Joe and I met at the beginning of the summer of 1993, when I had just finished eighth grade and he had just finished tenth grade. We became friends quickly and spent the next several years hanging out. Even though we haven't seen each other much in the time since I have lived in Bloomsburg, we have remained in touch periodically.
The venue was charming, rustic, and very natural. Joe and Nicole did a lot of work themselves, so the whole wedding had a very personal feel, rather than more of a cookie-cutter feel. The place was so large and gorgeous that we walked around after dinner for a while just taking pictures of ourselves.
It started with an outdoor ceremony at 4:00, then moved to an outdoor cocktail hour, then continued with dinner in an open air barn. The weather was perfect and the breeze coming through the barn was wonderful. After dinner, there were lawn games and dancing into the night.
We stayed in a Best Western about six miles away and brought Trafton to the hotel with us. My parents met us at the hotel and stayed with Trafton while we attended the wedding. He was great for them and, of course, loved all the undivided attention! They went for walks, took a swim in the pool, and had dinner together.
When we got back to the hotel, Trafton was excited and completely uninterested in going to sleep. There were two double beds, and we thought that we could sleep in one and Trafton could sleep in the other. Not a chance! We had to turn off all the lights, lay down in one bed with him in between us and pretty much hold him down until he calmed down enough - he was doing this scared sort of cry - to fall asleep. After about an hour, Trafton fell asleep on top of me (pretty uncomfortable at eight and half months pregnant!), so I slipped out and went to sleep in the other bed and let him and Daniel sleep together. In the morning when we woke up, Trafton picked up his head, saw me, and said "Mama," then jumped out of bed, came into my bed, and started snuggling me. Sooooo cute!
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| Bridge to the ceremony spot with a handpainted sign |
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| The girls all had different dresses in the same color. |
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| Joe's sister, Susan, and her daughter carrying a sign that says, "Here comes the bride." |
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| The beautiful bride, Nicole! |
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| They got married right in front of a pond that was just filled with lilypads and frogs. So peaceful! |
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| Lovely ladies |
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| Handsome gentlemen - I love these tan suits with the blue accents! The three guys in the middle were also close high school friends of mine, Matt, Adam, and Ian. |
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| Sand ceremony - both Nicole and Joe poured symbolic sand into a keepsake picture frame, representative of their intertwining lives. |
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| Mr. and Mrs. Ostrowski!! |
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| What a ride! |
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| At our dinner table in the barn |
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| Sweethearts! |
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| Joe's cousin and best man, Ryan |
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| First dance |
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| A much better first dance picture that I stole from the photographer. |
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| Outside dancing lawn - Nicole and her father |
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| Joe and his mother, Margaret |
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| The outside of the barn where dinner was served and the bar under the tent |
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| More dancing and lawn games |
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| Cake - they were nice to each other :) |
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| Another picture I stole from the photographer - how great is this place?! |
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| In front of the frog pond |
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| There were so many frogs! It was really cool! |
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| The barn decor was magnificent! |
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| Babysitters - Grandpop and Grandmom |
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| Trafton's first hotel experience! |
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