Tuesday, May 4th, 2010
Back in April I went to the wedding of one of my favorite people. Katie Selig and I had some great times together; we were in a writers’ workshop together for two years, we wrote poems together, and I even got to work under her as a copy editor for The Original Magazine. It is pretty much a hipster circle jerk publication (I speak with jealousy; I want to be a hipster bad), but I am pretty sure it was very well edited when we were on staff.
Katie and Michael Marchetto got engaged in one of the sweetest ways possible: he surprised her on a family vacation to Disney World and proposed at Cinderella’s Castle under the midnight fireworks. Seriously. Is this real life we are living? Does this happen? Apparently yes.
Bethlehem City Hall Plaza
So I traveled back home to witness the wedding of this dear couple. Katie and Mike are from Coopersburg, PA, and they were married in Bethlehem, about twenty minutes from my hometown of Easton, PA. The picture above gives the idea that it was a beautiful April day. And it was a beautiful day, for April, but it was also a little windy, which led to it being a bit chilly.
Funny story: the wedding was on 17 April; I knew this. When I got the invitation I thought: how weird, a Sunday wedding. And yet on Saturday afternoon I took a shower, got all dolled up, thought I was running late, and RACED to Bethlehem City Plaza, where I ran around like an insane person looking for the wedding party and regretted that I had left my gift on my parents’ kitchen table. I even went into the public library and asked if they’d seen a wedding. At 2:15pm I looked at my invitation and realized, duh, the wedding was THE NEXT DAY. It was a good practice run I guess.
So on the day of the actual wedding I made sure I was ready in plenty of time, and I arrived with the wedding gift in hand. Bonus surprise of the day: Ross from our writers’ group was there! He was pretty much my buddy all day.
The Blushing Groom
The ceremony was lovely and intimate. The readings were beautiful (and I assume chosen by Katie the poet), and the whole thing felt exactly like my idea of a wedding: a crowd of friends and family overjoyed to be sharing a special moment with a beloved couple.
The Beautiful Bride
Yes, I did totally try to photoshop people out of the above picture.
The Vows
The Happy Couple
Look at how happy they are! What a gorgeous couple.
After a ridiculously roundabout trip (I am embarrassingly bad at navigating the Lehigh Valley), we made it to the Banana Factory for the reception. I had never been (again, embarrassingly bad Lehigh Valley resident), and I was surprised at how intimate the venue was. We were packed comfortably into an art gallery with a bar, a buffet, and a pianist. High five, wedding planner.
The Centerpieces
The Green Hooter
My jealousy was slightly ignited by the couples; signature cocktail: the Green Hooter. I was too much of a bum to think of a signature cocktail for my own wedding. I have no idea what was in this thing; I believe there was definitely Cointreau, Gin, and pineapple juice, but there was also some other stuff in there. By the time I drank this I had chugged a generous amount of white wine, so this second beverage went down smoothly. Ross insisted it tasted like flowers, and he declined further sips after his first taste.
The wedding party eventually danced their way in, and Katie and Mike had their first dance. There was an appropriate amount of bride twirling.
The Bride's Awesome Backside
Seriously, how amazing does this bride look even from behind? So gorgeous.
I spent an equal amount of time cake gazing though. I do love cake.
The Cake
Moral of the story: congratulations Marchettos. You are married, and you threw an awesome party in celebration of this fact.
Keep on Dancing
As evidenced by the amount of dancing.
Dancing the night away
Still dancing the night away