OR: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Paperwork.
Wow, you guys. I took my eye off the ball for just a second and before I know it we’re under four months till the wedding day. Cuh-razy.
So, you’ve seen our reception location. Now I’d like to show you our ceremony site, Westinghouse Memorial Pond in Schenley Park.
Photo used with permission from Elston via Flickr.
(My apologies — I haven’t been able to get my own photos of the site for reasons I’ll detail in another post, so I ended up using a lot of Flickr pictures from all seasons. You’ll get the gist, though!)
It’s a gorgeous place, and even though there’s a road nearby it’s pretty tranquil. Stacy and I have sat on those benches on many dates, enjoying the reflections in the pond and the sounds of the surrounding trees.
The metalwork, erected to honor George Westinghouse, is inspired by art-nouveau, intricately crafted, and seriously beautiful. It used to be covered in actual gold leaf, but vandalism forced its keepers to replace it with what I assume is bronze. Whatever– it’s gorgeous:
Photo via Creative Commons license on Flickr.
Photo used via Creative Commons license on Flickr.
photo via Creative Commons license on Flickr.
Those are *turtles* holding up that rectangular piece! Check them out from the front:
Photo used under Creative Commons license via Flickr.
I love that it combines history (I’m a total geek for that stuff) with beautiful art in a natural setting, but my favorite thing about the site is that the pond has a circular flagstone pathway around it where our guests will stand as we exchange our vows. We’ll be able to see everyone, and I think that we’ll feel surrounded by love in a very real sense. We and our officiant will be standing on a small dais by the statue (which is dedicated to American Youth):
photo used with permission from Melissa@PPC via Flickr.
We’ll have several small pots of rusty-orange chrysthanthemums along the walkway, but really, we barely need any decoration. I’m hoping we’ve timed the ceremony to catch the late-afternoon sunlight, when everything is covered in that soft, golden glow before sundown.
photo used with permission from Melissa@PPC via Flickr
I’m also hoping that our wedding day will be right at the peak of fall color, making everything that much more beautiful.
It’s probably pretty obvious that I adore the site, huh? The only real downside has been that because it’s part of a public park, it’s officially public land, and that means… paperwork. Confusing, vaguely threatening, hair-pulling paperwork. I diligently started the process back in January, and it took me forever to get someone who could tell me what I needed to fill out so we had permission to hold the ceremony there. It turned out to be a 16-page document that also asked me to draw a map of where everything would be, which couldn’t be submitted until 180 days before the event, but which local government didn’t have to return until three weeks (!!!) before the event. I dutifully slogged through it and turned it in, only to be told that it wasn’t the right form after all. I was then directed to fill out a different application specifically for weddings, and in an attempt to a) save myself from more paperwork and b) cover my bases, since same-sex marriage isn’t legal here and I didn’t want any problems, I asked if it mattered that we were a same-sex couple and therefore weren’t holding a legal ceremony. Revealing that made me a little anxious, since I was talking to someone who could make things very difficult for us if they wanted to. It was one of the first times I’ve felt that way during all of the wedding planning, because I’ve gone out of my way to make sure that all of our vendors are supportive before we chose them, but in this case we didn’t really have a choice of ‘vendor’. As it turned out, she not only said it didn’t matter, she said I didn’t have to disclose it on the wedding application because it was “none of their business” and wished us a great day and beautiful weather. Hooray for supporters in important places!
It took days and days of calling to ten different numbers, but I finally got in touch with someone who was able to give me the right application– which is only one page long and costs $25, as opposed to the other application’s $125. I turned it in, and now I just have to wait to hear back and stop worrying. (I am an incomparable worrier, I’m afraid. The current worry is that there might be other engaged couples who don’t realize that a permit is needed to reserve the site and show up in full wedding gear before or during our ceremony.)
Ah, well. The wheels are in motion, and with any luck I can soon stop worrying… and go back to dreaming about what it’ll be like to marry Stacy in our beautiful, beloved place.
photo used with permission from Melissa@PPC via Flickr.
This is wonderful & looks soo beautiful! I love Schenley Park! <3
I was wondering if you could contact me, My girlfriend and I live in Pittsburgh too and we'd love to hear if you have any advice about getting married here! Seems like you know how to navigate it all!
Congrats!
Wow! What a gorgeous site! Good luck with the rest of your planning.
Diane, sounds like congratulations are in order for you as well! I can’t pretend to be an expert (I’ve only planned one, after all!) but I’d be happy to give whatever advice may be useful. You can email me at (alyia)snamaste! at gmail, dot, com. Just take out the parentheses, exclamation point, and commas, which I put in to confuse the spambots.
Dodie, thanks! We’re lucky to live somewhere with so much beauty and cool stuff in the heart of the city. We’re getting pretty close to the end of the planning stage and beginning to execute the plans, which is exciting and nervewracking at the same time.
Awesome place. Seriously, it looks beautiful. Remember, the offer still stands — I will gladly protest your wedding to keep other couples from it. If they see marching people with signs, they’ll definitely stay away!
I still love the idea of a pro-marriage protest at a wedding!
Thanks Alyia! I appreciate any help I can get with regard to making my marriage efforts complete.
I emailed you yesterday. My email is diane(underscore)bsba@yahoo.com :)