Having never met Emily and Adam I had set out for a 4.5 hour - 250 mile journey for a destination wedding in a quaint town in northern pensy called Mansfield, PA. Emily's uncle has an incredible old farm set on a modest 100 acres with a small airstrip… no big deal! The house, barn and stone cottage overlooks an amazing view of mountains. I left Friday morning and got there about 6 o'clock on Friday evening. There're maybe three places to get food or drink in the entire town so my choices being limited brought me directly to Yorkholo Brewing Company. And Thank God for that! I was able to have a bite to eat, listen to local live music and enjoy one very delicious mosaic beer.
We knew that this couple was going to be great just because of of how laid-back they were leading up to the wedding. We really had NO idea what we are in for until we actually got there. Usually, I get a lot of information up front. In retrospect, in the case of this wedding…. I basically knew nothing other than we're going to have fun be ready to take lots of pictures of family and friends creating memories together. Okay, well this could mean a lot of things to any given couple. In this case, it meant a lot of tender moments, laughter and total insanity.
Members of Emily and Adam's church in Blairstown, New Jersey made the trip as well. Musicians from the church sang beautiful music accompanied by piano, guitar and violin during the ceremony. The sounds resonated throughout the valley. Something about this wedding made me very emotional. It could have been the music. It gave me goosies as I watched my couple stare into one another's eyes as if they were the only two souls on that mountain. It could have also been the wafting smells of the incredibly home made food taunting our stomachs. Thanks Cast & Crew for that! YUM! You guys do a bang up job.
Going into the reception I had zero knowledge of anything other than the normal: Parent dances, toasts, First Dances, and the usual atomic firework explosion. Wait, that last one, yea, wasn't given prior knowledge to that one. During the reception fireworks began to soar not too far from the tent. About one minute into display, a gigantic explosion ensued which caused I think a few trees to CATCHAFIRE and HELLO! jut a little bit of mayhem! Why? Because Adam, the groom, was the one lighting the fireworks. So normally I'd be up for thrilling but this was a little more than that and I think I went into a sheer panic mode. The bride ran across the lawn yelling “Adaaaaaaam!!!!!!” As a dark figure appeared out of the smoky scene the bass kicked in and the fireworks continued for another 15 minutes. The dance floor commenced and of course…a laser light show began! It’s then that Adam returns from the grave, enters the dance floor and screams ”I'm aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiive!!!!!!!!!!! Emily stretched out her arms as if looking up to heaven and thanking the Lord that her husband had lived. Enter glitter bombs. This was the most exhilarating wedding I think I might have ever done and maybe the most exciting I SHOULD ever do. Had to have the old ticker checked out after this one. If near-death experiences and all out true love in living color is your thing then you will fall head over converse for this wedding!