Miss Barb & Her Cute Boy // Banquets Unlimited Wedding in Irwin, PA

As I was prepping this blog post, Braelynn walked past my computer, stopped, and gasped: “Is that Miss Barb?” “Yes!” I replied, “She got married on Saturday!” Braelynn tilted her head and gazed hearts into my computer screen, “Aww, I want to get married one day.”

Miss Barb (or Aunt Barb as most of my siblings know her) is our very own, very well loved, Children’s Librarian at our local library. We see her every week for story-time, so my 3-year-old is quite attached to her. In fact, this week, when we went to story time, and Miss Barb was not there (how dare she go on a honeymoon?) Braelynn declared to her Daddy that night that, “Story-time was no fun without Miss Barb.” Obviously, she is quite loved in this household!

Needless to say, it was my highest privilege to capture the memories of Miss Barb & her “Cute Boy’s” wedding day this past Saturday! “Cute Boy”, you might ask? Well, for the past few years that Barb & Craig have been dating, every time she would post a photo of them online, or write a status referring to her boyfriend, she always called him “Cute Boy”. I’m not even sure if I knew “Cute Boy’s” real name until they got engaged! It was an absolute delight to finally meet this fellow who definitely lit up our favorite librarian’s life & put that extra sparkle into her eyes.

Their wedding day on Saturday was super laid back & full to the brim of unique touches and personalized moments. For example: the maroon velvet jacket that Craig wore, is the same jacket that he wore when he proposed. Barb had been teasing him for months that he was a child of the 70’s, he must own a velvet jacket, right? He laughed & admitted that he did own one or two of them back in the day. Barb teased that she needed to see this jacket & Craig just kept saying, “It’ll come out when the occasion is special enough.” Finally, as Craig was planning out his proposal, he realized that no occasion would top that for “specialness”, so he went to Macy’s & bought himself a new velvet jacket. And, what day could top a proposal day, but a wedding day? So, it was only fitting that he wear it for their wedding!

Craig & Barb – I was having so much fun at your wedding that I completely lost track of time (let’s be honest: I love all of my couples, but that’s never really happened before). That just goes to prove that you both are truly super special, your friends & family are the very very best, and when you mix all of that together, you get one of the most unique & memorable evenings I have ever been a part of. I was so blessed to be a part of celebrating with you!! And now, hurry home from California so my 3-year-old can have her normal story-time back (just kidding).

Obviously since Miss Barb is our very well-known Children’s Librarian, there were touches of “library” theme throughout the entire evening. There were paper flowers interwoven into every centerpiece that were created from book pages. Every centerpiece also had a “library checkout card” with little quotes about love. Barb’s bouquet also had paper flowers made from the pages of books in it as well – including a page from the “Little Bear” books, which are her absolute favorite.

Barb & Craig decided to do a First Look in order to get all of their portraits out of the way before their guests arrived & their ceremony took place. We had talked about several different locations, outside of Banquets Unlimited, but with rain threatening, we ultimately decided to just stay at Banquets Unlimited & shoot everything in their back garden. It literally couldn’t have worked out better!

Barb’s bouquet was created just for her by Katie Kiehl (her Etsy shop is called The Rustic Twist). It was stunning and everyone was talking about it all evening!

Aside from being our amazing Children’s Librarian, Miss Barb also is a wedding officiant! With that experience under her belt, she & Craig decided to go with an old Quaker law that is still on the books & do a “self-officiating” ceremony. They did a tremendous job of putting together a beautiful & unique ceremony, that included both of their personalities & so many laughs.

Of course, there was a traditional “Pittsburgh Cookie Table” set up, but Craig & Barb also had an ice cream sundae bar which was a huge hit!

Ever since we had begun talking about their wedding – Barb had told me she was so excited to incorporate both a sparkler exit & some fun sparkler photos into her evening!

Long exposure sparkler shots are tricky. There are so many elements to them! Technically, I could do them on my own, but it’s always handy to have an assistant! Thankfully, I was able to snag Barb’s son, Tim, and talk him into helping us out. After a 60-second crash course on what we would be doing, we just went for it. He absolutely killed it & how special is it that the word “love” is in Barb’s son’s handwriting (instead of mine?)

Huge shout-out and thank you to the amazing team of vendors, as well as friends & family, who helped make Craig & Barb’s wedding day absolutely perfect!

Ceremony & Reception Venue: Banquets Unlimited in Irwin, PA
Catering: Banquets Unlimited in Irwin, PA
Invitations: VistaPrint
Bridal Gown Retailer: MarWin Bridal in Irwin, PA
Hair: D. Michael Salon in Irwin, PA
Makeup Artist: Blythe Graft (friend of bride)
Florist: The Rustic Twist in Clarion, PA
DJ: Bill Ballas in North Huntingdon, PA
Photographer: Kara Abbey Photography in Irwin, PA