Directions Update

With the wedding getting close I thought it would be a good idea to remind all of our friends coming up from DC (and anyone coming from the west) about some new roads on the trip.

I-99 now goes all the way to State College. Most GPS devices don't have this in their maps. I updated our Garmin Nuvi with the latest maps the day before our July trip and it still didn't have all the updated information.

If you are coming from the west or from DC you'll take I-99 all the way into State College and get off at the North Atherton/Business 322 exit. Your GPS will want you to get off way before that either near Bald Eagle or Port Matilda. Just ignore it and stay on I-99. It will save you about 10 minutes of travel on back roads.

Google maps has this right so follow the directions on there (linked on the right under "Important Information").

Less than 3 weeks away!

Wow I can't believe how close the wedding is getting! Jeff and I were in State College this weekend for some last minute wedding planning. We paid the florist, got a marriage license, checked in with the manager at Hi Way Pizza for the rehearsal dinner (and had dinner while we were at it), and FINALLY got to stay at the Nittany Lion Inn. The room was nice - very big and clean, and the towels were soft and fluffy. For those who don't know, I am a bit of, well, a hotel snob, and it exceeded my expectations!

The RSVP deadline has passed and it looks like we will have 68 people at our wedding! We can't wait to see everyone!

See you in State College in a few weeks!!

ONE MONTH FROM TODAY!

Wow I can't believe the wedding is one month away! Where has the time gone? Jeff and I have had a busy spring, there was our trip to the Keys, Jeff's trip to Vegas, my trip to Boise (including a 10.5 hour stop over in Denver), and trying to get everything ready for the wedding.

Tomorrow evening we have a conference call with our DJ. If anyone has any song requests send them along to Jeff and I. Also today is THE LAST DAY to book your room at the discounted rate. After today you will have to pay full price.

Jeff and I are heading to State College next Friday. We are hoping to get our marriage license, I am having a trial run for my hair, and I need to find a nail salon. It won't be long now! We look forward to seeing everyone in a month!!!!!!!!

Reminder

Just a friendly reminder that you have less than two weeks to book a room at the Nittany Lion Inn at the special rate of $135 a night. After 7/8/08 all rooms in our room block will be let go and you'll have to pay full price.

To get the special rate use the reservation id code from the "Hotel Information" link on the right.

State College vs. University Park

We've gotten some questions about State College vs. University Park. Why is the ceremony in University Park and the reception in State College? What's the difference? Are they are far apart? I thought the wedding was at Penn State? What's the deal? So here are your answers.

No, they aren't far apart. You can walk from the Nittany Lion Inn to the chapel. The Penn State campus has it's own post office, zip code, and post office addresses. This causes lots of confusion. University Park is anything that is on campus. State College is anything that is off campus.

What's the deal with that? Well up until 1953 Penn State was officially "The Pennsylvania State College". In 1953 the name was changed to "The Pennsylvania State University". The president of PSU at the time, Milton S. Eisenhower, tried to get the town to changes its name from "State College" to "State University". They took a vote, but there wasn't a majority winner so the name stayed State College. Milton decided he didn't like that much so he got the university its own post office and zip code with the designation University Park. Since his brother was the President of the United States at the time he had a little bit of pull with the Post Office...

You will also sometimes hear the area referred to as "Happy Valley". Come to a Penn State football game with Gina and I and you'll understand why!

Finally, the Nittany Lion Inn is on campus, but has a State College address. Why? I'm not sure. My guess is because they serve alcohol there and that's not allowed on campus. So it may "technically" be off campus, but that would be in name only.

Streetview coming to Penn State

Google has decided to start mapping college campuses for Google streetview. According to this story, Penn State will be one of the first campuses mapped. If they get this finished before the wedding I'll post a streetview map from the Nittany Lion Inn to the chapel.

If you've never used Google streetview before you need to check it out. You can see what places look like as if you were there. Here's a view of the intersection near our house. If you play around with that you can spin the angle of the camera around and move it.


View Larger Map

It doesn't look like it's available yet for Penn State. Hopefully they add it soon.

Moving on up!

I can't believe the wedding is less than two months away!!! This will be a very exciting weekend - on Saturday I am going for my first wedding gown fitting. My dress finally arrived in the continental United States, I ordered it in January. My mom is coming down to join in on the fun!

And we got some good news today (well good news for us, not so good news for another couple). The Nittany Lion Inn has two ballrooms, The Boardroom and The Ballroom. The Boardroom is where we were scheduled to have our wedding because the Ballroom was already booked. Its a bigger, nicer space. Well it turns out that couple decided not to get married after all, so we are moving on up to the Ballroom!!! It has a bigger dance floor too, for those of you planning to do the Running Man this is key. :)

And don't forget to book your rooms - after July 8 our room block gets released to the general public and the discount rate is no longer valid.