On Saturday we were at the Alyson Anne Barn at Armstrong Farms in Saxonburg PA. The event was a wedding ceremony and wedding reception for Stephen and Sara Buzard.
I have known Sara and her parents Dan & Cindy Kohler for many years and was delighted when they contacted me back in September about being the DJ for Sara’s wedding. When Sara had originally contacted me, they were considering a banquet facility up in Knox PA. After they described the type of banquet hall they were looking for, I suggested they look at Armstrong Farms in Saxonburg. I have performed at Armstrong Farms several times over the years and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a unique location to hold their wedding ceremony & wedding reception.
Stephen and Sara ended up booking the Alyson Anne Barn for the wedding reception and they decided to hold the wedding ceremony on the property also. The wedding ceremony was scheduled for 5:00 pm and would be held in front of a decorative garden arbor, located at the edge of a large pond, a few hundred feet from the reception location. The weather on Saturday was absolutely beautiful – until about an hour before the wedding ceremony was scheduled to start. Unfortunately, at that time, it started to sprinkle lightly. However, Sara and Steve were not going to allow a light drizzle to put a damper on their wedding plans. So we held off seating the guests until right before the wedding ceremony. At a couple minutes past 5:00 pm the wedding ceremony was under way. We provided a PA system for the ceremony music, and 2 wireless microphones, 1 for the wedding Officiant (more about him in a moment) and 1 for Bruce & Christine McCall, who performed readings during the ceremony.
Stephen and Sara chose to have the wedding ceremony performed by Stephen’s father Mr. Jack Buzard. Jack is the owner and operator of H. Jack Buzard Funeral Homes, Inc. with locations in Eau Claire and Parker PA. Jack ended up writing the wedding ceremony himself and he did a fabulous job. I even suggested to him that he offer it for sale online.
At the conclusion of the wedding ceremony; Sara, Steve and both sets of parents held a receiving line. It was at this time that Sara’s parents Dan & Cindy Kohler had arranged for a surprise. Dan & Cindy Kohler own Kohler Tree Service in West Sunbury PA and one of their employees is active with wildlife rescue. They had arranged to have 2 rehabilitated Falcons (1 male and 1 female) released back into the wild. After allowing Sara & Stephen each to touch the birds, the 2 Falcons were released as guests applauded.
Guests then proceeded to the Alyson Anne Barn where they enjoyed appetizers and cocktails. The bartenders for this event were our good friends Fred Johnson and Amy Spangler from Butler Bartenders. You may recall seeing photographs of Amy in our Blog post from last Friday’s wedding for James and Julie Fry. Amy was a guest at that wedding and is in several photos on our website.
After the bridal party was done taking photographs, we formally introduced them into the hall. Sara & Stephen then cut the cake to “How Sweet It Is” by James Taylor. The best man Mr. Stephen Gibson gave an absolutely hilarious toast, followed by an emotional toast by the maid of honor Miss Julie Szmyd. Dinner was then served buffet style.
After dinner, Sara & Steve shared in their first dance together as husband and wife to “Hard To Concentrate” by Red Hot Chili Peppers. They then danced with the bridal party to “She’s Like The Wind” by Patrick Swayze. After the bridal party dance, we invited Sara to dance with her father Mr. Dan Kohler. During the planning process, Sara indicated that she wanted to do something funny at the beginning of the father daughter dance. She asked me play just a moment of “Sharp Dressed Man” by ZZ Top before switching to the actual song that they would dance to, which was “Wildflowers” by Tom Petty. This got a huge laugh from the guests. Stephen then danced with his mother Mrs. Gail Buzard to “What A Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong.
Throughout the rest of the evening, guests danced to songs by Michael Jackson, AC DC, Keith Urban, Beyonce and more. Because of the rural setting of Armstrong Farms, the music must stop by 11:00 pm. So even though no one wanted to quit dancing, shortly before 11:00 pm we invited all of the guests to share in the last dance of the evening to Day-O by Harry Belafonte. Sara & Steve then invited anyone that wanted to stick around, to join them at a bonfire just a few hundred yards from the Alyson Anne barn. We would like to wish Sara & Steve the very best of luck!
