Westminster Wedding

New Wilmington, PA. On June 26, we welcomed Pat Smith into our family as he married my second cousin, Brittany Thomas. It was a beautiful ceremony held in Wallace Memorial Chapel at Westminster College. Seven years earlier they met on the campus.

The wedding was a great excuse for a long weekend road trip. Our first stop was Columbus, OH. Heidi Harendza was kind enough to let us stay with her and joined us in our day’s adventures, which included stops at the Eddie Bauer salvage store, Mimi’s Café, CommFest, and seeing an open air theater performance of “Treasure Island.” At CommFest we caught up with my cousin, Laura Fyfe Smith, and her friends Andrea Kopp and Megan “Mackey” McInturf. Ashley really enjoyed hanging out with the big kids while Heidi, Don and I soaked up the atmosphere of the arts and music festival. Unfortunately we missed seeing the rest of the Smith family this year.  

The next day we drove to New Wilmington, about an hour north of Pittsburgh, for the wedding. Brittany is the daughter of my mother’s cousins Bruce and Debbie Thomas. Also representing the Thomas side of the family were my parents, John and Dawn Koetting. It was a real treat to dance with my dad while Ashley and Don danced during the Father/Daughter dance. The wedding was spectacular, and featured lots of attention to detail. For example, at the reception, each table number was a collage featuring pictures of the bride and groom at the age corresponding with that table number. For Ashley, the highlight was the photo booth. Everyone was encouraged to cram into it and take a set of four pictures. The booth printed duplicate strips – one for you to keep and the other for the bride and groom. Ashley went through repeatedly with the other little girls at the reception. We’re glad she made friends for the evening so Don and I could dance.

The highlight of our trip home was stopping to visit my cousins Scott and Karen Weber and their children in Indiana, PA. Growing up it was our tradition to see the Weber family on our trips from Paramus, NJ to Columbus, OH. It was nice to be able to continue this tradition and to allow the next generation to get to know each other. Although a few years older, Ashley had a lot of fun playing with her second cousins once removed. We enjoyed visiting with Scott and Karen. I wish we could all get together more often. Jacquie