Andrew and I were married on July 21, 2001, less than two years after originally meeting. We surprised both of our families by getting engaged our college graduation weekend after only officially dating for 3 months! We decided to wait another year to get married so that we would have plenty of time to get our jobs established, find a place to live in PA and to plan our wedding.
Even though both of our families were from northern NJ, we opted for an out-of-state wedding in Bethlehem, PA at Lehigh University, where we attended college together and first met (Go Engineers!). Lehigh has a beautiful campus so a summer wedding there sounded perfect to us. The ceremony was followed by a reception at The Silver Creek Country Club in Hellertown, PA. It was a beautiful day that we both will always remember!
The bridemaids and I pre-ceremony. I prefer simple gowns - very little embellishment- so I opted for a very classic gown of solid satin with a pearl neckline. On the hem of my dress are the bridesmaids' bouquets.
My bridesmaids were (l-r): cousin Lauren, high school friend Michele, sister-in-law Michelle, and high school friends Aliza and Joanne.
A photo of Andrew and the groomsmen pre-ceremony. They were (l-r): college friend Tim, childhood friend Greg, Andrew, college friend Jason, brother-in-law Mike and college friend Jim.
Here we both are with our parents before showtime.
It was a beautiful July day so fortunately we were able to take many outdoor photos on Lehigh's breathtaking campus. Here is Packer Memorial Chapel, where our ceremony took place. The chapel had just been restored prior to our wedding and we lucked out that they had finished working on the facade of the church only weeks earlier.
The inside of Packer Chapel is BEAUTIFUL, to understate it. Seriously. There is a 250 ft. aisle down which I had to walk (and let me tell you that 250 ft. has never seemed longer than it did that day when I was being watched by nearly 200 people!). I had never before and never will again feel as close to royalty as I did that day when I paraded down the aisle of this beautiful 19th century cathedral.
Some post-ceremony pictures around campus, at both the Alumni Memorial Building and in front of Packer Lab, the engineering building where Andrew spent much of his time. The business school building where I had most of my classes is very modern and not nearly as picturesque so we opted to not take photos there :).
Finally, just a few photos from the reception. Of the thousands of photos we have, I chose only a handful of them highlighting the "key players" in our special day.
Andrew and me toasting our first day as husband and wife:
Mom and Dad Caulfield:
Mom and Dad Martin:
The entire bridal party outside The Silver Creek Country Club.
Grandpa and Grandma Gaczewski. They were the only grandparents who were able to be with us on our special day. The only other living grandparent at the time was my grandmother, Lucille Scarcella, but she was too sick to make the journey from Florida for the event. She was with us in spirit that day!
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