Finding the Right Bridal Suite for Your Wedding Night

Finding a place to stay on the night of your wedding can be a real challenge. The Internet can be a good source of information but the pictures displayed there can be rather deceiving.

My fiancé and I were looking for a place to stay near Bangor, Maine that was a fairly decent place and we stumbled across the Twin City Motor Inn website. The Inn had three suites, each with a Jacuzzi. We liked the looks of the bridal suite, yet at $125.00 a night, it was more than we wanted to pay. Actually, his parents were paying for the room for a few nights and we thought that would be rather expensive.

My fiancé, Eric, called his mother who lives just outside of Bangor and let her know that we had found a couple of rooms we were interested in. He gave her the URL for the website and she checked it out.

A few days later I heard back from my fiancé's mother and she said she and her sister checked the rooms and they rented the bridal suite for Eric and I. I told Eric this after he came home from a long day of work at Orvis in Sunderland, Vermont. He was shocked his parents booked the room for us without a second thought of price. The only drawback we had so far was that we couldn't bring our Chihuahua, Tea Cup, with us. The motel didn't accept pets in the Jacuzzi rooms. We didn't want to leave Tea Cup in a kennel again seeing as we would be gone longer than usual. Plus, Christmas Day was also her birthday and the last thing we wanted was for her to spend her special day locked up with other dogs we knew she wouldn't get along with.

My mother-in-law-to-be did mention that her sister, Ann, would be wiling to watch Tea Cup. We were eased in knowing Tea Cup could make the seven and a half hour car ride with us.

December 24, 2005 was the big day and what a wonderful day it was. When the wedding and reception were over, my new husband and I were ready to chill for the night. We drove to the Twin City Motor Inn expecting friendly customer service and a nice comfortable room with all of the amenities.

Yet, when my husband checked in, he was greeted by a man who was more interested in his television program than in giving his customers his full attention. Besides his don't-give-a-care attitude, the man didn't really know what he was doing as far credit cards were concerned. My mother-in-law had used her credit card to pay for the room yet the guy behind the counter said her card was only used to reserve the room. In the end of the debate, Eric had to use his credit card to pay for the room.

When the man had the information he needed for payment, he handed my husband a bottle of champagne and didn't so much as congratulate us or wish us a good night. The man had a lack of a personable nature and that should have been the first sign that things were not going to be as we expected.

With our arms full of luggage, Eric and I walked through the main entrance of the motel; the door had no latch and easily swung free. So much for a sense of security for our stay.

The air inside was warm, dry, thick and musty as we walked toward the hall that led to our room. I knew I was in for a rough night as with those conditions my allergies and asthma would be flaring up.

It was after eleven on Christmas Eve…too late to search for another place to stay.

Once inside our room, disappointment seized us like soldiers waiting patiently to attack their adversaries. The kitchen was absolutely bare. There were no glasses, plates, bowls, silverware, pots and pans, or coffee maker. Nothing but emptiness. Normally, if a couple were to stay in the room you would think the above amenities would be readily available but not with this motel.

The kitchen closet needed help as well with its peeling wallpaper. We were lucky enough to find we had a couple of coat hangers.

Onward, through a small hallway and through another doorway, we entered our bedroom. A light colored love seat, a dresser and a king sized bed were about the only nice things about the bedroom. We learned more as we began to unpack the items we would need for the night.

Around the Jacuzzi there were loose boards where clothes could easily get caught and ripped, or body parts pinched. All of the doors were cheap, like trailer doors and could so easily be busted down. In the bedroom door there was a hole in the lower left corner.

The rug in the bedroom was uneven like a large, full rug was placed over a smaller one. This led to unevenness and a danger of tripping.

In the bathroom, there was water damage on the ceiling and a Bidet in the middle of the floor. The Bidet totally disgusted me and made me gag. The bathroom was cramped and echoed to where anyone could hear everything you were doing. This really bothered me. When you're in the bathroom that is supposed to be your private time, but I didn't get much privacy when any sound I made was ten times louder than it should have been. I might as well have done everything with the door open!
Several amenities and items people come to expect in a hotel or motel room were missing. These include: an alarm clock, phone book, Bible, coffee maker, hair dryer and no Internet access.

The view left a lot to be desired. Looking outside our window we had the unpleasant view of a cell phone tower in the distance and right under our window were the garbage bins.

As late as it was there was very little, if any possibility of finding another place to stay.

On Christmas afternoon we left in search of another place to stay. Even though my husband and I had cleaned up before leaving we still felt horribly grungy. We just could not get the feel of the Twin City Motor Inn off from us.

Upon checking out, Eric told the guy at the counter how we felt about the room and that we were leaving. The guy simply said that he had never had any complaints about the room before. He then not only charged us $125 for the night's stay, but he also charged us for leaving after the checkout time of 11 AM. The total for the "Bridal Suite" with all of the problems it had was $155. Completely outrageous!

The Twin City Motor Inn is definitely a place to avoid in Brewer, Maine. Well, if you're looking for something high class that is.
From the Inn, Eric and I went to his parents place in Glenburn to look online for another hotel to spend the next couple of days of our first honeymoon. (We were planning another honeymoon in 2006 to spend a few days in Bar Harbor.) We weren't sure what kind of luck we would have on Christmas, but thanks be to God we found the Black Bear Inn and Conference Center which is a Best Western located in Orono, Maine.

When we checked in we were greeted by a kind woman probably in her forties. Right away she could tell we were newly weds and congratulated us. She went on to talk about how she and her second husband had met over the Internet.
Eric told her that is how we met, through meetchristians.com. The woman was very happy and excited for us. She was kind, courteous and wished us the best.

After she activated our key cards and gave them to us, Eric and I walked up two small sets of stairs and down the hall to our left, all the while anxious to see what our room would be like. We found our room, swiped the card and walked inside. Our bodies relaxed with a sense of relief as the room was clean, well kept and had amenities such as: coffee maker, hair dryer, Bible, alarm clock, phonebook, high-speed wireless Internet, free breakfast, gym, iron and ironing board, laundry bags, easily controlled heat and we were allowed to bring our dog with us.

We had everything we needed and the rent was far less expensive for all of this than at the Twin City Motor Inn at just under $80 a night. A miraculous price for so much!

To recap the Black Bear Inn, there were no holes in the doors… No water damage… No Bidet… No horrendous echo in the bathroom…

Ah, yes! This was the place to stay!

To see for yourself what the Twin City Motor Inn is like visit: www.twincitymotorinn.com. If you go to the rates page and all the way to the bottom of the page you will find two pictures. The one on the left with the Jacuzzi sitting underneath a mirror is the room my husband and I were in. The picture looks good on the web but it doesn't compare to seeing it through your own eyes.

For the Black Bear Inn visit: http://book.bestwestern.com/bestwestern/productInfo.do#null The first hotel listed is the one my husband and our little dog and I stayed in. Highly recommended!!!