Lori + Erman, Modern Day Fairytale

This spring, Erman and Lori tied the knot at the scenic Lake House Inn in Perkasie, PA.  A warm, fun-loving and good-natured couple, they inspired me to tell their ceremony love story like I’ve never done before--in the style of a fairytale. Delighted by the story, many of their guests asked the newlyweds for copies, so here it is--Erman and Lori’s modern day fairytale as told in their wedding ceremony moments before they exchanged vows, warmed-rings, and a honey kiss…

"Once upon a time, The Hotel Bethlehem threw a ball to celebrate a new year in the kingdom. It was at this festive party, that a dashing prince named Erman first saw the most beautiful maiden from across the room, our hero just knew that he had to meet the mysterious beauty before the clock struck midnight.

In their fairytale, the beautiful princess arrived at the ball, looking elegant in her gown and high heel shoes. She was fashionably late of course. The Princess Anastasia, for that is what she called herself when she was out of her castle (so she could remain disguised to suitors unworthy), wanted to partake in the Kingdom’s magical love potion, called a “cosmopolitan”.

Through feats of bravery and directness, Princess Anastasia was able to finally secure the precious potion for herself in a glass vessel, while her friends cheered from the other side of the ball. But before she could drink of the potion, and return to the safety of her ladies in waiting, a mischievous magic carpet came to life and grabbed ahold of Princess Anastasia‘s heel, sending her body forward. But would she spill the potion?

The handsome prince, who had been watching the lovely princess from the moment she had arrived at the ball, had been impressed with how she bested the Kingdom’s Keeper of the Potions so swiftly to secure the delicate glass vessel. And now, this moment, the test of physical feat as well as character—The prince watched in amazement as the princess, snared by the trap of the carpet, tripped, “almost fell flat on her face and magically avoided spilling her cosmopolitan!” He was impressed.

The princess, embarrassed but also impressed with herself, looked around to see if anyone had seen her misstep, she saw the prince then for the first time. He was smiling at her. She smiled back. Then she returned to her ladies in waiting.

The prince was captivated by the princess and waited for just the right time to make an introduction. When the prince and princess finally found themselves face-to-face on the dance floor, the princess still was in disguise. “I’ve never seen anyone with as much grace, charm and flexibility” said the prince, “I must know who you are. What is your name?”

“Anastasia”, answered the princess.

“That is not your name!” The good-natured prince had burst out laughing, and it surprised the princess for no one had ever seen through her disguise before.

"I take you to be my best friend, my faithful partner and my one true love. I promise to encourage and inspire you and to love you truly through good times and bad. I will forever be there to laugh with you, to lift you up when you are down and to love you unconditionally through all of our adventures in life together."

After the prince proved the seriousness of his intent—he danced with the princess throughout the night, made introductions to her friends, brought her more potions, the princess was finally ready to reveal herself to the prince. She said, “My name is Princess Lori." But before she gave the prince all the details to her castle, she warned him, “Whatever you do, you must never text me.”

Oh, our poor prince, perhaps under the influence of too much magic potion himself, disregarded Princess Lori’s warning. He couldn’t get the captivating princess out of his head and sent a text at 4:30 in the morning. And just like that, a spell was immediately cast that made it impossible for either to see the other.

Then one day, after several weeks had passed, the princess was reminded of the powerful charm of the prince’s smile at a chance encounter. Second chances were given and spells broken when the prince picked up the telephone to ask Princess Lori out on a sushi dinner date. From that moment on, “the rest” Erman says, “is history.”

Throughout the years, Lori + Erman have continued to find ways to impress and excite each other as they’ve bonded over many shared interests, travelled to and hiked in exotic lands and enthusiastically rooted for the Philadelphia Fliers, Penn State and the Chicago Bears together. They continue to bring out the best of each other as they grow deeper in love.

On the fifth Anniversary of their fateful meeting, Erman and Lori celebrated with a New Year getaway at Woodloch Lodge. Their day was perfect--they adventured out on their first snowshoe hike and enjoyed the scenery of the wintery mountain lake landscape, took naps and relaxed in the hot tub. Over dinner they reminisced about their favorite moments spent together and what they were looking forward to in the future. As the clock slowly approached midnight, they played the A-Z game, listing all the favorite places they had been to together.

Finally, as the count down drew near, Lori and Erman stood up from their game to hug and kiss. Lori noticed that Erman was only embracing her with one arm, so she stepped back to see what was wrong. There, at the start of this new year, Erman went down on both knees, opened a ring box containing the most brilliant diamond ring in all the land, and asked Lori to marry him. Surprised and overwhelmed, she said “Yes!”

“May you continue to be a strong team and may your life be filled with enough sweetness and love so as to last a thousand years.”—Alisa Tongg, Celebrant

When they returned to their room, a banner that read “Lori and Erman forever” had already been hung to announce their plans to live the rest of their lives as husband and wife. And it is this intention, to be joined together in marriage that brings us to this moment…"

Congratulations to Team LAPEAT! 

We all had so much fun working with the Douglas Benedict Photography, who photographed so many bright moments on the way to Lori + Erman's happily ever after.