"We Are...Penn State!" A Wedding in Blue and White! COMPLETED 11/03 About This Page:

[rescuesk]

Ah, love. Young love. And it all begins with a....LION!!! This is the story of my DS, my now DDiL and their Penn State wedding!

Dates: Wedding was 10/03/09, weekend was 10/02-10/04/09

Where: State College, PA

Cast of characters:

Mike, DS, 25, PSU graduate, class of 06.

Jess, DDiL, 25, PSU graduate, class of 06.

Steve, father of the groom.

Sue, stepmom of the groom.

Peggy, mother of the groom.

Mark, stepdad of the groom.

Nancy, mother of the bride.

Gary, stepdad of the bride.

Bob, father of the bride.

Kim, Bob's GF.

Kyle, Greg, Chase, groomsmen.

Jen, Erica, Emily, bridesmaids.

Ralph, grandfather of the bride and minister.

Charlie, Sue's dad.

Various other family members that I will introduce as we go along!

So let's start at the beginning!

In 2002, Mike started attending Penn State University. He went to the Berks campus for 2 years, and in 2004, transferred to Main campus. In 2005, he met Jess, who was also a journalism major. They both graduated in May 2006, and moved to Virginia to live on love. They found jobs, moved twice, adopted a dog, set up housekeeping and settled in a nice condo in Maryland. On November 22, 2008, Mike popped the question in front of the Nitanny Lion and "SHE SAID YES!!!" He had taken her to State College to attend the Michigan State game, and even went so far as to have champagne waiting in their room after the day!

Planning went into hyper drive when they chose their wedding date: October 3, 2009! That didn't give them much time, but they had decided that they wanted to get married at PSU. In December, they took a trip to State College and were able to secure both the Eisenhower Chapel and Celebration Hall for the reception. They were paying for almost everything themselves, and kept everything well within budget!

Throughout the year, we got all the details worked out with them. At times, it seemed to drag, but other times the time flew by!

The weekend they were getting married was Parent's weekend, so we had our reservations early. By 3 months out, if you didn't have a hotel, you weren't getting one. Mike and Jess had booked a block of rooms at the Hampton Inn, but we chose the Comfort Suites. I could book a one bedroom suite, which meant that I could keep my father in the room with us but still have privacy. That would prove to be an awesome choice for us!

And so, the planning went on, and soon we were at 6 weeks. And then the fun really began...

Next...the final plans, and we are good to go!

[Grammy Grumpy]

Yea, you've started the wedding report! And it is an awesome start. Keep it coming!

[chezp]

Great start Sue! I've been looking forward to reading this report.

[emilyandlogansmom]

Congratulations!
We are...PENN STATE!

[Colexis Mom]

Great start Sue!

[goofysdtr]

Great start, Sue! Looking forward to hearing all about it.

[DopeyGirl]

Awesome start, Sue!

[lauren-roxy]

Great start Sue, can't wait for more!!

[rescuesk]

The pictures will start soon, I promise!

The last six weeks or so went by in a dizzying blur. We had much to do!

Rehersal dinner:
We were splitting the cost of this with Peggy and Mark, but I made the arrangements. Peggy lives in Colorado, so it was easier and much more local for me to set it up. Mike and Jess had suggested a few places, and we decided on Alto, an Italian American restaurant in State College. I originally had booked the restaurant in June and had received a copy of the banquet menu. Peggy and I decided on the $25/person meal, along with beer, wine and soda, and mixed drinks on a cash basis. I set it all up with Tom, the manager, and was told to call in August to comfirm. I called on August 18th to find out the Tom didn't work there anymore! Luckily, we were still on the calendar, and I left my credit card number and our menu choices with Adam. Actually, Adam was much friendlier than Tom! I just needed to call 48 hours before to confirm final count.

The Sunday before the wedding, I confirmed the guest list with Mike and Jess. We had decided to let the groomsmen and bridesmaids bring their significant other, and 4 were doing that while 2 were going alone. On that Sunday, Mike told us "Oh! Greg is bringing a date!" When were you planning on telling us this? "Oh, did you need to know?" Yeah, Adam needs a final count just like you guys do for the reception! Kids! I called Adam on Tuesday with the final number (26), confirmed the menu and we were ready!

The Limos:
State College is a beautiful town, with a sprawling campus, quaint downtown, shopping malls, restaurants, hotels and plenty of fast food chains. What they don't have much of is limo services. In fact, there are only 2. The kids had chosen Nittany Limo, and had arranged for the minimum 2 hours, to pick them up at the chapel at 5, take them for pictures, and then to the reception.

When they came home in August, we told them that we would help them out by paying for the limos. Mike emailed me the contract, and I called Sharon, the owner and self-proclaimed "limo lady"! It took a bit to catch up to her, but she and I clicked immediately, which made the dealing so much more pleasant. I asked if we could hire the limo for a bit longer, as the girls were planning on driving from the Hampton Inn (where the bridal party was staying) to the chapel. Sharon had another wedding that morning, and couldn't make it work, but she did have her Lincoln Towncar available to pick up the girls. The car held four, there were three girls plus the bride, and her driver could get them at 3:15 to bring them to the chapel at 3:30. Would that work? Heck, yeah! I emailed Mike and Jess, they were ecstatic that the girls did not have to provide their own transportation. Then Mike asked me about champagne in the limo. I called Sharon back and while she was not allowed to buy it, if I provided it to the towncar driver, he would bring it back after dropping off the girls and it would be iced and ready for them when they left the chapel. She didn't even need advanced payment from me, she just took a check that day! One more thing off the list!

The dress and the shoes:
***sigh***

I am not a dress shopper. I don't wear too much formal wear, and the thought of picking out a dress overwhelmed me. Totally. Soon, it was mid Septembet and I still didn't have a dress. Jess was hoping we could keep it to "cool colors" as her colors were blue and she wanted it to look nice for the pictures.

***sigh***
I took a half hearted look around JC Penney one day, but decided that I really wasn't cut out for dress shopping. That night, I decided to peruse the Internet. I started at Newport News, but didn't really see anything. Then I went over to Chadwicks, searched a bit and found:


THE DRESS!!!! Charcoal gray, beading on the shoulders, very slight train in the back...this would do it! I ordered it, and four days later, it appeared! It fit perfectly, and the shirring on the front was very forgiving, so I didn't need a crash diet to lose twenty pounds!

Now, of course, to go with a fabulous dress, you need fabulous shoes, right? I am a shoe shopper, but time was crunching and my schedule was incredibly tight. One day after work, I went into Target and saw a pair of shoes. I was in a hurry and didn't pick them up, and I wasn't sure about them. I went home, agonized, and the next day, went in and got....


The perfect shoe!

Wow, we were really getting there!

The tux:
I love my husband, I do. Really. It's just that getting him to make decisions sometimes is a bit difficult. We had talked about him renting a tux way back in June. He said no, he would get a new suit. OK, then we need to go suit shopping. That wasn't happening either. Finally, Mike and the groomsmen picked out their tuxes and sent us the pictures. Steve pouted a little, whined a little, and finally, in early September decided he would rent a tux. He went to men's Wearhouse with the information, and got a really nice tux. The best part? Since he was the fourth tux in the rental, that made Mike's tux free!

And the details were done. Now...the final few days!

[Sandra Bostwick]

Great dress and shoes.

[DrDolphin]

Wonderful start Sue! What a wonderful thing you did paying for the limos and towncar!! Can't wait to read more.

[rescuesk]

The last few days....

The week before the wedding was one long stressor, from beginning to end. It actually started the week before, on Friday, when I took my car in to get an oil change. We were taking my Pathfinder, because we were also taking my father. He is walker-mobile only, and it is easier to get in and out of my SUV. In addition to that, our convertible was in the shop (and actually still is) for over 2 weeks while they tried to figure out why they couldn't keep the service engine light off. I took my car in and asked my mechanic to look at the passegner side window control. It only went up and down from the driover's side, and this simple little fact drove both my DH and my DF up the wall. For the 1.2% of the time they were in my car, you would have thought that I made them run behind the car trying to force the window down with their teeth. I got so tired of hearing "You really need to get that fixed" that I did...for $84! OUCH! For one little switch! The part ordered, it would be in before next Friday.

From the mechanic's, I went to see my Dad. Now, seeing my Dad on a regular day is an adventure, but seeing him with an upcoming wedding and trip was almost unbearable. First of all, my Dad has never gotten that "step-mom" thing. He kept telling me that he didn't know why I was doing so much for the wedding and why I was worried about it, since I was "just a guest". HeLLO? I am Mike's stepmom. "Yeah, but it's not like you're someone special. You're a guest at this wedding." I kid you not, these are direct quotes. I tried not to take it personally but it still got rather annoying after awhile. When I got up there on Friday, I brought him his suitcase. He was concerned that his suit wouldn't fit in, so I told him I would take it and stick it in the garment bag. He then produced his card for the newlyweds. He wasn't sure if it would fit in his suit jacket, so I told him he could just leave it in the car and we would bring it to the reception. He looked at me and asked what good that would do. I told him the car was actually going to the reception with us and that it would be fine. Oh. "Well, will you remember to bring it in?" Yes, Dad, it will be with our card. "Do you want to take it now?" No, put it in your suitcase when you pack. I really don't want another thing on my mind. "Why do you have so much on your mind? It's not your wedding, you are just a guest." Then, I brought up a concern of mine. He was going out with us Friday night, and the rehersal was at 4, dinner at 6. I was not going to have time to take him to dinner. He told me that was fine, and then he asked where we were going for dinner. I told him it was the rehersal dinner. He got really angry and said to me "If I just ask him, he'll let me come. I don't know what your problem is." I think he meant Mike by "he". I said to him that he couldn't just attend because then we would have to invite all the grandparents. He said to me "I don't know why you are paying for this anyway, you're just a guest!" At that point, I decided to just go home.

The weekend was hectic. I worked Saturday night, and Sunday was my birthday. I had decided to take Monday off, and that was a good thing. I stayed home and got about a million things done.

Tuesday, I called and confirmed everything with Adam. He told me that if we needed to add an extra person, it was not a problem, just let him know. Whew!

Wednesday, I was off during the day. I had the switch put in the Pathfinder, got my nails done, picked up the champagne, tried on the dress again and decided what to bring. Steve picked up his tux. I was really concerned about what I was going to with Dad, when my friend Margo called. She and her travel bud were heading out to State College (they were wedding guests) Friday night, and they would take Dad out to dinner! A problem solved!

I worked Thursday, and we came home Thursday night and had Chinese for dinner. I had confirmed all the limo details, and we were good to go. I had also scrubbed my car inside and out, so it shined! Steve and I were both already exhausted!

Friday morning I didn't want to get up. Steve had been up during the night and had fallen back to sleep in the study. Finally at 7:30, we needed to get going, so I got up, fed the dogs, fed the cats and made the coffee. I took the trash out and straightened out the house. I cleaned the litterboxes, and took the dogs to camp. I came home, we packed, and Steve fixed the radio in my car (another issue but a minor one) and we were off to pick up Dad. We programmed the hotel in Garmin, and off we went! The weekend would take on a life of it's own from here!

Next...we arrive at State College and the rehersal and dinner!

[DrDolphin]

Sorry to hear you dad is such a challenge - but I think you are great to involve him in everything.

[Nimros]

A wedding TR!!

Love your dress and shoes and can't wait to see photos. Sorry about your dad, but glad he's going to be there. Hope he had a good time.

Can't wait to see how this all turned out!

[pamcarey]

Awesome! Can't wait to read all about this. Your dress is gorgeous!!