reading terminal market philadelphia wedding: emily & sam

Here’s what happens when a twin foodie from Philadelphia meets another twin foodie in New Orleans and the two fall madly in love! Emily & Sam’s Reading Terminal Market Philadelphia wedding was a celebration of their favorite loves in life: the laid back Nola lifestyle, delicious food and- of course- each other. It was such a pleasure planning Emily & Sam’s unique wedding day, especially given that this was our second opportunity to work with Emily’s family.

Back in 2014, Truly You had the pleasure of planning with Emily’s twin sister, Abbie, and her then fiancé Josh at the Old Mill in Media, PA. When Emily, Abbie and their Mom, Margi, called last year for help on Emily’s wedding, I jumped at the chance to plan yet another personalized and polished wedding with the Readingers! As you will see in the photos below, this crew is particularly close and loves to keep the focus on the fun. I just love that Emily & Sam invited their twins and their parents to be a part of their first look. How sweet is that?

We started the day at Courtyard Marriott for hair & makeup before heading over for photos at Philadelphia’s City Hall with Jim Heine from Hoffer Photography.  Emily, our style star bride, wore a gorgeous beaded Nicole Miller gown with an illusion neckline and added a pop of color with her blue Michael Kors pumps. The bridal party, dressed in southern inspired navy blue print bridesmaids gowns and custom fleur de lis bowties, joined for a few pics before everyone headed back to the hotel for the wedding ceremony. What came after was hands down one of the coolest things I’ve been a part of as a Philadelphia wedding planner….

As a riff on the traditional New Orleans second line, we planned for Philadelphia’s favorite party people (the mummers!) to lead a parade of Emily & Sam’s 250 guests from the Courtyard Marriott over to the reception at the Reading Terminal Market. The Philadelphia police shut down Filbert street as the mummers played “When the Saints Go Marching In” and guests waved their custom fleur de lis hankies high in the sky. Upon arrival, guests were greeted with delicious bites from ten market vendors and the endless cocktail party continued throughout the evening!

Big hugs + congratulations once again to a truly stylish and fun-loving pair: Emily & Sam! As you can see on my 7 months pregnant face in the photo below of Emily about to walk down the aisle, planning with the Readingers once again brought so much joy into my life. Thanks to Jim from Hoffer for capturing that moment, and so many other beautiful candids throughout the day. Kudos also go to the teams from the Courtyard Marriott, Beautiful Blooms, All About Events & Fralinger String Band.