On Saturday we were at The Riverstone Event Center in Foxburg PA. The event was a wedding ceremony & wedding reception for Donald & Jennifer Ornelas. The Riverstone event center is a new banquet hall and thus far has only held a few weddings. This event was the first time I had the opportunity to see the facility and I must say that it is a rather unique location.
The banquet hall is actually and old horse stable which resides on a very large property known as Riverstone Farms, located approximately 2 miles from the infamous Foxburg Inn. The Inside of the horse stable has been renovated and all of the original horse stalls have been removed. Carpeting was installed on both sides of the stable, where the horse stalls used to be located. The center aisle was then covered with elegant patio stone pavers. The outside property is a vast working horse farm, nestled in the rolling hills of Western Pennsylvania. The location is known for it’s year round beauty and is a very popular tourist destination.
On this particular day, Jenn & Donny decided to hold both their wedding ceremony & reception at the Riverstone Event Center. The ceremony was held outdoors in a beautiful garden area which included a wonderfully decorated arbor. The wedding ceremony started at 6:00 pm as guests began to arrive and take their seats. During this time we played Prelude music. At 6:30 pm the Processionals began and the ceremony was officially under way. Reverend Don Barger (who I thoroughly enjoy working with) provided an awesome ceremony. One notable moment during the wedding ceremony was when Junior Bridesmaid Corra Black played a musical interlude on her electric keyboard. The song she played was “Song Of Joy” by Beethoven and she did and incredible job.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, guests made their way from the garden area to the reception hall where they enjoyed cocktails and appetizers as the bridal party posed for photographs. Around 8:00 pm we had all of the guests take their seats and formally introduced the bridal party. Dinner was then served buffet style.
After dinner several guests toasted Jenn & Donny prior to the newlyweds cutting the cake. Jenn & Donny then shared in their first dance together as husband and wife to “That’s Amore” by Dean Martin. The bride & groom had previously instructed me to invite all of the guests to join in singing along to their first dance song. This made for a very festive first dance.
Open dancing contained a wide variety of music as guests danced to songs from AC DC, Michael Jackson, Warren G, Lady Gaga and more. Originally we were scheduled to play until 12:00 midnight. However, at 11:45 pm, when I checked with the bride & groom, they decided to keep the party going. Since a lot of the guests had traveled a great distance to be at the wedding (many from California) Donny & Jenn did not want the party to end. So we ended up playing until 1:00 am in the morning (yes – that’s a 7 hour event). At this time we invited the newlyweds to share in the last dance of the evening to “We’ve Only Just Begun” by The Carpenters. We would like to wish our newlyweds the best of luck and a safe trip back to Los Angeles California.
