This Harp & Crown Wedding Replaced Dinner With Drinks, Doughnuts and Dancing
The bride and groom wanted to throw a party — so they threw a party.
Photography by Gabby Smarr for Emily Wren Photography
With so many cool restaurants in Philly, it’s no wonder they’re where so many local brides and grooms choose to host their receptions. Photographed by Gabby Smarr for Emily Wren Photography, this Harp & Crown wedding reception proved to be one big party, made better by Federal Donuts, signature cocktails — and bowling lanes.
Like so many before them, Emily Harrison and Colin Scanlon — both Scranton natives — fell for each other at the Jersey Shore. In 2014, to be exact, during Memorial Day weekend. The pair, acquaintances at the time, were staying in the same Shore house with mutual friends and immediately hit it off, staying up until sunrise talking on the deck.
Although they were equally drawn to each other during and after that weekend, it took several weeks of hanging out as “just friends” before Colin asked Emily on their first date. They dined on Italian food at Little Nonna’s and ended the evening with drinks at Dirty Frank’s. According to Emily, the twosome has been together ever since.
After four years of dating, Colin knew his chance for the perfect proposal had arrived when Emily told him that her family was renting a house in Spring Lake, NJ, for Mother’s Day. “Emily is super close with her family and wouldn’t want it any other way,” Colin says.
On the morning after Mother’s Day, Colin and Emily rode bikes to the end of the boardwalk and then went for a walk on the beach. A cloudy sky, to Colin’s luck, resulted in an empty beach — which made his big plan that much more intimate. Before the couple returned to the boardwalk, Colin got on one knee and asked his dream girl to marry him.
Colin and Emily wed a year later at a St. Paul Parish ceremony, then celebrated as newlyweds at their Harp & Crown reception. Wanting to throw a big party, they scratched the idea of a sit-down dinner and instead offered custom cocktails, passed appetizers, and food stations for their 200 guests to enjoy as they pleased. Another cool feature of the reception? The two bowling lanes in Harp and Crown’s lower-level bar that guests were free to use all night.
For Colin, the highlight of the night was pulling Emily aside amid the chaos and taking everything in: “It was so surreal and awesome to look around and see a room full of all the people we love celebrating us.”
THE DETAILS
Photographer: Gabby Smarr for Emily Wren Photography | Venue and Catering: Harp & Crown | Planning/Design: Beth Koenig at Harp & Crown | Florals: Morgan Mesko | Bride’s Gown: Reem Acra from Elizabeth Johns | Bridesmaids’ Attire: Milly and Alice and Olivia | Hair: Amanda D’Andrea | Makeup: Victoria Roggio | Groom’s Attire: Indochino | Entertainment: EBE Entertainment | Desserts: Federal Donuts, the Sugary, and Minooka Bakery | Invitations: Revival Letterpress | Rings: Brian Joseph Jewelry | Transportation: Cescaphe Trolley | Videography: Toast Wedding Films
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