Our cats were happy and didn't seem to miss us at all, though Mary Jane left us a note that they did indeed miss us. I'm sure they told her.... 😉 We are so blessed to have a new cat-sitter so close and so willing!!
Our long wedding weekend started early on Thursday morning. We left Lakeland around 6:30 a.m. and arrived in Brunswick just before 11:00. Our son got us on the road by noon, so we had time to visit with Darlene (who wasn't feeling well - more about that later) and her mom, Cecelia, and son, Steve, who both live there. I rarely mention our two grandchildren, Steve and Rita, who are Darlene's from a first marriage, because we don't get to see them often, but do share Facebook postings with them.
We made it to West Virginia before stopping for the night around 9:00 p.m. That left five hours to travel on Friday, so we got started at 9:00 a.m. and checked into our hotel in Pittsburgh (Hampton Inn Wexford) by 2:00ish. The rehearsal dinner was at 6:00 and the venue was (is) beautiful. Our dinner was delicious and it was fun to get the weekend started with lots of hugs and laughter and conversation. We don't all get together often enough!
The weather was wonderful and there wasn't much traffic (surprised!).
Tunnel ahead!!!
Pictures just don't do the mountains justice. Everything was LUSH green!
At the hotel before the rehearsal dinner.
Grand-niece Emily, her dad, (and our nephew) Jim, Joe
Grand-nephew Anthony and Joe's older brother, Lou
Emily & Anthony are Jim's kids (both in college)
The brothers!! Youngest Nick, Oldest Lou and Middle Guy Joe
Nephew Lou and his lovely wife Peggy.
The bride and groom (Carolyn and Nicholas)
Nephew Jim and his lovely wife Mary.
Interesting...Mary and Peggy are sisters who married Jim & Lou (brothers).
Niece Peggy talking with Sister-in-Law Debbie.
Nick and Joe
Debbie, niece Alaina, and Nick.
Joe and me...
Nephew Jim and his sister (mother of the groom) our niece Linda.
The interior of The Grand Concourse, which made for a beautiful venue for our dinner.
The Pittsburgh skyline from the restaurant.
A lovely scene on our way to the rehearsal dinner.
The wedding was a St. John Neumann Catholic Church, on Saturday afternoon.
The groom, Nicholas and his mom (our niece) Linda.
Both moms wore beige gowns. They looked beautiful!
Nicholas's two sisters, Alaina (who played during the ceremony) and Gina.
Gina graduated from SCAD in Savannah as did her husband, Steve.
I absolutely LOVED this. The "flower girls" carried a banner that
says "Here Comes The Bride"
Carolyn and her dad.
During the service...
We all hung around awhile after the Mass/Ceremony to visit and get photos.
This is our grand-niece Nikki and her husband Dimitri. They are expecting their first child!!
Grand-Niece Lexie (Nikki's sister) our son Joey and niece Peggy
who is the mom of Nikki, Lexie, and Jackie (below)
Grand-niece Jackie and Uncle Joe
Joe and me (not the best picture!)
Our niece, Nicola and her husband Conrad.
They have three children! Elias, Norah, and Collette
Our niece Carly and her fiance Sean.
They are getting married on New Year's Eve 2017!
Grand-niece Lexie holding Nicola's youngest, Collette.
I got to hold Collette too!!
The wedding reception was held at the Shannopin Country Club, in Pittsburgh.
The weather was beautiful and the cocktail hour was held outside, which was lovely.
Joe talking with our niece (mother of the groom) Linda.
Joe's brother, Lou, was at our table.
Lou's wife, Joan, died of cancer about six months ago. There were some sad moments along with all the happy moments. We lost Nicholas's dad a few years ago, so he was also being missed.
Nicholas and Carolyn cutting the cake. It was a sheet cake (!!?!!) and they cut it before they even sat down at the head table. We thought is was 'different' but perhaps a trend these days....
Sisters of the groom, Grand-nieces Alaina, and Gina.
Our niece Linda (mother of the groom) and me. We were seated at her table.
Grand-niece Gina and her hubby Steve. They live in Connecticut.
The beautiful bride and handsome groom...
The first dance was a bit awkward. Nick isn't so good at dancing.
He did give it his all - and we could almost hear him counting his steps.
His dance with his mom went a little better. They had some fun.
Have you heard of this tradition? They had guests (who wanted to) bring cookies for a Cookie Room, and after dinner, guests could fill up a cookie box with assorted cookies.
It was fun, it was yummy, and I thought was a fun idea!
We left the reception around 9:30 and crashed back at the hotel. The youngsters had a party in one of the rooms and then they went out together, to a club somewhere. They had so much fun that management had to knock on the door to quiet them down.
Fortunately, we didn't hear a thing and were up and on our way home by 10:00 a.m.
We had breakfast at the hotel with some of the older family members, then hit the road.
Joey drove us straight through (11 hours) to Brunswick on Sunday. We stayed over and then drove on home to Lakeland today (Monday). Again, we were blessed with good weather and not much traffic.
I love seeing the farms nestled in the valleys. So picturesque.
I mentioned above that Darlene couldn't go with us because she has been feeling so bad. She was a dancer and had a dance studio for years. Her hips (especially) are feeling the abuse now that she is older. There are some more serious things going on that I won't mention here, at least until we know for sure and she says it's okay, but please add Darlene to your prayer list for me. She needs God's healing grace, please!
So this post is finally done. Thanks for sticking with it and for your visit! I am glad to have taken today (Tuesday) off to sleep in, get laundry done and some grocery shopping caught up!
Peace & hugs!!
Are you kidding ... I loved every sentence! I seriously need to 'up' my knowledge of geography. Pittsburg seems so far away to have made your road trip plausible in such a short time!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely, my favorite picture is you and baby Collette. ... and I love the idea of cookies-to-go.
Of course, I'm honored to add Darlene to my prayer list.
This was such a fun post, Terri! Everybody looked so good, and like you, I loved the flower girls with their sign! The bride's dress was lovely, truly. I like it that the design was modest and tasteful. Thank you for sharing all the pictures. It was fun viewing every one of them. And a cookie exchange! How clever is that?!
ReplyDeleteOh how lovely a wedding is...smiles...the bride was beautiful. I am glad you made it back safe and sound and adding Darlene to the prayer list. Smiles.
ReplyDeleteI just love wedding pics. I've seen cookies at weddings but not that the guests bring them. How fun!
ReplyDeleteHave a great day!
Looks like everything was just beautiful. Always good to meet up with family at these happy events. So pretty.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely wedding...I went to a wedding last year where there was a cookie bar in stead of a grooms's cake. I think it must be a new custom. At one wedding I heard of they had a table of Krispy Kreme donuts instead of a groom's cake. Times do change. Will pray for your DIL, Darlene. Hope you get to rest a bit this week to make up for all the partying.
ReplyDeleteYou got some BEAUTIFUL pictures of your loved and lovely family! Those will be good memories to cherish. I do love the mountains of Pennsylvania. They are "rolling" more than angled like you will find once you hit upstate NY where I grew up. I am so thankful you all got to make the trip and join in the celebration. Everyone looks so very, very happy!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful wedding and I'm glad PA was putting on it's best face for you. It really is LUSH this year. We joke that climate change is turning us into a rain forest! Oh yes, southwest PA weddings must have cookies, though that is the first time I've heard of having guests bring them and box them up. Lots of new traditions out there, though. My daughter will have only a small bride and groom cake to cut...for everyone else there will be cupcakes. A niece had pies because she hates cake. And many weddings have candy bars these days...assorted candies with provided bags or boxes to fill and that is the favor.
ReplyDeleteI accidentally hit the publish button before mentioning that I will be praying for Darlene.
DeleteOh, my goodness, what an awesome weekend you had. What a lovely bride, too! Thanks for sharing all the pictures, especially those of you and your hubby. Prayers for Ms. Darlene....hip pain is terrible. Happy Tuesday to you, sweet Lady.
ReplyDeleteLoved all the pictures, thanks for sharing your weekend with us.
ReplyDeleteI loved hearing about the wedding, and seeing the pictures. What amazes me is the large family. Being an only child, with all family gone, I think it is just great that a large family still gets to be together. So glad you had a good time, and will pray for Darlene for sure.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed "visiting" your family! What a nice group. Glad you had a wonderful time. I have to say the sheet cake was very interesting. I am sure an interesting back story to that one! I am just trying to keep up with the times-- no judgement!!!
ReplyDeleteThis was such an enjoyable post! You have a seriously beautiful family and it was so nice to scroll down and see all of them. I'm glad you were able to attend and spend time with them.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great recap Terri. It all looked lovely. I was intrigued as to what a "sheet" cake was so looked it up. I think cakes come in all shapes and sizes these days. Our son and his american wife had an ice cream cake for their wedding. Thanks for sharing all your lovely photos.
ReplyDelete