What could be better than a romantic wedding Vermont? Vermont is one of the most popular wedding destinations in the country. Vermont’s premier facilities offer everything from the most glamorous affair for hundreds to intimate and rustic settings for your closest friends and family.

According to the 2004 U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis report, Vermont’s gross state product was $22.1 billion. The per capita personal income was $32,770 in 2004. Over the past two centuries, Vermont has had both population explosions and population busts. First settled by farmers, loggers and hunters, Vermont lost much of its population as farmers moved west into the Great Plains in search of abundant, easily tilled land. Logging similarly fell off as over-cutting and the exploitation of other forests made Vermont’s forest less attractive.

Although these population shifts devastated Vermont’s economy, the early loss of population had the beneficial effect of allowing Vermont’s land and forest to recover. The accompanying lack of industry has allowed Vermont to avoid many of the ill-effects of 20th century industrial busts, effects that still plague neighboring states. Today, most of Vermont’s forests consist of second-growth.

Of the remaining industries, dairy farming is the primary source of agricultural income. An important and growing part of Vermont’s economy is the manufacture and sale of artisan foods, fancy foods, and novelty items trading in part upon the Vermont “brand” which is managed by the Vermont Secretary of Agriculture and fiercely defended by the Vermont Secretary of State and Attorney General. Examples of these specialty exports include Cabot Cheese, the Vermont Teddy Bear Company, Fine Paints of Europe, Vermont Butter and Cheese Company, several micro breweries, ginseng growers, Burton Snowboards, Lake Champlain Chocolates, King Arthur Flour, and Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream. Vermont’s Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets maintains the highest dairy standards in the U.S. Only France’s Minister of Agriculture, Food, Fishing and Rural Affairs (see Minister of Agriculture (France)) has standards for butterfat content equal to Vermont’s.

Captive insurance plays an increasingly large role in Vermont’s economy. With this form of alternative insurance, large corporations or industry associations form standalone insurance companies to insure their own risks, thereby substantially reducing their insurance premiums and gaining a significant measure of control over types of risks to be covered. There are also significant tax advantages to be gained from the formation and operation of captive insurance companies. According to the Insurance Information Institute, Vermont in 2004 was the world’s third-largest domicile for captive insurance companies, following Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.

Tourism is the state’s largest industry. In the winter, world famous ski resorts like Stowe, Killington Ski Resort, Mad River Glen, Sugarbush, Stratton, Jay Peak, Okemo, and Bromley draw skiers from around the globe, although their largest markets are Boston, Montreal and the New York metropolitan area. In the summer, resort towns like Stowe, Manchester, and Woodstock draw visitors looking for a mountain vacation. Resorts, hotels, restaurants, shops and attractions employ many people year-round.

Numerous summer camps contribute to Vermont’s economy. Trout fishing, lake fishing and even ice fishing draw outdoor enthusiasts to the state, as does the excellent hiking on the Long Trail. Several noteworthy horse shows are annual events. Golf courses are springing up with spas to service the weary client. One major fashion outlet mall isn’t really a mall but the old town of Manchester gentrified.

The towns of Rutland and Barre are the traditional centers of marble and granite quarrying and carving in the U.S. For many years Vermont was also the headquarters of the smallest union in the U.S., the Stonecutters Association, of about 500 members.

In recent years, Vermont has been deluged with plans to build condos and houses on what was relatively inexpensive, untouched land. Vermont’s government has responded with a series of laws controlling development and with some pioneering initiatives to prevent the loss of Vermont’s dairy industry.

In 2001, Vermont produced 275,000 gallons (1,040,000 l) of maple syrup, about one-quarter of U.S. production. The Vermont Department of Agriculture maintains a rating standard for maple syrup that is higher than the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s, all other states, and Canada.

Vermont collects personal income tax in a progressive structure of five different income brackets, ranging from 3.6% to 9.5%. Vermont’s general sales tax rate is 6%. The tax is imposed on sales of tangible personal property, amusement charges, fabrication charges, some public utility charges and some service contracts. There are 46 exemptions from the tax which include medical items, food, manufacturing machinery, equipment and fuel, residential fuel and electricity, clothing, and shoes with a purchase price of $110 or less. A use tax is imposed on the buyer at the same rate as the sales tax. The buyer pays the use tax when the sellers fails to collect the sales tax or the items are purchased from a source where no tax is collected. The use tax applies to items taxable under the sales tax. Property taxes are imposed for the support of education and municipal services. Vermont does not assess tax on intangible personal property. Vermont does not collect inheritance taxes; however, its estate tax is decoupled from the federal estate tax laws and therefore the state still imposes its own estate tax.

Vermont is the only one of the 48 contiguous states without a Target store. It is also the only state within the entire United States whose state capital does not have a McDonald’s restaurant.

Like many of the neighboring states, Vermont’s largest religious affiliation in the colonial period was Congregationalism. In 1776, 63% of affiliated church members in Vermont were Congregationalists. At the time, however, most settlers were not church members because much of the land was wilderness. Only 9% of people belonged to a church at the time. The Congregational United Church of Christ remains the largest Protestant denomination and Vermont has the largest percentage of this denomination of any state.

Today about three quarters of Vermont residents identify themselves as Christians. The largest single religious body in the state is the Roman Catholic Church. A Catholic Church survey in 1990 reported that 25% of Vermonters were members of the Catholic Church, although more than that self-identify as Catholics.

The center of population of Vermont is located in Washington County, in the city of Warren. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2005, Vermont has an estimated population of 623,050, which is an increase of 1,817, or 0.3%, from the prior year and an increase of 14,223, or 2.3%, since the year 2000.

This includes a natural increase since the last census of 7,148 people (that is 33,606 births minus 26,458 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 7,889 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 4,359 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 3,530 people.

Vermont was covered with shallow seas periodically from the Cambrian to Devonian periods. Most of the sedimentary rocks laid down in these seas were deformed by mountain-building. Fossils, however, are common in the Lake Champlain region. Lower areas of western Vermont were flooded again, as part of the St. Lawrence Valley “Champlain Sea” at the end of the last ice age, when the land had not yet rebounded from the weight of the glaciers. Shells of salt-water mollusks, along with the bones of beluga whales, have been found in the Lake Champlain region. Little is known of the pre-Columbian history of Vermont.

The western part of the state was originally home to a small population of Algonquian-speaking tribes, including the Mohican and Abenaki peoples. Between 8500 to 7000 BCE, at the time of the Champlain Sea, Native Americans inhabited and hunted in Vermont. From 8th century BCE to 1000 BCE was the Archaic Period. During the era, Native Americans migrated year-round.

From 1000 BCE to 1600 CE was the Woodland Period, when villages and trade networks were established, and ceramic and bow and arrow technology was developed. Sometime between 1500 and 1600, the Iroquois drove many of the smaller native tribes out of Vermont, later using the area as a hunting ground and warring with the remaining Abenaki. The population in 1500 is estimated to be around 10,000 people.

In 950, the Viking explorer, Olaf Tomsson is alleged to have reached the Northern part of the state, where he settled for several years before leaving because of war with the local Abenaki.

The second European to see Vermont is thought to be Jacques Cartier, in 1535. On July 30, 1609, French explorer Samuel de Champlain claimed the area of what is now Lake Champlain, giving to the mountains the appellation of les Verts Monts (the Green Mountains).

Vermont has a humid continental climate (Koppen climate classification Dfb), with warm, humid summers and cold winters, which become colder at higher elevations. Vermont is known for its mud season in spring followed by a generally mild summer and a colorful autumn, and particularly for its cold winters.

The northern part of the state, including the rural northeastern section (dubbed the “Northeast Kingdom”) is known for exceptionally cold winters, often averaging 10 °F (6 °C) colder than the southern areas of the state. Annual snowfall averages between 60 to 100 inches (150–250 cm) depending on elevation, giving Vermont some of New England’s best cross-country and downhill ski areas.

In the autumn, Vermont’s hills experience an explosion of red, orange and gold foliage displayed on the sugar maple as cold weather approaches. This famous display of color that occurs so abundantly in Vermont is not due so much to the presence of a particular variant of the sugar maple; rather it is caused by a number of soil and climate conditions unique to the area.

The highest-recorded temperature was 105 °F (41 °C), at Vernon on July 4, 1911; the lowest-recorded temperature was -50 °F (-46 °C), at Bloomfield on December 30, 1933.

That, of course, is up to you. There are excellent Vermont locations that would provide the romantic, scenic and private experience and that would allow you to recuperate from the big day’s hectic pace. Some of the best are listed here on Weddings Vermont.

A: We make it easy here in Vegas. All you need is a Social Security number, proof of identification and age (driver’s license, passport, birth certificate - in English if you are foreign) and the marriage license fee. There is no blood test and no waiting period after a license is issued.

A destination wedding means planning a wedding anywhere that you’re not. Whether you dream of a European wedding in Italy, the magic of a Caribbean wedding, a fantastic Las Vegas wedding, a tropical Hawaii wedding,Vermont Wedding or a formal New York wedding, we can help make planning your destination wedding easier.

Our local guide can put you in touch with wedding vendors in your destination wedding area, and our destination wedding guide gives you must-know tips for organizing a long-distance affair.

Bride Couture™ gets its bridal gowns directly from the manufacturers (designers) and from high end retailers across the country who carry the designer wedding dresses.