's just comfortable and we have this theme that we kind of tag comfortable classy. It wasn't too uptight. It was very casual, but it had that classy feel to it. And then wedding day too, we were very intentional about how we wanted to be and we both felt very relaxed and comfortable. Mike went axe throwing with the guys after La Vista brunch. I was up in the bridal suite. We had Daydream Studio come to the bridal suite to do our hair and makeup. Debbie got us lunch from the Rhythm and it was just easy. And not only my experience, but I knew my guests had so much to do in the area. They could go golfing, they could go hiking. Depending on the season, they can come skiing. So I was able to relax knowing that not only myself, my bridal party, but my friends and family were having fun too. 

Chris: That's awesome. What made it extra, extra special? Was it the flower arrangement? Was it the band? Was it the food? What was the real thing that just blew it out of the water for you?

Mike: I think the band was definitely one of the main pieces that everyone loved the band. They were a hit. They knew every song. They do this, right? So they knew exactly what was going to get people going and the ballroom itself, the dance floor.

Chris: The dance floor was full then?

Nicole: Oh yeah. 

Chris: Awesome. Yeah. That's one of the best parts of the wedding. And celebration.

Mike: Yeah. And the lighting as well. Like we had like teal was like a color and her color. And so we made that all the lighting teal as well for the dancing. And that was really cool. 

Chris: Awesome. That's fantastic. So you had the big wedding and how long did you stick around here in town before you headed off on somewhere tropical maybe? Where did you go? 

Nicole: We went to Barbados for our honeymoon. Yeah. We left on Tuesday. So we left here, had like a little after party with some close friends and family at home. And then we left on Tuesday for our one week honeymoon.

Chris: Awesome. Yeah. That's fantastic. And you guys just can't get enough of this place. 

Nicole: No, we can't. Yeah, we do. We've been back three or four times since the wedding. That was six months ago.

Chris: Awesome. And so when you guys come to town, you still do park on a Friday. Don't move the car until it's time to go home on Sunday.

Nicole: You got it. We have our spots. We do our little runs, you know, go see RiverWalk, everyone at RiverWalk and Seven Birches Winery and the Rhythm. And we become friends with a lot of the servers and staff. And it's just it's literally home, home away from home. 

Chris: Got a little bit of everything you need. Fantastic. I love to hear that home away from home. That's really what we're going for. You know, and to hear that you guys had such an amazing and seamless time with your wedding and the planning. The event itself sounds like you had a wonderful time with all of your friends and family. Make it to the big day. And again, I can't thank you enough for including RiverWalk in such a special moment. You're the first ones there and you guys really set the precedent for what a wedding should be in that ballroom. 

Nicole: Thank you. Yes. 

Chris: Fantastic. Well, cheers. It's been a pleasure.  

Nicole and Mike: Cheers. Thank you.