Pittsburgh-themed fun ideas

missyt180

About 70% of my wedding guests are OOT and have never been (and will probably never return) to Pittsburgh.  They are DC/LA/NYC, and I want to make sure I show off the city in a really fun way.

So we are (well, its mostly my ideas!) adding lots of small touches - for example, Pierogie station for our dinner, cookie table (outside of PA not a lot of people are familiar).  One thing I am considering (but FI might murder me for) is somehow incorporating Terrible Towels.  I was thinking about doing for the ceremony for people to wave while we exited, but might instead give them out at the rehearsal dinner (where everyone is from OOT).

And although I don't know if it can work out, I am trying really hard to figure out a way to incorporate Primanti Brothers (either as the food for rehearsal dinner, or maybe having our Sunday Brunch there).

So, did any of you do other fun Pittsburgh touches at your weddings?  We are going to be in Market Square, and most people are probably NOT renting cars - we are trying really hard to keep everything close.

I think its relatively easy to get from Market Square to Station Square, right?  How about to other areas (like SouthSide?)?

TIA!

kwynn

See my planning bio for stuff I did to incorporate Pittsburgh.

My theme was Pittsburgh, my coiors were black and gold, and I had brochures made with different city attractions for people to visit.

I had pierogi appetizers, a cookie table, a cake with the skyline on it, tables named after Pittsburgh spots with matching centerpieces, mini ketchup and mustards from Heinz personalized with our names as favors, and personalized Terrible Towels to wave instead of bubbles/rice.

HTH!

duqcheer04

I've seen people give Terrible Towels as "favors" and they are waved as the couple is introduced at the reception.  May be a bit more than you were going for.  I like the idea of having them at the RD.

In my invitations I'm giving a list of local attractions, as there is 3 hours between our ceremony and reception.  Here are the 6 I've come up with:

1. Take in the view from Mt. Washington.  Ranked as one of the most breathtaking views in the world!

2. Enjoy a Primanti's Sandwich, where the fries, slaw, and meat are all together amongst two pieces of Italian bread.

3. Take a walking tour of the North Shore, home of Heinz Field and PNC Park. 

4. Try your hand at the new Rivers Casino.

5. Enjoy the culture of Pittsburgh's Strip District.  Enjoy family owned shops such as Wholey's Fish Market, enjoy fresh bread at Mancini's, and the fresh produce of this lively shopping district.

6. Take a ride on one of Pittsburgh's two inclines, the Duquesne Incline and the Monongahela.

missyt180

Kwynn, I definitely "stole" some of my ideas from your bio! 

Duq - those are great suggestions.  We were going to include restaurants/museums on the attractions for our invites, but I like the tours/sites inclusions as well.

KimWard

Another idea in addition to the ones mentioned would be to have Pgh-themed items in guests' OOT bags (assuming you're doing them). I know some ladies on here got pickle pins from Heinz, for ex. 

kime31

We are doing OOT bags with Pittsburgh things (the pickle pins, clark bars, etc.) and we had custom stamps made using the city skyline and our initials and wedding date.  We are also doing a group outing to the Pirates game the day after for any guests who are still around.

jlbaxter33

Hey Missy,

I really, really, really want to have my rehearsal dinner at Pirmanti Brothers, but I don't know if they would do it. Please let me know if you hear anything, and likewise!

LaFemmeRousse

Oh, I love this post, such good ideas!  Bookmarked

skybluejen

I've seen the terrible towel intro at receptions before. It can be cute!  My cousin had a Pittsburgh themed wedding and the girls wore black gowns and carried yellow flowers. It was a very pretty play on the pittsburgh theme!

We put a lot of Pittsburgh related favors in our OOT bags. Like others said, Clark Bars, pickle pins, etc.  We also picked up lots of $1 giant black and gold football magnets that said "here we go Pittsburgh!" from Paper Mart. There is one on McKnight Rd that always has lots of cheap Pittsburgh goodies!

jaimed99

Kwynn...we need to talk, LOL...we're going a Pittsburgh-themed wedding as well and using Black and Gold as our colors...I'd love any help you can offer as far as making our wedding Pittsburgh-tastic!