Wedding Season

Wedding season for us started off in March. And for 2008 it will last through October (so far as planned anyway). Here are some of the beautiful brides and handsome grooms that we've seen get hitched so far this year.



March 30, 2008 - Matthew Dolan and Alicia Harrison Saint Petersburg, Florida



My cousin Matt met his bride through friends. Matt is serving in the US Navy and is currently stationed in Jacksonville. Unfortunately Mike couldn't join me for this wedding and missed out on the big Dolan reunion. Mom, Court and I had some girl time before the wedding (ask Courtny about her flight down sometime). And then Court and I stayed a few days to hang with Dad on Anna Maria Island (which is due west of where Mike and I were married - Bradenton - and is where Mike stayed with his guys (and their girls) the week before our wedding). I think one of my favorite stores on earth is on Anna Maria Island. Sigh. Wish it was closer. And wish my family lived closer. I love when all of the Dolan's come together to celebrate. So who's the next to get married??? We all gave our speculations that day. : ) Matt and Alicia had a gorgeous wedding and wonderful reception. I loved the food at theirs! The apps were so yummy (mmm spanikopita) and we ate some fish with St. Pete history that my grandpa explained to me and know I don't remember... sigh again. Anyway, their reception was at the _____ which overlooked this huge raceway. It was cool. Congrats Matt & Alicia. Hope you have had a great 3 months together so far!



May 3, 2008 - Lindsay Turnbull and Christopher Canceliere Allentown, Pennsylvania



I'm sure plenty of people have "fake" or "adopted" families. My dad and his best friend, "uncle" Bruce Turnbull, from childhood are still best friends. My uncle Bruce, aunt Kathy and cousins Zach, Lindsay, Justin and Kelsey lived about 30-40 minutes from my family when I grew up. We spent many weekends with them at our house or theirs and took quite a few vacations with them as well. I love my summer memories with them up at their family cabin on Hunter Lake in the Catskill Mountains of New York. We also ventured to the Outer Banks of North Carolina with them once. I remember that vacation getting cut short with a hurricane coming up the east coast. Everyone knows I am a beach person but there is something about that piece of land on Hunter Lake that just spells childhood for me - waterfalls, water everything, campfires, stories told by our dads, camping out, fitting into the cabin with bunk beds, egg salad sandwiches, doritoes, smores, bike rides, the ghost town before you head up the hill, and even surviving the drive up there in the car with all of the kids. Each kid was paired off in age starting with Zach and me, plus Kelsey at the end as the extra one for the Turnbulls. We spent a lot of time outdoors together and teasing each other. Then came sports, high school, busy times. While we all haven't been able to see each other as much, it still feels normal to me when we do. Zach is now in Colorado, Courtny in NYC, Justin in Philly, me in DC. So it was really nice to be together at Lindsay's wedding. She found herself a great groom and they had a fairy tale day complete with a horse carriage ride for Lindsay that dropped her off at the aisle. (Lindsay and Kelsey ride horses.) It was a somewhat chilly day, but beautiful. Lindsay cried through the whole ceremony. It was a romantic cry though. I think the surprise horse carriage is what set her off that day. And they couldn't get their unity candles lit either so I felt a bit better about the candles that never got lit on my wedding day. The minister at Lindsay and Chris' wedding reminded us that its only a symbol of our love and unity and not to worry about it. I hope that they have enjoyed their delayed honeymoon and to see them again this summer at the lake. (Fingers crossed that I can make it up there.)



June 21, 2008 - Andrea Kern and Andrew Steiner Saltsburg and Ligonier, Pennsylvania

Annie and Steiner (as us Bucknellians call him) were friends that Mike and I swam with at Bucknell. Annie was Mike's class year , 2004, and Steiner was 2005. They were both distance swimmers with me. Oooohhh the memories of the nerd tank. They started dating Annie's senior year and the rest was history. They wed in Annie's church in Saltsburg, PA and we celebrated in Ligonier, PA. Our drive up and back from the wedding was sooooooo pretty. If I haven't mentioned it yet, I grew up in Pennsylvania in what my dear husband calls the countryside of Pennsyltucky. Whatever. I will admit that there were times that I despised it growing up but am so thankful now for what it taught me. Our drive to their wedding took us on roads and through countryside that made me feel like I was home. We took 270 N up to 70 W to the PA Turnpike West and from there took Route 30 N to Ligonier. I have not been on such a windy hilly road in a long time (if ever). Needless to say we got stuck behind slow trucks (twice and I'm talking 10-20 mph-kind-of-slow) and I was freaking out that we would be late getting to the hotel to meet everyone for lunch and then get ready. But we made it! The ceremony was beautiful. The church was so pretty. From my seat I could see Annie's tears (of joy) through the ceremony. So sweet. The reception was a BLAST. We danced. A ton. The most I've danced at a wedding yet...or at least this year...because the times I would have normally taken breaks, I didn't. On of my favorites was when they did a brides dance where the bridesmaids formed a ring around Annie and you got to go in and have a few seconds of one-on-one time with her for $1. Before you go in you got a shot of alcohol. The choice here was whiskey (ick) or peach schnapps. I've seen it where you pay to dance, there wasn't a shot of any kind, and when you were done you took your seat. And there weren't bridesmaids doing circles around you either. So this was different. It was intense. When you finished your time with Annie (mine got cut short bc her train popped off), then you broke into the circle(s) on the outside of her. And those circles were going around and around her. At the end there were 3 huge cirlces. It felt like it went on for 20 minutes but it was probably 10 or 15. My friend Alexis and I were on the outside with our friends and we kept making the cirlces change directions. We were giggling the whole time we did that circle dance. We probably looked ridiculous but we had a great time. Soooooooo then at the end, when its all over, the circles bunch in on the bride and the groom has to try to break in to get to his bride. Annie's mom had compassion and kind of helped Steiner get in. I was still giggling and didn't realize I wasn't supposed to help him..oops. Oy vey my feet hurt after that thing. Other highlights included Alexis somehow winding up in West Virginia on her way from the airport and later sleeping on our floor and loving our pillows, me driving like a maniac through PA from the hotel to the ceremony and back, yummy milkshakes across the street from the reception, beautiful weather until late in the evening, Mike bonding with the girls' spouses/dates (particularly causing trouble with Bryan), me getting Annie's aunt in trouble with her mom while dancing to 80's music like "pour some sugar on me" and others (sorry Mrs. Kern!), my dress turning sideways from dancing and me not noticing bc I was in the moment, Mike performing his "stomp the yard" and "step up" inspired dance moves, dancing with Steiner's cousin who smiled through the whole day I think (it was contagious), Annie and Steiner glowing through the whole day too (it was romantic), getting to take a whole tray of cookies back to the hotel at the end of the reception, the after party in our room, and being soooooooo happy to have time with Bucknell lovies.

June 29, 2008 - Corrine Noren and Randy Hofstetter Lancaster, Pennsylvania

This wedding was much more tame for us personally because we drove up and back in one day. Again, we had nice drives both ways for this event. We even got surprise fireworks on the way home. Woo! Corrine was the most beautiful bride! She and Randy were all smiles on their day. I would say the only bummer was that we weren't able to stay overnight and that meant that we didn't get to dance a whole song (things had gotten behind a little so we had to jet by the time the dancing started). I did convince Mike to stay so I could at least bust a few moves and then we had to say our goodbyes. Highlights at this one included the easy drive and "cheap" ($3.95) gas up in PA, another pretty church, being able to throw rice at the happy couple which I hadn't done ever and was sooooo excited about, Yuengling on tap, watching them play this awesome bottle game at the reception (see below for more), being embarassed and bonding with our table over these dualing singers who either serenaded you or made you sing along with them (when they caught you mouthing the words), and of course getting to see friends I don't get to see much of anymore.

This table game was great! The DJ's pulled out two chairs and put them back-to-back on the dance floor. With Randy and Corrine now sitting back-to-back, they handed each of them one wine bottle and one beer bottle. The wine bottle represented Corrine and the beer bottle was for Randy. Now for the good part...the DJ asked them questions and they had to answer the questions without looking at each other. To answer the question they had to raise the bottle that corresponded with their answer. The questions were things like: "Who is more likely to make a mess and not clean it up?" "Who has the crazy family?" "Who is the better kisser?" "Who is going to have more fun on the honeymoon?" Naturally the game was really at their expense and was entertaining for all of the guests. But you can see in the pictures that they had a good time too.