#LittleLove2015

Well that was a whirlwind trip! Absolutely worth it, but a whirlwind none the less!

This past weekend I headed to State College, PA to see some friends get married!

…and who was waiting for me in the Pittsburgh airport? SISSY!!! 🙂

So we hopped in our rental car (yes! I still remember how to drive!) and headed to my favorite spot in the city… Mt. Washington!

Coming here really makes me miss Pittsburgh. When I’m here, in Groningen, I’m more than happy don’t get me wrong. I have nothing bad to say about The Netherlands, and I really love my job, but coming back to Pittsburgh felt like coming home. Maybe that’s because it was the first place Shane and I were really “starting out” on our own together? Regardless of the reason, it was really nice to be back even if it was for only 18 hours.

After our detour, we headed to Brian & Alicia’s new house! We may have only been there for a half day but we really packed it in. Friday night we were off to a restaurant downtown with an awesome rooftop terrace. Saturday morning took us to my favorite breakfast place in the city, Square Cafe, and cruising through some of the old haunts. In between I got a little overdue puppy snuggling.

Can’t come to the ‘burgh without having an IC Light.
Let’s Go Bucs!

After breakfast, we were off to State College. Two things.

Mountains DO exist! I almost forgot! It was so nice to see elevation changes greater than a bridge!
My love for Sheetz has not faltered.

Car trips are the best!

The wedding was at a country club just outside of downtown State College. The wedding itself & the hotel for guests were both at the country club. This made for a really fun time since all the wedding guests were in the same place. Saturday was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, with Sis as my date, and the rest of the night was spent catching up with everyone.

My roomates for the weekend.
Me, the bride Michelle, and Kaitlin. We all worked together during grad school.

Sunday was Wedding Day!

…up bright and early for hair and makeup!

I know it’s kind of awkward to post pictures of my head, but I just really loved my hair. I asked her for a “braided something pretty” and she definitely delivered!

AND it survived all night dancing! Which, if you know my dancing, you know that basically means all night flopping around.

The wedding itself was beautiful. The weather was hot, but perfectly sunny and the bride and groom looked great!

I just have to share one picture the photographer took. It has a little backstory.

All day, we’ve been saving this giant bottle of champagne. Not to drink after the ceremony, but for a picture. Michelle found on Pintrest a picture where the bridal party was surrounding the bride and groom & the picture was taken right as the champagne popped. I’m sure you can imagine this. I expect she anticipated something of this nature (picture courtesy of google)…

So, that champagne is saved! After we take all the other bridal party pictures we start to get together for this last shot. Steve (the groom) is shaking up the bottle… and he gets his finger a littttttleeeee too close to the cork…. and POP! Before everyone is ready the champagnes a flowin! This is the resulting picture. (Photo taken by Philter Photography)

!! I mean, I think it’s the best. The absolute shock on Steve’s face is priceless, and the mix of emotions out of the bridesmaids who were close enough (clearly I was distraught haha). Really, I don’t think it could have been more perfect.

You know what else couldn’t have been more perfect? The selfie sticks. I know Shane ranted on these before, and I still stick to my opinion that in touristy places I want to rip them out of people’s hands, but in this case it was SO MUCH FUN! Each table got their own selfie stick and so the rest of the night everyone ran around taking tons of pictures. You ended up with ones like this….