This past weekend was Ashley and Jeff's wedding at
Glen Foerd Mansion in Philadelphia, PA. The entire wedding was just beautiful from start to finish and I am so happy Chris and I were able to celebrate with them and so many of our friends on Ashley and Jeff's special day. Chris, Matt, and I arrived at the Radisson hotel at around 3:00pm. We didn't have to leave for the wedding until 6:00, but we had plans to get there early and catch up with some other friends who were at the hotel. We went to the hotel restaurant, the Atrium Bistro Cafe, for lunch and had a lovely time catching up with the
newlyweds, Christina and Kenny, who had just arrived back from their honeymoon in St. Lucia! We went back upstairs and freshened up just in time to catch the 6:00 bus taking us from the hotel to the Mansion. Half an hour later, we pulled up to the gorgeous entrance, which was also right along the water!
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| Chris and me arriving at the wedding |
When we entered the building, we walked around a bit taking in all the wonderful, personal touches Ashley had added to the place. We signed her guestbook she made at blurb.com.
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| Smith signing the guestbook |
We ventured downstairs to the wine cellar:
Left our card in her birdcage card holder:
Stole a look at the main dining room all set up for dinner:
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| Sweetheart table |
And finally made our way outside for the sunset ceremony right along the water. We were greeted by the lovely faces of Ben and Kyle who were handing out programs and bubbles to all the guests.
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| Smith and Ben! |
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| So gooofy! "Bubbles??" |
We took our seats. Remember these lovely fan programs that I had
helped Ashley cut at her apartment? They came out wonderfully!
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| Fan program |
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| The Wagner Gang! |
The ceremony began. The families, bridal party, and Ashley with her father, walked down the aisle to the sounds of a live classical guitarist.
After the beautifully touching ceremony, we headed inside for cocktail hour. We were served passed hors d'oeuvres of spring rolls, beef carpaccio and bri on a crostini, tuna tartar, and fried pumpkin ravioli with a butternut squash dipping sauce (oh my heaven). The big crowd pleaser was the tomato herb soup with miniature grilled cheese dipper! How cute is this??
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| soo cute, sooo good! |
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| Me and Matty! |
The bridal party and Bride and groom were announced, and Ashley and Jeff shared their first dance to Nat King Cole's "When I Fall in Love"
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| This is one of my favorites from the night. |
We were then escorted into the dining area where we were treated to beautiful speeches from Ashley's dad, Jeff's best man, and Ashley's maid of honor/sister, (to which I balled during her toast). Then it was time for food! After our salads, I was served a salmon filet with lump crab meat, mashed sweet potatoes and green beans. YUM! the steak was a huge hit as well, everyone at my table was raving about it.
After dinner it was time to dance. The dance floor was in a different wing of the mansion and was a real cool stone floor surrounded by tables for dessert.
Beautiful candles on the tables:
I kid you not, Ashley made this cake topper. I think she made it using something called paper clay, or something like that? She got it at a craft store and molded it to make cartoon figurines of both her and Jeff. Seriously amazing.
Ashley danced with her dad, and jeff danced with his mom. Then, what wedding would be complete without the cake cutting?
And then it was time to get our groove on:
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| Some good old air guitar! |
Before we knew it, it was time to leave. We were having so much fun, we had no idea how late it had gotten! We waited outside for the bus to take us back to the hotel, and then hung out some more at the Atrium Bar in the hotel lobby once we got back. By 3am, I was exhausted:
We closed out the weekend on Sunday morning with brunch at Cracker Barrel, which has become a bit of a tradition with weddings. (Well, we went there two years ago after Erin and Derek's wedding), but it's tradition! I had a glass of my first apple cider of the season (Yay!!), a good country style breakfast, and great catch-up time with good friends.
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| Kyle's taking the picture...he was there too. Sorry Kyle! |
Ashley and Jeff are now off gallivanting in Egypt and Italy for the next two weeks! I can't wait to hear all about their trip and talk about the wedding when she comes back. Per usual, here is the animoto slideshow of the whole wedding. Again, this should be entitled "Laura's experience at Ashley and Jeff's wedding" because it's me and all my friends. Congrats Ashley and Jeff and enjoy!
