From our venue: The health and safety of our patrons, vendors, volunteers, staff, and everyone attending our campus, buildings, and events is of the utmost importance to ArtsQuest and we have established a number of best practices and procedures based on guidelines from the CDC, City of Bethlehem and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Please monitor your health! Our venue asks that if you are feeling unwell that you please stay home. This includes experiencing any of the following symptoms within 24 hours of our wedding: fever, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, and/or if you have come in close contact with someone believed to have COVID-19. Our wedding venue has been amazing in accommodating us, however they are still a private company. Weather permitting, both our ceremony and cocktail hour will be outside. Most of their staff is fully vaccinated but will still be wearing masks during our event. In accordance with the new CDC guidelines, unvaccinated individuals should plan to wear a mask. Out of respect for the staff, vaccinated individuals should bring a mask for when interfacing closely with the venue staff - ordering a drink at the bar, etc.

Both transplants to the city of Allentown, we met through work at PA-based non-profit Youth Education in the Arts (YEA!). In an office full of 20-somethings, there was no shortage of friends to hang out with during the day and after work, but Melissa and Kevin seemed closer than most. Attempts to hide our "workplace secret" didn't last long, and in just a few months they were "official." And yes, she kissed him first.

As the city of Allentown has undergone an economic and urban revitalization, Melissa and Kevin have witnessed it happen. Living and working downtown, they watched as old abandon buildings were turned into new office spaces, sports arenas (Go Phantoms!) our favorite bars and restaurants. To celebrate Melissa's one year anniversary in her current job at the Allentown School District, Kevin decided on a Tuesday evening out in City Center Allentown to a new restaurant we had never been too. The Dime, connected to the PPL Center and Renaissance Hotel has a balcony that overlooks downtown Allentown. Kevin decided it would be a good idea to "sneak" up on to the balcony to check out the view. When all the doors were unlocked, Melissa had an idea. High atop the city that has been undergone massive development in the last few years, it felt like as our relationship grew, so did the Allentown around us. With the help of the restaurant hostess, Kevin popped the question and made sure the moment was perfectly captured. We then went downstairs to The Dime resturant for a romantic dinner that again, overlooked the city.