When Emily first heard that her trainer at Perkins Family Restaurant was named Mel, she thought it was short for Melissa or Melanie. You can imagine her surprise when a skinny guy with big ears, a buzzed head, and a gold chain around his neck introduced himself as "Mel" in a voice an entire octave lower than the ones she'd heard in her junior class at high school. Being as this was her first "real job," Emily took Mel very seriously when he said to stay right behind him and observe the first few days. It was possibly her knack for literal interpretation that helped him first fall for her (although now, after six years, it can sometimes aggravate him). It wasn't easy to "stay right behind him." Having worked in Perkins for a few years now, Mel was a proficient waiter. And he was fast. But there was hardly ever a time when he would spin around, yelling her name, obviously expecting her to come running, that Emily was not directly behind him. In response, she would beam a smile at him, and it was perhaps this smile that coaxed him into giving her his number. Or it could have been the fact that another waiter was flirting with Emily that sped up Mel's process. Either way, they experienced their first kiss outside Perkins, which blossomed into a relationship based on love and trust. On their 5-year anniversary Mel decided that they had been through it all together, and that he couldn't imagine spending the rest of his life with anyone else, so he got up his nerve and presented Emily with the most beautiful engagement ring she had ever seen.

Our ceremony will be held in front of the gorgeous gazebo at Penn Oaks Golf Club in West Chester, Pennsylvania at 6:00 in the evening with cocktail hour beginning at approximately 6:30. Being as it is an outdoor ceremony in late June, a jacket and tie is not required.

After the cocktail hour and the beautiful white patio behind the gazebo, the doors will be opened from the patio into the elegant William Penn Ballroom for a 5-hour dinner reception. DJ Joe Zahn from DJZ will be providing music for the ceremony as well as acting as the Master of Ceremonies for the rest of the evening. Dinner will consist of bread, salad, and a choice of entrees before the party really begins and all guests can dance the night away.