Welcome to...Cleveland?

How do you welcome out of town guests to cities or towns that are not, shall we say, tourist magnets? If we were getting married in New York, DC or Orlando, it would would pretty easy to recommend interesting things for people to do, and interesting places for them to go. But Cleveland? Not so much- or at least not as many obvious places.

Calvin and I spent a long time generating a Google map for our website highlighting some of our favorite places. Favorite places including restaurants like Fahrenheit, Paladar and Lolita (owned by Cleveland's very own Iron Chef, Michael Symon).

Michael Symon picture found here.
Museums like the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Rock Hall image from here.
And and other area attractions like the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and Rainforest.


Cleveland Rainforest pictures found here and here.

But how else could we showcase our town? We've thought of doing some sort of out of town welcome bag or packet, but don't really want to invest too much time or money in doing that. What are you doing to excite out of town guests about the location of your wedding- especially if it is in a "less desirable" place? And anyone have other thoughts about tourist attractions in Cleveland?

It's October....

For some, that might conjure up images of leaves, apples and pumpkins. While those are maybe items 2, 3 and 4 that come to mind, the first thing I think of is baseball. I've always been a Tribe fan, but will also root for long-standing baseball teams that haven't won in decades. (If the Indians can't do it this year, I hope the Cubs will, even though it doesn't look good. This also means that I always root for the team playing against the Yankees.)

Jacobs Field (a.k.a "The Jake"). Picture found here.

Last night I gathered up the handful of other Indians fans in town, and we watched (and relished!) in the game together. Upon further reflection this morning, I remembered that Jacobs Field is available for special events. Calvin and I had briefly tossed around the idea of a ballpark wedding, and although both of us are big fans (Calvin even learned to walk at the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium!), it didn't feel completely like us.

That said, I did a little investigating about having weddings at The Jake. It turns out that not only does it host special events, but it has extremely complete wedding packages available here. The most basic package is for a ceremony over homeplate, pictures in the dugout and on homeplate and use of a scoreboard. The most elaborate package includes most everything anyone could think of, including a DJ, limo and the opportunity to throw out a ceremonial first pitch at a game!

Check out this 2006 wedding at Jacobs Field:



All images are from Cleveland.com.