Weddingbee Blog

In the time (pre-engagement) spent daydreaming about our wedding while not studying anatomy, biochemistry, and physiology, I imagined where our big day would be. I am from Western Pennsylvania and Mr. Burger is from Eastern Pennsylvania, about 5 hours apart. I knew that the bride’s hometown was traditionally the site of the ceremony and reception, and having been on the groom’s side of things many time with my cousins, I also knew all about being the part of the family doing the traveling. Not that we ever minded making the trip, but it felt strange thinking of all of his family traveling to “my” home for “our” wedding.

Then, when I thought about locations in my hometown, I came up short. I live in a suburb outside of Pittsburgh, and there really aren’t any desirable reception sites nearby. We would most likely have the reception downtown (or dahntahn for my Burgh girls) :), meaning that even my family would have to travel about 45 minutes (in traffic) and most likely spend the night in a hotel.

I also was not very attached to a ceremony site at home either. The church that I grew up attending had recently employed a new priest that no one really connected with; even my parents had begun attending other churches in the area. I thought about the possibility of using the church where my parents were married (and where I was baptized), but since we weren’t actual parishioners, I knew that there would be some red tape.

urger and I met while attending college at The Pennsylvania State University (the most fabulous school in the country - Go Lions! ;). Penn State, located in State College, PA, is our home away from home. We have made countless memories there, and refer to it lovingly as our “happy place”. Being the place where we met, fell in love, got engaged, and hope to someday retire, it felt entirely natural to dream up a Penn State wedding. Not only that, but it is located *almost* directly in the middle of our hometowns!

Old Main - my favorite building on campus

It seemed like the perfect wedding location in my mind, but I knew that there were also some potential pitfalls. Obviously, now everyone would have traveling expenses instead of only half of our guests. It may even deter people from coming at all. Also, being that State College is a small town, I knew our options for everything from reception sites to flowers would be limited. And we all know that in the wedding business when a vendor is a bride’s only option he can basically name his price (shudder).

It was something that definitely required a lot of thought (two pre-clinical years worth of thought, to be precise). When we did finally get engaged, I knew it was an option that would need to be officially explored relatively early on. If State College was a no-go, then I would have to start imagining a Pittsburgh wedding totally from scratch! Not knowing how my parents would feel about the idea, especially considering the potential (slash reality) of added the expenses, I was practicing my “not-heartbroken” reaction for when they said no.

Much to my (and Mr. Burger’s!) surprise, my parents were totally on board (insert choir of angels singing here)! As if throwing us this wedding wasn’t a gift enough, they were willing to go the extra mile (well, actually the extra 200 miles or so) to make our dream wedding location come true.

And so, a Penn State wedding was born.

Stay tuned for our quest to find a church that will marry us and a reception site big enough to fit my big fat Italian family!

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Are you getting married in a special place?