Hello there
Adrienne was already cooking brown-sugar-bourbon ribs for a dozen pals, so when a friend of a friend who was new to the city called asking whether she'd show him around, she figured the tour might as well start with her South Philadelphia kitchen.
It was May 2010, and Adrienne had just opened Baked, her Queen Village spray-tanning salon. The Allentown native had come to Philadelphia after graduating in 2007 from Kutztown University with a psychology degree, and she knew what it was like to be in a new city.
Andrew gladly accepted the hospitality. He'd grown up in Dallas, Pa., earned a speech and rhetoric degree from Susquehanna University, then an MBA from Wilkes University, and had lived in South Beach, Fla., since. A horticultural sales rep with hydroponic-systems distributor Hydrofarm Inc., he was sent north for a month of training at the company's Northeast hub in Fairless Hills.
After dinner, Andrew joined Adrienne and company at the Field House for a Mr. Greenjeans concert.
"He and I talked the whole night," said Adrienne, now 30.
"We sang every song together and danced our butts off," added Andrew, 33. "We were so loud I can't believe they didn't ask us to stop singing."
The two had such a great time together, and felt such an instant attraction, they met the next day for lunch on South Street.
"Adrienne's outgoing personality is really endearing," Andrew said. Her confidence and entrepreneurial spirit also wowed him.
"He makes me laugh, and I think this was the first time I ever dated somebody I'm completely comfortable around," Adrienne said. "He was super supportive, and we had so much fun doing all the touristy things."
It was fantastic, she said. But also, "it was terrifying. We were talking and texting so much, but in the back of my head, there was this knowledge that he was leaving."
Andrew also tried to keep a realistic perspective. "I had just signed a new lease in South Beach," he said.
A week before Andrew was supposed to leave, his training was extended an additional six weeks. As much as was possible, they spent this windfall of time together.
One momentous date had a surprise element. Andrew's mother had grown up in Chestnut Hill, and "I tricked Adrienne into going to my family reunion with me." Social-butterfly Adrienne didn't mind, and Andrew could see that his family loved her.
That July Fourth, Adrienne and Andrew made a declaration: "Whether he was in South Beach or here, we were going to date exclusively," she said.
"I told her we would make South Beach work, but I talked to my boss about staying in Pennsylvania," Andrew said. He had not only fallen in love, but he had also realized how much he missed his mom and dad, Madalaine and George, and brother Dan, who live in Dallas.
At the end of July, Andrew's boss had good news: She wanted him to take on a larger sales territory - one with Greater Philadelphia as his home base. Andrew ditched his hotel for a Bensalem apartment.
How does forever sound?
In 2011, Andrew got a place in Old City. The next year, Adrienne moved in. "I knew this was the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with," he said. In early summer 2013, he drove to Wilkes-Barre to make a special request of his family's favorite jeweler. Two months later, they were about to leave for their usual casual brunch spot, the Plough & the Stars, and then the Made in America Festival, when Andrew considered what Adrienne was wearing.
"I have on a T-shirt and shorts, and he is telling me to change my outfit," she said. "This is something he has never done, and I thought, 'Wow! What a jerk! I can't believe I have to get dressed up to go to brunch!' "
But she noticed he was wearing a nice shirt, and so she changed into a nice summer romper.
At the Christ Church grounds, Andrew asked for a detour. Between the heat and his nerves, he had sweated right through that nice shirt.
"Do you want to take a seat?" Adrienne asked.
"No. But you may need to after this," he said, kneeling in front of her.
"I was in solid shock. I think I yelled for 30 seconds straight," Adrienne said.
She stopped yelling to say yes, and Andrew placed a cushion-cut diamond, set in elevated prongs and flanked with decorative scrolls, on her finger.
It was so them
Andrew sang in a choir growing up, and one of his favorite performance spaces was St. Stephen's Episcopal Church. "It has one of the most magnificent pipe organs I've ever heard," he said. He took Adrienne to hear it one Easter service, and they agreed that was where they would marry.
The Rev. William S. Marshall led a ceremony laced with details of their story, laughing that they'd chosen Independence Day to give up their own independence. All but one of the musical performers were members of Andrew's very musical family. His cousins Gabrielle and Ben played "Edelweiss" on violin in honor of Adrienne's Austrian heritage.
She walked down the aisle with her dad, Chaz, and wore a veil hand- beaded by her mom, Aniko, with Austrian crystal. A handkerchief that baby Adrienne had worn as a bonnet on the day her parents brought her home from the hospital wrapped her bouquet.
Andrew's wedding band is the one his grandfather George Sr. bought to marry his grandmother Elizabeth before he left to fight in World War II.
When the couple and their guests walked from the ceremony to their reception next door at the Westmoreland Club, they were serenaded by a bagpiper in full regalia, a surprise gift from Andrew's brother.
"It was incredible," Andrew said. The bagpiper music satisfied his Irish side; the love songs sung a cappella by four members of their band during the cocktail hour pleased his Italian side.
Immediately after their first dance, the couple did the ceremonial cake-cutting so it could all be sliced and served to their 212 guests with dinner. "It was so good," Andrew said, "we really wanted to make sure everybody had some."
Awestruck
Before the wedding, Adrienne and Andrew, his parents, and hers had photos taken at Andrew's parents' home. The couple sat in two chairs, their parents surrounding them. Even as a photograph was being snapped, Andrew knew he'd treasure the image for the rest of his life. "It brought everything full circle," he said. "It was our past and our future, and it showed how we are going to be a team forever."
At the end of the reception, after everyone sang "Piano Man," the couple's guests lined up outside with lit sparklers. The doors opened, and the newlyweds ran through the tunnel of light their guests created. Spontaneously, those guests began to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner." Adrienne turned around to wave goodbye. "Seeing everyone there, all together," she said, "laughing and cheering and singing, was my absolute favorite moment."
Discretionary spending
A bargain: Adrienne crafted many items for their white, gold, and black reception. The biggest saving: Upon discovering the $2,900 rental fee for sequined tablecloths, she bought the fabric and she, her mom, and soon-to-be mother-in-law sewed them. The cost came to $850, and she hopes to recoup that by selling them to another bride.
The splurge: The raw bar included 600 bluepoint oysters, 300 lobster Louis salads, and 600 colossal shrimp. "It was all gone by the time we made it back from pictures," Andrew said, "but people are still talking about it."
The getaway
The couple, who recently moved to Bella Vista, plan a 12-day trip in the fall to London, Paris, and northern France.