Mrs. Lollipop, Pittsburgh
Age and Occupation: 26, Computational Linguist
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Project Manager
Engagement Date: August 2, 2006
Wedding Date: September 2, 2007
Blogging Since: July 17, 2007
Venue: The PPG Aquarium at the Pittsburgh Zoo
About Me: I'm a Pittsburgh transplant who grew up in the deep south. I have a weakness for exotic alphabets, DIY projects, mobster movies and international travel. My fiance and I are both non-native Japanese speakers and we have a bullfrog named Skinny.
The Day Before: Brunch
October 23rd, 2007 @ 1:00 pm by Mrs. Lollipop
Mr. Lollipop’s family is less centralized than mine, so I had met only a few in the 7.5 years of our relationship. We wanted to organize some time so that I could meet all of them before I married into their clan. While both Mr. Lollipop and I had wanted to throw a welcome barbecue, a quick calculation of the guest list led us to conclude that we couldn’t afford the time or money to throw what would essentially be a second reception.
Rowr! No barbecue for us…
So, we went with a second option: brunch at the Carnegie Museums, dutch. This allowed us to open the guest list to everyone invited to the wedding, an option much more fair to all of our family and friends. Plus, we were able to put the small amount of money designated for the barbecue towards better beer for the reception. (Hoegaarden and Yuengling! Yay!) Our families were game despite having to pay their own way and we had a lovely time eating the Museum Cafe’s excellent food and mingling.
The Museum Cafe is my favorite place to eat in the Oakland neighborhood. The menu changes often, so there is always something new to try, and the desserts are fantastic. As a result, the seating area can get crowded, so we used record covers as place mats and to reserve tables. Luckily, it was a slow morning and there were plenty of extra tables so we didn’t intrude on other patrons.
The album covers came from a local record store, Jerry’s Records, that gives away boxes of damaged records once a year. A few friends and I sifted through the box and pulled out the ones with funniest, ugliest, tackiest covers. My place mat was a little different and featured a bride and groom and ‘MAZELTOV’ in big red letters. I still have a big stack of album covers; if there is enough interest I’ll post the cream of the crop after my camera comes back from repairs.
Photos courtesy of my Cousin Aileen via our wedding photo pool.
4 Responses to “The Day Before: Brunch”
i love the carnegie museums! too expensive for my wedding reception, but your solution is a great idea.
That’s an awesome idea for meeting well-dispersed relatives before the ceremony. May I ask how you worded the invitation so that people knew it was pay-your-own-way? Did you do written invitations, phone calls, word-of-mouth? Thanks so much for the great idea!
We put a note on our website and then relied on the family phone tree to spread the word. We also sent a schedule out to all of our guests with email and included a printed schedule with directions with our hotel basket.
Love the record covers. A local wood-fired pizza joint uses copies of the more famous record covers as menus. Seeing your pictures makes me want some pizza! 
