Elizabeth Hospodar & Derrick Tetlow
By Nicole Barley | Photography by Mary Schwarz, Birchtree Photography
Derrick Tetlow recalls Elizabeth Hospodar being a bit shy when they first met at Allegheny College in Meadville. “I had seen her around campus, but she ran away from me the first couple times I tried to talk to her,” he laughs. A few months later, there was a first date, and soon after, there was a second, but it didn’t go so smoothly. “I had gotten my wisdom teeth out the day before, so that was fun,” jokes Lizz. It wasn’t long, though, before the two were in love. “We started talking about getting married only a few months after we started dating,” she says. After graduating, Derrick often returned to Meadville for visits with Lizz, and one weekend, he turned their wedding wishes into reality. He arranged for a mutual friend to bring a blindfolded Lizz to an empty classroom on campus, where he was waiting for her with the ring.
Do-It-Yourself Details
Everyone pitched in! Lizz’s mom cross-stitched the table numbers, her stepmother and stepsister picked out silk flowers from Michael’s to adorn the cake from Cakes by Tammy, and a friend did the makeup. The bride, who gifted her bridesmaids with handmade earrings, also designed the wedding invitations and save-the-date cards. She made the favors too — cellophane bags filled with “fake moustaches, silly glasses, a crossword puzzle I’d made about Derrick and me, and Ghirardelli chocolate.” Derrick most liked their DJ, Chris Wright, who is also a friend of the couple’s. “Having my friend as the DJ really made a difference. His understanding of what we were looking for really helped make the wedding personal,” he says.
The Location: The Zen Center of Pittsburgh
The Tetlows wed and celebrated outside! They exchanged the vows they’d written together atop the edge of a grassy hill, with their reception venue — a hexagonally shaped tent ordered from General Rental Center — waiting for their 125 guests, just feet away. They danced their first dance to “Come Rain or Come Shine” by Billie Holiday. Fortunately, the weather was impeccable.
Flower Power
Lizz ordered her flowers from Potomac Floral Wholesale, and two days before the wedding, she and her stepsister Jinnie arranged them all. “I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything,” says Lizz. Using cream and pink roses and spray roses, freesias, and daisies, the pair arranged the blooms in soup cans covered in paper and lace, collected for the bride by friends. “It was kind of like recycling, too,” she says. Because she over-ordered, there were plenty of flowers to decorate the altar, and all of their guests got flowers to take home.
More Details!
- Her all lace, vintage-inspired gown from MB Bride was a 2be Bride design. It was the first one she tried on!
- Lizz’s mom’s dog, Jake, a half lab, half Doberman, joined the couple on the dance floor during their first dance.
- The bride and groom consider the speech by Jinnie, the maid of honor, “perfect!” and “the best that I’ve ever heard.”