Fresh and romantic, this pink outdoor wedding is the stuff dreams are made of. Blush, gold, and ivory decorated the Allegheny County Courthouse – a perfect venue choice for this immigrant-lawyer-bride. After a breathtaking ceremony on the historic grand staircase, which was lined with glimmering candles, the party continued in the courtyard around a bubbling fountain. Talk about a stunning atmosphere! The pretty extended well into the details too with white and green floral arrangements, plenty of hand-lettered mirror signs, and a four-tier gold and white wedding cake. There was even a custom birthday cake for the couple’s dog, Cola, who was right alongside her humans when they said I Do! Timeless but with fresh takes on the old classics, this wedding is bound to leave you swooning. Enjoy all of the pretty captured by Jenna Hidinger Photography!
From the bride…
Tell me about yourselves! How did you meet? How long have you been together? When and how did you get engaged? All the juicy details!
Chase and I met while we were both living in Chicago. He was living there for work and I was there for law school. He moved around with me as I did internships – New York, Washington DC, and back to Chicago. We were quite the traveling couple when we first started dating!
Our engagement story always makes me smile. He really outdid himself on it, especially since Chase CANNOT keep a secret to save his life. It was over his birthday weekend so I decided to take Friday off so we could have a nice long weekend. He was in NYC for work so we decided to just make a weekend of it. I flew in, we grabbed lunch, stopped by his office and while there, his boss told us that because of a last minute meeting, he wasn’t going to be able to use the two tickets he had for a private sunset sightseeing cruise on the Hudson that night. Since they were only good for that night, he offered them to us to use on our weekend visit! Knowing how much I love doing touristy things, we took him up on the offer and spent the afternoon doing other classic NYC must-dos. We arrived at Pier 25 hoping we would be allowed to use the tickets, and fortunately, Captain Paul agreed. The two hour tour took us by the NYC skyline, Ellis Island (a personal highlight being an immigration attorney!), and ended in front of the Statue Liberty. Captain Paul’s co-captain said that was the perfect time for a photo op so we headed to the front of the boat to get an even better view and our picture taken. There, in front of Lady Liberty, Chase got down on one knee (quite a feat with the choppy waves!) and proposed! Of course, I accepted! It was then I saw Captain Paul and his co-captain with a bottle of champagne and roses and a photographer who had been hiding underneath the whole time! It turns out that Chase had planned the entire day to the hour, from flying to NYC for his birthday, the tickets his boss just happened to give us, to Captain Paul and the photographer, had all been in the works for weeks. We finished the sunset boat tour and headed to dinner at a restaurant with the best views of New York City.
Describe the wedding and what inspired it. What was unique about it?
We wanted our wedding to be classy, timeless, but still fun! The Allegheny County Courthouse spoke to my nerdy lawyer heart even though I don’t practice there, and we fell in love with the beautiful building and courtyard. It was a perfect venue for us – we wanted somewhere that was somewhat unique but easy to work with and where we could choose the components of our celebration. We used blush, gold, and ivory as our main colors and tried to add unique aspects that characterize our life (Cola, our dog, for instance!). Of course, Boylan soda had to be there and Chase and I are big fans of Franktuary (Chase can eat A LOT of hot dogs!).
What was your favorite moment of the day?
My favorite moment was walking down the aisle with my mom and seeing Chase and Cola at the top of the stairs surrounded by all of our closest friends and family.
What advice would you give to other couples planning their big day?
The best advice I received, and one I would certainly tell others, is to not stress too much about all the details. At the end of the day, no one is going to remember the color of your napkins or how many wrinkles were in your tablecloths. We tried to keep our wedding guest-centric and just let everyone (including us) enjoy themselves!
Vendors
Bride’s Dress: Maggie Sottero from The Exquisite Bride | Bride’s Shoes: Tahari | Bridesmaids Dresses: Bill Levkoff | Cake: Bella Christie | Caterer: Big Burrito | Ceremony Location: Grand Staircase of the Allegheny County Courthouse | DJ: DJ Colt | Flowers: Springdale Florist | Hair: Metamorphosis | Makeup: Erin Zaborowski | Menswear: Tommy Hilfiger | Photography: Jenna Hidinger Photography | Reception Venue: Courtyard of the Allegheny County Courthouse
Ceremony Location: Grand Staircase of the Allegheny County Courthouse | Reception Venue: Courtyard of the Allegheny County Courthouse
