We attended our last wedding of the summer season this past weekend; Paul and Effie tied the knot in Hershey, Pennsylvania, the home of Milton Hershey and the Hershey chocolate factory. Because Dan was in the wedding party, we drove down early on Friday morning in time to have lunch with Paul and some of the other groomsmen before the rehearsal. The rehearsal dinner was at a charming local tavern and included some fabulously embarrassing toasts such as the one from Effie's dad explaining how so-and-so begat so-and-so who begat so-and-so, and therefore Effie and Paul are actually like eighth cousins. Here is Effie reacting to that toast:
Paul's dad also did his duty by playing a radio commercial that Paul had done when he was about four - the commercial is Paul endorsing Sibley Hospital, where he and his brother were both born. This was priceless. It reminded me of the tv clip of Dan being interviewed by a local Maine news station when he was a kid, after he was on a flight that landed without landing gear. Dan said "It was bumpy." Such insight at such a young age!!
On Saturday, we went for a great brunch with the UPenn crew and then on to Chocolate World, where we took this really trippy tour of the "factory." Unfortunately, they have moved the factory tour out of the factory and into Chocolate World (which is basically just a gift shop on steriods), so we didn't get to see any of the actual processing or machinery that Dan and I were really looking forward to. Instead, we were packed eight people in a little cart, riding along the "chocolate river" and watching mechanical cows sing mo-town songs about cacao beans. We were even "roasted" in a hot-air chamber. The ride, of course, dumps you out in a gift shop, which exits into another gift shop, which exits into a food court that only serves Hershey products, at which point you realize that Hershey basically owns the candy world. Dan and I only narrowly escaped without putting any money into the pockets of Mr. Hershey.
After Chocolate World, we headed back to the Hershey Hotel (no escaping chocolate in this town...) to go swimming, but promptly fell asleep in our room. After the nap, it was time for the wedding. The weather was iffy but held out for the ceremony, which was in the beautiful formal gardens of the hotel. We were asked not to take any pictures during the ceremony, but here are some of the grounds:
After the cocktail hour and dinner, Paul and Effie performed a beautiful, choreographed first dance. I would have been so nervous (which of course is why Dan and I just swayed back and forth for a half a song like a couple of middle school kids), but they didn't seem to miss a step. Then was dancing - they had a fabulous band that used to open for Poison in the 80s, and they played almost exclusively early 80s music. I had such a great time dancing that I seriously had like whiplash symptoms on Sunday from throwing my head around... It was so fun too to catch up with everyone from UPenn - the entire 4010 house made it to the wedding, and some of these friends we hadn't seen in a couple of years, or since our wedding. I really love how these celebrations bring everybody back together.
Dan's cool, modern boutonniere
Of course, the wedding wouldn't have been complete without someone dressed in a Ghostbusters costume. This guy (I think an SAE brother, although I'd never seen him before) sweated through his first set of wedding duds, left to change, and showed back up at the reception in a Ghostbusters jumpsuit. Then after he sweated through that, he unzipped the top and went bare-chested. As Paul said, "I guess the only thing better than a Ghostbusters costume is half a Ghostbusters costume." So true.
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