Trip to Pittsburgh

We had a wonderful trip to Pittsburgh this past weekend. We drove up with another couple and we talked and laughed the whole time, which made the drive go really fast.

We were staying in the South Side area of Pittsburgh and met up with all my college friends and their husbands Friday night for dinner at Bar Louie's. We had the chance to take pictures in front of the city all lit up which was really fun. (Side note: Pittsburgh missed out on all the snow that the east side of the state got, thankfully!)

 

Saturday was a marathon of events. First was a Catholic ceremony and then the reception was later on in the evening. The schedule was pretty different than what I'm used to but it actually worked out great. Since the ceremony was at 2:00pm we knew we needed to eat something before so the boys went exploring and came back with sandwiches from Primanti Brothers. They are "almost famous" in Pittsburgh for putting french fries and slaw on their sandwiches and they made for the perfect pre-wedding lunch.

The ceremony was happening 45 minutes outside of the city so we all squashed into a couple cars for the drive out there. The service was beautiful and the newly weds looked so happy. Then we drove back to the hotel and chilled out for a bit and met in the hotel bar for a pre-reception happy hour. (Which consisted of a diet coke for me. ;)

 

The reception was just down the street from our hotel in the Grand Concourse Restaurant at Station Square. It was the old Pittsburgh train station and it was beyond beautiful. My pictures honestly don't do it justice.

We had a full dinner of steak and crab cakes, then lots of dessert options. They had cupcakes instead of a full wedding cake, freshly made donuts, and a cookie room! Oh yes, you read that correctly a whole room filled with homemade cookies made by the brides family. They even conveniently had to-go boxes set up so we could take handfuls I mean a couple home with us as favors. ;)

Of course we worked off some of those calories with lots of dancing and singing on the dance floor. There is just something wonderful about being surrounded by your closest college girlfriends that brings the best out of you. It's crazy to think that we have just as much fun singing along to Whitney Houston songs at each other's weddings as we did in the bars of 5 Points in college.

I was pretty proud of myself because I lasted until 1:00am. Of course I'm still exhausted and have a feeling it'll take a couple more days to recover, but it was so worth it.

Congratulations Erin and Steve!

2nd Wedding Anniversary

Two years ago today, surrounded by friends and family, I married my best friend.

 

We both had to work events today and honestly that is okay. We will come together at the end of the day, watch our wedding video and remember how perfect our wedding day was. Nothing over the top or fancy, just remembering how lucky we are to have found each other.

If anyone wants to see the best wedding trailer ever click on this link!

(Nope, totally not bias)

https://www.facebook.com/CinemaCouture#!/photo.php?v=4452166707775&set=vb.179323375418929&type=3&theater

P.S. We have planned a mini road trip for the weekend to celebrate, so don't worry. We aren't totally boring and old. ;)

The Reception Details

I knew pretty early on that I did not want a sit down dinner. I wanted the reception to be laid back, classic, fun and comfortable. My mom and I tried to make as many parts as we could ourselves and wanted to add as many personal details as possible.

Can you believe my mom made these for us? Even our florist was impressed. She saved them for us, so if anyone has an idea of what we should do with them please let me know.

My friends from college are famous for wearing fantastic shoes to weddings but then kicking them off by the middle of the night because we always take over the dance floor. I bought these pairs of flip flops at the Old Navy outlet for less than a dollar each and people loved them.

I'm not much of a cake fan so we decided to go with a cake from a local grocery store and it was the best decision. It tasted great and didn't cost an arm and a leg. We actually didn't get any of our cake other than the bite we fed each other. We also did our toast with Bride and Groom tervis, which I'm obsessed with.

I am of the mind that twinkle lights make everything better so when it came to picking a tent I knew the clear tent with string light was the way to go. People loved it and it set a beautiful back drop for the whole reception.

We did a memory table to honor the family who could not be with us that day. It was nice to have a spot to remember our loved ones.

Our guest book was a photobook made up of our engagement pictures. If you are considering doing this as your guest book I would highly recommend it. People loved going through the pictures and it makes for a great book to leave out of future house guests to look through. We loved reading all the comments after the wedding. P.S. If you use extra fine tip Sharpies the ink won't smeer or bleed.

I'm not a fan of useless wedding favors. Don't hand out random stuff just to say you gave out something. I feel food is a good choice generally because who doesn't like a late night snack after a wedding?

I wanted to represent both Andy and his Maryland background, as well as myself and a bit of South Carolina. We landed on a small bag of Utz Crab Chips, seasoned with Old Bay, and a package of candied pecans.

We also included a card with website where our guests could upload pictures from the wedding. We had lots of people who loaded pictures and it was great having access to everyones images.

The Ceremony

Our ceremony took place at my family church in Columbia, SC at Shandon United Methodist Church. It was perfect and I could not have asked for anything better.

Yes this was me stuffing my dress in the van. It was hilarous!

All photos by Evan Laettner

Before We Walked Down The Aisle

I had a little surprise for Andy on our wedding day. He had been talking about a blue-faced watch for as long as we've been dating. I knew a long time ago that I wanted to give him something special on our big day, so this was the perfect gift. I had the back engraved with our wedding date and "Forever perfect for me", which is our little saying. Our minister even mentioned it during our ceremony which made the words even more special. He loved the surprise! I had the Abel twins take the gift over to Andy since they are like sisters to him. It was a great way for them to be part of both sides of the bridal party and gave these lifelong friends a special memory.

We exchanged cards before we got married. They were a super sweet way to remember why we were getting married and how we felt that day. We actually read them for our videographer so they will be saved forever. This was the only time I cried, which is good because I'm not exactly a pretty crier. ;)

Andy didn't ask for much for the wedding but he did say he DID NOT want to see each other before the wedding. However I really wanted to see him before I walked down the aisle because I knew it would calm my nerves. So after seeing an idea on Pinterest where I could see him, but he couldn't see me I knew we had to try it. It was a perfect little private moment. (Private in the sense that there was a photographer and videographer documenting it. ;)

The very last thing we did before walking down the aisle was have a quick prayer with our wedding party. It was a special moment to calm down and really focus on why we were all there that day. I just love these pictures. Also, I included a picture of Jeff, the bestman, blocking the tiny window in the door while I walked down the hall. He was fulfilling his best man duties. ;)

All photos by Evan Laettner