Special Post: Re-Living The Wedding Of Our Dreams

It’s not often that I delve too deep into my personal life on my blog, but as many of you may recall I’ve shared several key moments of my engagement and wedding that both took place in 2012. The profound impact these milestones have had on my life was simply too big not to share with you in some way. And so I want to now share with you the full story of my happy ending. The story of how I met Scott, his creative engagement and our fairytale wedding were all beautifully captured by the talented Dream Weddings TV crew and aired live on our NBC affiliate on Sunday, February 10, 2013. Words alone can’t express how grateful we are to our vendors and generous family and friends who all shared a role in making this possible for us. And as for all the creative details and special touches, I’ll let the video tell the story!

Whether you’re also planning a wedding or are just looking for some creative inspiration, please check out these wonderful businesses and individuals who helped to create our beautiful day!

Baldy Beard Brew – Signature beer creation, “The Dirty Shirley”

This nano-brewery is the next big thing to hit beer! Not only do they create a delicious product, they deliver it with a big dose of personality and humor. We had a great time getting to know the Baldy Beard guys as we brewed our own beer for our wedding. And now I’d love to help them reach their dream of opening their own brewery in York, PA–consider supporting their Kick Starter Campaign here! #DrinkWithFriends

CARMINA-CRISTINA Professional Makeup – Bridal makeup

A fabulous friend and an even more fabulous professional makeup artist! Carmina created a wedding look for me that I could have only dreamed of. And with the rain–her expert products and techniques were a day-saver. Her international background and training really shines through her work. I still use her products and techniques almost daily.

Dennis Baker Photography – Engagement and wedding photography

The day’s rain made no easy task of capturing the stunning wedding photos that Dennis did. It takes a truly talented professional to work under such extreme circumstances, organize a wedding party of almost 20 people and keep posed photos to just an hour. Not more than a day after we said “I do” our wedding photos were already uploaded and ready for viewing!

Dream Weddings – Filming and TV production

We feel truly lucky to have had the opportunity to work with the Dream Weddings TV crew. They were just as excited about our love story and our wedding plans as we were and their enthusiasm helped to make the whole planning experience that much more special. Be sure to check out their site where you can watch episodes from all their seasons! Also–a big shout out goes to host Martine Cajas who also runs House of Clarendon, the premiere cakery based in Lancaster, PA

Flowers by JDK – Wedding flowers

The professionals at JDK rose to the challenge of a tight floral budget and a big wedding! All we gave them was a color scheme and described the feel of our wedding and they did the rest to be sure our bouquets, centerpieces and accents were anything but expected or ordinary!

Hess Tent Rentals – Tent and dance floor rentals

When you’re planning an outdoor August wedding, you have to plan for heat and rain (and we experienced both in extremes). This is why we were so lucky to have a huge tent big enough to accommodate “Plan B” and the professionals of Hess Tent Rentals to work with us up to the last minute to see that we were covered–literally.

JoS A. Bank – Groomsmen suits

Among the most common groomsman complaint for a wedding is spending a good amount of money on renting a tux that you’ll never see or get to use again. With the help of a very generous contact at the JoS A. Bank store in State College, PA, we were able to get our groomsmen (and almost every man in our families) a top of the line suit for under the price of a tux rental. It’s worth thinking outside the box here! Though I may not get to wear my wedding dress at any upcoming occasion I can think of, Scott has gotten a ton of use out of his wedding suit in just the past 6 months.

Lavon Films – Wedding videography

Derek and his crew put some major hours into our wedding filming and editing. The pressure of capturing every intimate moment from a wedding is a lot to manage, but they made it look like it’s what they were born to do (and maybe because it is)! Thrown into the midst of tears, rain and last minute changes in plans – they somehow turned this footage into only peaceful and happy memories on film!

MixedUp Productions – Wedding ceremony and reception music

There’s no doubt that music can make or break the mood of any event – and for a wedding the stakes are even higher. Damian from MixedUp Productions rose to the occasion with a perfect blend of music to match our ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner and dancing late into the night. Owner, Mike Miller also made a guest appearance at the end to add a very personal touch!

Mountz Jewelers – Engagement and wedding rings

I won’t deny that when I get a particular vision for what I want, it’s hard to settle for anything else. Lucky for me (and especially Scott) we had the perfect hometown jeweler to meet our every request. From a custom built engagement ring where Scott got to hand-select the diamond, to a one-of-a-kind wedding band designed to perfectly match it’s unique shape–Mountz provided our sparkle.

Salon Evolve – Bridal hair

You can’t beat the convenience of a salon that’s located within walking distance from your front door. But more than location made this the perfect fit for our wedding party. Owner, Dana met our every (even last minute) request and his stylists quickly and beautifully styled our hair to exact specifications. There was no stress, no drama and more than enough time to even enjoy some wine before the ceremony!

7 Layer Designs – Custom created wedding invitations

Owner, Jess is one talented lady! She had no problem offering me a ton of options for custom-designed wedding invitations that were anything but “out of the box.” I wanted the invites to match our style, our wedding colors and to stay within a tight budget. Jess hand-stamped, cut and folded nearly 200 invites and helped me get them out well before the 6-week time frame (even with wax sealing involved)!

Tara’s Bridal – Wedding dress

My wedding dress buying experience would have been very different had I not been recommended to Tara’s Bridal shop in Camp Hill, PA. They only sell samples and there’s usually just one of each dress, so unique and couture is their specialty. But what really made my first dress stop also my last, was that the prices start as low as $300 – making high-quality wedding dresses extremely accessible for every bride and budget. I don’t want to think about what I would have paid elsewhere for a much lesser dress…

The Harrisburg Senators – Rehearsal dinner reception

As we mentioned in the Dream Wedding video, so much of our wedding was about relationships. Scott’s special relationship with the Harrisburg Senators baseball team allowed us a very unique rehearsal dinner where we rented a suite in the stadium. Guests enjoyed some upscale ballpark food, baseball, fireworks and Scott throwing out the first pitch!

Weddings by JDK – Food, rentals and event coordination

Amanda and Steve with JDK were our heaven-sent helpers who worked tirelessly to create our dream wedding while staying within our very real budget. It helps when your friends are also talented professionals who work for the premiere catering/wedding company in Harrisburg! JDK handled everything from design, event rentals, menu creation and flower coordination to day-of event set-up and all the clean-up afterward. Let’s just say it takes a dedicated army to pull off that type of work!

Weddings by Paul V – Engagement photography

Paul is an extremely talented photographer based in the Harrisburg, PA area. His work is found in a ton of trendy publications and he can also be found snapping shots of downtown night life on the weekends. We were so lucky to have Paul’s talent capture the exact setting of our engagement at 4 different locations along the riverfront of Harrisburg.

 

You Don’t Need the Best of Everything To Make the Best of Everything

Sometimes I don’t know what to count first. My blessings—or the little moments in life that make me stop and want to count my blessings. It was the second or third time I’ve used this particular cashier at a local shop. It’s the type of job that garners little respect or attention, no matter how frequent the customers or how pleasant the small talk. But this guy has grabbed my attention on more than one occasion for no better reason than he is completely, contagiously, happy. So many visual cues tell me this guy has a lot he could be frustrated about or unhappy with, but instead he bubbles over with such contentment for the life he’s been given that I have yet to walk out of the store without a smile.

After I leave his small glow of happiness, the real work begins to wear on me again. I hear negative comments from all around. People will yell when their phone isn’t working, complain about their job or become sarcastic when someone suggests an idea they don’t like. There’s a time and place for every emotion, but why do we first seem to resort to the negative reaction to a situation? I’m reminded of a phrase I’ve seen displayed in various ways that reads:

The happiest people don’t have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything.

It seems that some of the happiest people I have ever met are the ones who have fairly average lives. Some of these people have even dealt with major struggles and setbacks that would leave most of us feeling frustrated and pitiful. Instead, they’ve (knowingly or unknowingly) mastered the art of making the best of everything. These people aren’t naive nor are they complacent, they are simply happy, and what else is more important? If a magic genie came to grant you just one wish, I would say we’d all be smart to wish for happiness. Everything else is really secondary. Unfortunately, the people who have yet to figure this out are obvious. We can likely all pull up a real life example in our minds of a person, who on paper, is wealthy and successful, but knowing them deeper allows you to also know most of their life is spent feeling stressed, angry and unfulfilled. In contrast, are those who have learned that happiness is not having the best of everything; it’s making the best of everything.

Slowly, I too am learning to make the best of everything. Even the most unexpected and outrageous situations can be a reason to smile if you loosen up long enough to realize you’re simply not in control. Whether my career continues to excel or one day I have to take a different job to make ends meet, knowing that I have the power to be happy through anything makes any outcome okay. It’s an incredible realization that the stress we place on being happy can become the cause of our unhappiness.

Thinking back to that contagiously happy cashier, I would love to one day know that he finally got the life he dreamed of. But who am I to say that he hasn’t already?

 

A Non-Traditional Administrative Professional’s Day

This is the first Administrative Professionals Day that I haven’t worked in a traditional office to enjoy the flowers, cards and generous spread of cookies and cakes that seem to always accompany this holiday. But I realized, that while I work in a non-traditional office, I do have an Administrative Assistant, she’s just a non-traditional one. And so today, I’d like to take a moment to give Pinot the thanks and attention she demands of me …deserves. So enjoy your exceptionally big bowl of “Special Kitty” and take an extra long nap today — because we both know that’s the only time I get any work done. Today’s to you, Pinot. And Happy Administrative Professionals day to my less furry friends as well!

This is a normal occurrence - Pinot being creepy and staring at me while I try to get work done. All in a day's work...

 

Another Glass of “Pinot”: A tribute to the cat made famous by WordPress

Ever since making her first appearance on WordPress in my Freshly Pressed blog post, Pinot the cat has turned into an overnight sensation. For those of you who have yet to meet her, she is the opinionated, lazy and utterly adorable office assistant at Bennis Inc. In an attempt to document the crazy antics she subjects me to each day, I’ve resorted to taking photos to use as proof. This has left me with an unhealthy amount of cat photos on my phone which is detrimental to both my phone memory and my social life. So before I archive my incriminating crazy cat lady evidence away for good, I thought I would share “A Day in the Life of Pinot.” Enjoy!

 Just like any good employee, Pinot is the first one in and last one out…of bed that is.

Once enough interesting noises arouse her out of slumber, she spends most of her day “working” from the couch.

“Working” ultimately leads to sleeping…a lot of sleeping.

Oh, but when she’s awake she demands ALL of the attention of everyone in the room.

But of course keeping up these antics is hard work, which leads to more sleeping.

 

And when she wants to be left alone, she finds the most absurd places to snooze, like behind couch cushions.

 

Or in an empty bag. This also leads to one of her favorite games in which the object is to scare innocent passersby. It never gets old, at least for her.

And on really gloomy days, Pinot keeps warm in style–or maybe she just likes to get in touch with her wild feline side.

Or sometimes she models next to her idol–the Penn State Nittany Lion. Striking resemblance, right?

And when she’s bored with work, she doesn’t even attempt to hide it (if only this picture could do her snoring justice).

But one job she never misses is anxiously awaiting the Mr. to come home from work.

Pinot is a diva and a wolverine all rolled into one, but despite our complicated relationships, she’s still the best friend a gal could ask for!

 

Making Time to Live

Before I officially took off the training wheels and launched Bennis Public Relations, Inc nearly two months ago, I found my mind often fantasizing about the free and flexible time I might have as my own boss. I could make weekly trips to the farmer’s market, eat lunch on a park bench by the river and become a regular at the city library. I could use the free WiFi from a trendy café and sip lattes while I clicked away on my laptop or take an afternoon cat nap after watching the Price is Right. While some of these visions were both dramatic and unnecessary, I’m disappointed to admit that two months later, my “new boss” hasn’t allowed me much more free time to pursue life’s little slices of happiness to exist all around me.

Harrisburg's McCormick River Front Library

I can’t blame this on my boss, or maybe I can since I am my boss, but in either case I’ve decided to take the opportunity to close my laptop more often and step out into the bustling and beautiful world that exists whether I make time for it or not.

The week before my North Carolina vacation I realized I needed some new beach reading materials and so I stepped inside the Dauphin County Library for the first time since I moved to Harrisburg in December of 2009. While I’m now a proud owner of a shiny red library card, I can’t help but feel a pang of regret for not having done this sooner. The library isn’t big, it’s just one of several branches that the county manages, but it still evoked the same rush of excitement that I felt as a child eying up the rows and rows of colorful treasurers—all for my taking. And so I limited myself to just 5 books which I never read or heard of before but will know intimately, page by page, in just a few weeks.

Now that I’ve experienced the joys (and sorrows) of being a functioning, taxpaying, member of society, I feel that it is my civil duty to make use of all of the free resources this affords me. The County Library is just one. I’ve started a list of all of the other things this area has to offer that I’ve never made time to take advantage of before. So here’s the bucket-list-in-progress that I hope to get through before 2012:

• Buy my fresh produce from the Farm Show Complex’s Farmer’s Market
• Complete the ropes course at Ski Roundtop
• Visit a corn maze, pick pumpkins and drink apple cider
• Kayak the Susquehanna
• Visit the Renaissance Festival
• Ice Skate
• Go to a Haunted House Tour
• Read a book by the river
• And more to come…

If you have any suggestions for fun things to do in Central PA or even just in the autumn season—I’m interested!

 

Last Glimpse of Summer

I’m taking a brief hiatus from blogging this week, but in the meantime enjoy some images of my last glimpse of summer before I inevitably springboard head-first into Autumn.

And I think after seeing these, you’ll understand my reasons for the blogging break….

The shoreline at Topsail Beach, NC

Patrick lives for beach vacations each year

 

Strive for Progress Not Perfection

Taking the time to hike along Fort Hunter this summer, that was a 'perfect' day.

Somewhere between the extended angle and twisted crescent pose, my yoga instructor said “Strive for progress not perfection.” And I immediately fell in love with the mantra. Before hearing this phrase on Tuesday, I would wake up with an arm’s length list of to-do’s that left me racing against the clock throughout the day and berating myself before bed if I didn’t get them all done. For far too long I defined a perfect day as getting everything done on this ever-growing list. But not anymore. Today I’m striving for progress not perfection. Even if I put only a few checks next to items on my to-do list I’ve had a productive day and should celebrate it. We shouldn’t let what didn’t do each day overshadow what we do accomplish.

This new outlook has also allowed me to be more flexible. Before, I would see everything I had to get done and refuse to budge my schedule. I would turn down meeting a friend for lunch or continue to work all evening, completely missing some great opportunities to be with those I love. I now realize that my goal for working toward that “perfect” day was to gain the free time that I would just continue to fill up with work anyways, I was missing these great moments as they flowed right by me because I was too busy to look up from my to-do list. If you spend your whole life working toward that perfect time to take a vacation or a perfect time to spend an evening with a friend, that time will never come. Instead, find a way to make progress each day and call it “perfect.”

 

When You Don’t Plan Everything, Everything Goes As Planned

I just took my first real vacation for the first time in two years. I’m used to working, or at least having some obligation, every day of the week—even including evenings and weekends.  It wasn’t healthy. Because of this ridiculous schedule, I would plan out everything the night before, from what clothes I would wear to laying out exactly what I needed to pack for breakfast, lunch and dinner (as I would usually be gone from 8am until 11pm…on good days). People who know me can attest to how crazy it is to see someone pre-assemble the ingredients in a coffee mug and lay out a bowl of dry oatmeal so that their Tasmanian Devil routine in the morning wouldn’t be disrupted. From the time I left my bed until the time I returned, every second of my day was planned.

But during these past 8 days, I again went to ledge and jumped off completely. I allowed my schedule to be dictated by no more than what I felt like doing during that exact second. No alarms, no itinerary, nothing. The only thing I had to be on time for was my flights and even they were so horribly delayed and disrupted that I was truly forced to roll with the punches. How did I do? Surprisingly great. I may have approached melt-down mode once, but I blame that on the Chicago heat wave and a 4am taxi ride for a flight that didn’t leave until Noon…more on that below.

This unplanned but completely perfect vacation will remain one of my most memorable travels. Here are some of my highlights from Chicago to Miami:

It wasn’t even 10am and already 105 deg in Chicago. Breakfast ran late and we thought for sure we’d miss the boat tour. As it happens, the boat tour schedule online wasn’t correct and we got there just in time to board.

Having never really visited Chicago before, I thought this statue of Marilyn Monroe was an everyday fixture downtown. Little did I know just a week or so before visiting, this statue was finally unveiled. It is truly quite amazing. Spoiler alert: she’s wearing underwear underneath.

Taking the boat tour of Chicago wasn’t a planned venture. It was something we saw online and thought would be interesting if time allowed. This experience may have single-handedly made the trip. I fell in love with how the city’s tall, hard buildings so boldly contrasted with the smooth, flat water which weaves between them.

Out on Lake Michigan was one of the most serene moments I’ve had in a long time. You can see the hustle and bustle of the city in one direction, but turn around and it’s just you and the calm, blue water.

Catching a game at Wrigley Field wasn’t at all in the plans. We grabbed breakfast, hopped on a city bus (which is a whole other story involving a screaming homeless man) and bought tickets from a stand outside the stadium. A sunny July day spent watching baseball in Wrigley Field–now that’s American.

I’m by no means an experienced traveler and when flying out of one of the largest airports in the U.S. I didn’t know what was ‘normal’ airport volume. But I feel like this is FAR from normal for 6am in O’Hare. Apparently the record-setting rain in Chicago all fell in one night–8” to be exact. No flights were leaving and even the airport staff was delayed in traffic. That morning Chicago had a new attraction, the O’Hare Zoo.

The view of Biscayne Bay from the balcony made the flight delays, endless lines, sleep deprivation and 11 hours of travel completely worth it. Welcome to Miami…

This was the night we did the “touristy” thing and hit Miami Bayside. A great span of shops, bars and restaurants, but the most memorable part of this evening was the culture. Looking at this photo I can still hear the music and see the locals dancing so effortlessly to the rhythm. I think more people were dancing on the street than they were inside the bar. This city is filled with genuine contentment–a souvenir I got to take home.

South Beach, Miami: the place that has inspired songs, bikinis, diets and soft drinks to be created it its honor. Overall, it was like most public beaches I’ve been too–but who doesn’t love a day at the beach? I was never set on having to spend a day here, but a free ride from the hotel and it just seemed to again work out perfectly.

The night we hit South Beach, we got out of the cab and simply started walking. No plan, no schedule. Walking down the entire strip was pretty amazing. All the restaurants were hustling us for our service, but we chose to eat at “Tap Tap” an authentic Haitian restaurant just a few blocks away from the craziness. In hopes of meeting the rapper Pitbull, we grabbed drinks at the staple of South Beach night life: The Clevelander. No such luck on being star struck, but a perfectly unplanned evening yet again.

 

You Don’t Have to Change Everything—Just the Right Thing

A summer sunset on the riverfront in Harrisburg--I'm lucky to be here!

I can admittedly say that I am going through a mid-life crisis. Okay, a quarter-life crisis. Let’s not get hung up on semantics. In any case, I recently went through the undeniable feeling like I wanted to make a huge change in my life. Not a little “I’ll dye my hair” change—I seriously considered selling everything I own but a suitcase full of clothes, quitting my job, packing up Pinot and moving to Miami. This thought was terrifying but invigorating all at the same time; it provided me with the rush of excitement my life in Harrisburg wasn’t anymore. In hindsight I wasn’t so much craving the geography change (although I would never turn down a vacation to Miami), but it was more a deep desire I had to find my passion again.

When working on the Pennsylvania Governor’s campaign it was hard and thankless work. We were overworked, under paid and stressed out. Often we had to choose between sleeping and drinking and, well, the decision was obvious. But I hit my stride there. It was around August of ’10 that I was busy from the time I woke up until the time I hit my pillow—7 days a week. I felt productive, needed and like the work I was doing actually had an impact. Unfortunately, after returning to normal hours at a job within the Governor’s administration, I lost that stride. I had my evenings and weekends back, but I never did find that passion. I guess I thought that passion moved South and I was hell-bent on doing whatever I had to in order to get it back, even if it meant leaving everyone and everything I knew.

As a result, I turned my back on Harrisburg and closed my mind to the possibility that I could ever be happy here again—for a long time. Within just the past 2 weeks, I made one single decision that changed all of that. I chose to respectfully resign from my day job and pursue my Public Relations business, Bennis Inc, full time. Starting July 15th I’ll be my own boss, set my own schedule, and yes, try to make ends meet off of this less than stable income. It will be stressful, hard and thankless, but it sounds exactly like what I’ve been looking for.

I’m so grateful that I stepped back from the edge long enough to realize I don’t have to jump. I have friends in Harrisburg, family close by and business contacts that would take years to build anywhere else. I’ve kind of fallen in love with the city all over again and am open to making a business here and a home here. So to anyone else who feels like a quarter, mid or full-life crisis may be coming on—take a breath and step back. You don’t always have to change everything, just the right thing to be happy.