Pennsylvania Weekend

I'm having some major Blogger problems right now hence the lack of posting. Google is looking into the issue and hopefully I'll be back up and running in no time. In the meantime, here's a quick post recapping our lovely weekend in Pennsylvania with our friends, Chris and Corinne, while visiting my family and going on an 18 mile bike ride!

Wedding Recap: Tori and Clay

On Saturday Chris and I attended the wedding of Tori and Clay. Tori is an old friend from High School, and after we became friends our freshman year, we discovered that we are actually second cousins -we have the same great-grandfather! From then on...Tori and I pretty much referred to each other as "cuz".

We headed to my parent's house in Pennsylvania on Saturday afternoon, and had lunch with them before we got ready to head out to the wedding.

We arrived at the Woodstone Country Club, in Danielsville, PA shortly before 5:30pm. The ceremony space was really beautiful, with a grand staircase, and amazing chandelier. I loved how the bridesmaids and groomsmen lined the stairs on either side of the couple.

Tori looked stunning and excited as she made her way down the aisle!

The ceremony was officiated by their friend and groomsman, Matt. It was special to have their ceremony completely tailored by someone who really knew them, and their relationship, very well.

After the ceremony, we headed over to cocktail hour, which overlooked the beautiful golfing green at the club.

I enjoyed catching up with an old friend, Mal, from Elementary school and summer camps at Quiet Valley!

Tori and Clay had a ton of unique things that made their wedding personal and even more amazing. Instead of a guestbook, they had all their guests sign a large wooden initial "H", which will be such a wonderful addition to their new home in New Jersey.

Super impressive were the guest favors. Each person received a glass made from recycled and cut-down wine bottles. There was a printed explanation on how they did this, and let's just say it involved words like "dremel", "wet tile saw" and "grinding stones" - things I didn't understand, but sounded super impressive. These were indeed a labor of love as it took them several days to make, but they came out amazingly!! I love our new glasses and I might even use mine as a votive candle holder!

After cocktail hour, we took our seats and the bride and groom were announced as they made their grand entrance!

 We listened to some touching and funny speeches!

And watched Tori and Clay's first dance as husband and wife:

Prior to dinner we had a salad, followed by a berry sorbet intermezzo!

Then we had chicken with shrimp, snow-peas, and roasted potatoes

After some dancing, it was time to cut the cake! Tori got this cake topper as a surprise for Clay who's a rugby player. This topper fit them to a tee!

At one point I thought I had lost my phone (this happens, typically, 5 times on any given day...it was just on the other side of the table), so I missed the whole explanation for this, but the Groom and his groomsmen performed an interesting, traditional Hawaiian Dance for all the guests:

Tori and Clay met at Ursinus College where they apparently have developed a tradition at weddings for the groom to do a striptease for the bride before the garter toss. Haha, this is certainly quite a tradition! Clay was hilarious doing this little strip-tease for Tori...but he kept it totally PG and classy, at least for the moment...

Then it was time to get the garter!

What happens when you get a room full of rugby players and alcohol together to catch a garter? Apparently you get lots of strong men lifting other strong men into the air to catch it...in other words: you get hilarious mayhem!

The victor:

I was finally able to steal the bride away for a picture! 

 Congratulations to Tori and Clay and thank you so much for inviting us to share in your special day!

Wishing you a lifetime of wedded bliss and an amazing honeymoon in Aruba!
Below is a slideshow which also includes some video clips from the day:

Pennsylvania Weekend

Tonight I'm heading home to PA!! I am soooo excited because I literally haven't been home since July and I have been really homesick lately! I typically like to go to PA at least once a month, and this has been killing me, I need my Pennsylvania fix! I have a long weekend and plan on taking in as much Fall, country, PA relaxing as I can. However, there are things to be done, and because of some of the more "girly" plans I have, Chris is going to sit this visit out. On Saturday, Melissa and I are heading to King of Prussia mall with mom to help find her a dress for the wedding! After a day of shopping, we're grabbing dinner and then seeing Straight no Chaser in Reading that night! If you don't know who they are, check out their website, they're an awesome all male acapella group. I'm soooo excited to see them and I so hope we can find the perfect dress for mom!

We're goofy!

But the fun doesn't stop there. On Sunday, I'm having breakfast with bridesmaid Cassie (she's going to get measured for her dress on Saturday while she's in town), visiting my amazing grandmother, helping mom with the bridesmaid gifts she's been working on and finishing up our save-the-dates so they can mail by Tuesday! Throw in a visit to my new niece puppy, Lilly, whom I haven't met yet!

Some cuddling with Shadow because he's really not doing so hot right now and I miss him soooo much (he turns 15 in less than a month!)

Going for a run or two on my favorite trail, Coercing my parents into taking me grocery shopping at the greatest place on earth, Wegmans, ;) a lunch date with Chris on Monday when I come back (cause he has to work and I don't na-na), and I have a lot of things cut out for me over the next few days. PA HERE I COME!