The long weekend for the Fourth of July was anything but restful for me, but it was a good kind of busy! From a long-time friend who has been living in England visiting to a wedding across the state in Pittsburgh, it was far from the beachy relaxation a lot of people expect.

My friend Dorian just graduated from their Masters program in England, and, though they are returning to the United Kingdom to work on a post-graduate visa, they visited home for a week with their partner, Tom. It was lovely getting to meet him for the first time after having heard so much about him over text and call.

On Friday, my girlfriend, Brena, and I left early in the morning with two of her friends for the five-hour drive to Pittsburgh for her childhood friend’s wedding. We stayed at Kimpton Hotel Monaco, a really gorgeous place with avian-themed decorations everywhere. We arrived absolutely exhausted in the afternoon, but, luckily, the wedding was on Saturday evening, so we had a bit of time without any obligations to do what we wanted.

Brena goes to Pittsburgh fairly often because one of her other friends lives there, so she led a group of us to Lawrenceville on Saturday morning, a really cute neighborhood with shops and restaurants. We had an absolutely delicious brunch at Geppetto Cafe and then stopped in the cutest gift shop, Wildcard, where I bought a bunch of little things — art prints, keychains, notepads, magnets — there were so many cute things from small artists I couldn’t resist. We also stopped in Brena’s favorite bakery, La Gourmandine, to pick up some pastries before we had to hurry back to our hotel to get ready for the big event.

The wedding was lovely, and though I had never met the bride and groom before, it was touching to see how happy Brena and all of her friends were for their long-time friend — the first in their group to be married. I’m not quite at the age where my friends are getting married, so I can’t imagine how it will feel to see my first close friend walk down the aisle. The reception was at Heinz History Center, a really cool venue. During the cocktail hour we could explore exhibits on the history of Heinz ketchup and Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.

It was a pretty perfect wedding with good food, a lively band and a fun dance floor, and the Pittsburgh tradition of a “cookie table,” which I may steal for my own wedding. Sunday morning we slept in as much as we possibly could before it was time to check out of the hotel and make the drive back to Philly (but not before stopping for some more pastries at La Gourmandine on our way out of the city).

— Hannah Gruen, advertising & events coordinator