For those of you who were unaware I was recently married. Hit that link if you need the details. Anyway, we didn’t have friends or family at the actual wedding so we decided to have a reception here in the great state of Pennsylvania! Now, we are both brewers so it seems logical that we’d serve our beer at our wedding, right? I’ve got to tell you that when we would ask about this at what we’ll call the ‘Usual Wedding Outlets’ folks looked at us like we had three heads!!! I even offered to give one location the beer and BUY IT BACK AT FULL PRICE! Anyway, Brian O at the Sly Fox had a flash of genius and suggested we call our other friends Ed and Carol Stoudt of The Black Angus Restaurant and Stoudt’s Brewery. They’ve got a real live Bavarian style beer hall. Thankfully they didn’t hesitate and said they’d be happy to have our group at their place. Problem solved!

Last Saturday September 13, 2008 we threw down old school style and had family, friends, brewer friends, and LOTS of beer. The reception was killer except that my knee gave out right before the whole thing got started. That left me gimping around the dance floor like a Real Live Old Dude. The only thing that saved me was Whit…she basically let me lean on her all night long. She rocks, doesn’t she? All of the usual suspects came out to celebrate bringing gifts of beer, beer related goodies, stuff for the kitchen (like I need another meal), and a few really wacky things. Apparently when I wasn’t looking my wife registered for Grits. She is from Virginia so she’s into those southern things…Tracey and Patrick brought us a beautifully gift wrapped box of them right to the recieving line. I just about fell over laughing. Rick and Nat Hoffman of Stewart’s wrapped their gift in a malt bag (nice work). Bob Barrar brought Brian Finn as his date. They make a cute couple and Bob wore pants. I was touched. Really. We showed the Official Cheesy Wedding video, and by the end there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.  My Dad played rock and roll music, and my beautiful wife sang to me. If you’re interested there is a beer menu from the event at the bottom of the page. All and all we had a blast. Third party reviews of the evening can be had at Lew’s site , over at Jack’s Blog, and of course from the Beer Lass. They all recount shenanigans that decorum prohibits me from listing here. The list of people to thank is way too long, but I’d just like to say that we couldn’t have pulled of such a great party without the help of all of our family and friends. Cheers to you all.

Here’s some extra fun stuff:  #1 check out the favor we gave everyone!  That picture up top is the label on our wedding beer. We call it the “Band Photo”. Notice how we are both looking in opposite directions? Now that’s art, don’t you think? Here’s a photo of me and my lovely bride filling the bottles by hand just 15 short hours before the reception. No ‘gushers’ on our tables for sure.

 Here are a couple of late night photos you might be interested in. (Thanks Nat) We did ‘break the (plastic) glass’ in the parking lot of the Holiday Inn…and then my drunkish friends thought it would be a great idea to hoist up my chair while singing ‘Harry and Shela, Harry and Shela…’ They just about dropped me on my head, but in the end it was a sweet gesture and I’m touched.

Thanks again to everyone who came!