Gateway Clipper Fleet

Celebrate your wedding day with your friends and family on a riverboat cruise, Gateway-Clipper-style! The Gateway Clipper Fleet is one of Pittsburgh's most unique sites for a wedding. The grand riverboats are most popular for hosting receptions, but couples can also arrange on-board ceremonies, which is a cool option.

The idea of a riverboat wedding reception is one of my personal favorites. The Gateway Clipper is just spacious enough for guests to spread out and enjoy themselves, but small enough to be inviting rather than intimidating. Warning: this will encourage mingling.

Enjoy the Pittsburgh skyline as you and your guests celebrate on the Gateway Clipper... beautiful on a starry night. Even if you're not blessed with the best of weather on your wedding day, there is plenty of shelter available.

The dazzling atmosphere of this venue will definitely have guests buzzing with excitement. A personalized DVD is a perfect way to capture the excitement of the night for years to come. Flashbox Wedding Videography provides a compact and portable video kiosk that can conveniently be set up anywhere on the Gateway Clipper during your reception. Guest will be lined up to leave you messages and send you their best wishes! (Tip: place the video kiosk by the bar for more entertaining memories...)

THE BASICS
Location: Cruisin' up and down Pittsburgh's Three Rivers (350 W. Station Square Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15219)

Pricing: Call for quote on reception
$1,800 for on-board ceremony

Capacity: Call for approximate capacity for receptions
Seats 200 for ceremony

Atmosphere: Classy, yet high-energy, fun, and unique

Contact: Denise Malley
Ph. 412-355-7965
Fax 412-355-7923

To make planning your reception simple and easy, the Gateway clipper offers several Wedding Packages.

All packages include:

• 4 hours of boat usage
• A champagne toast for the bridal party
• Hors d’oeuvres during Cocktail Hour
• Commander’s Host Bar
• Elegant selection of wedding cakes
• White Linen service
  
• Parking for wedding party & guests
• A Cruise Director to personally attend to your needs
• For the Bride and Groom, accommodations at the Sheraton Station Square
  

The package also includes your choice from 4 delicious dinner menus (see Wedding Package Brochure).

Of course, all packages can be tailored to meet your specific needs by the Gateway Clipper's Wedding Specialist.

Other special features (not included in the packages) may include:

• Additional time to continue cruising
  
• Floral Arrangements
• Ice Carvings
• Photography
• Chocolate Fountain Display
• Videography
• Audio / Visual Support for your Presentations
  
• Upgraded Bar Service

Pros

• One-of-a-kind
• Beautiful view
• Easy to plan
  

Cons

• Let's hope your guests don't get sea.. uh..river-sick

Wedding Thank You Note Etiquette

After you return from your honeymoon, you face one more daunting wedding task: writing thank you notes. Etiquette states that you should send these out within two months of your wedding, but I recommend you do it sooner, while you are still in wedding mode. Make a list of gifts as you open them, and then pick an evening or two to sit down with your husband with a bottle of wine. Split up the list and get writing. The notes can be short, but try to make them as personal as you can.

Recommended resources:

• How to Write a Wedding Thank You Note
• Custom cards and stamps from Zazzle
• Thank you note cards from Wedding Paper Divas
• Books on wedding etiquette

Read our other posts on wedding etiquette by clicking here.

How to Plan a Green Wedding on eHow

Be sure to check out my latest article on eHow, "How to Plan a Green Wedding." It's got lots of great tips on ways to make your wedding more eco-friendly.

You can also find some great green wedding books at the Perfect Memories Wedding Store, and find more information on green weddings throughout the site.


You might also be interested in:
Eco-Friendly Wedding Favors from Beau-coup.

Personalized Wedding Resources

Every wedding should be as unique as the couple getting married. Be sure to put your personal touch on your wedding day by creating a brand, offering unique food and drink or choosing meaningful music.

Recommended resources:

• How to Plan a Personalized Wedding
• Custom wedding invitations from Wedding Paper Divas
• Personalized cards, stamps and more from Zazzle
• Favors from Beau Coup
• Wedding accessories from The Knot Wedding Shop
  

Real Weddings: Choosing a venue and a date

Our first wedding planning task was to find a location for our wedding. We weren't planning a church ceremony, and both agreed we liked the idea of holding the ceremony and reception at the same place. We also looked mostly north of Pittsburgh, since that's where we live.

Some of the place we looked at online:

• The Grand Ballroom at Cornerstone Commons, Butler
• Succop Conservancy, Butler
• Cranberry Highlands, Cranberry Township
• Armstrong Farms, Saxonburg
• The Atrium, Prospect

By looking online and contacting these sites for some more information, we narrowed our choice down to two: The Grand Ballroom and The Atrium. After visits to both, we selected The Atrium.
What we loved about The Atrium was the light, open feel of the whole place. It felt perfect for a summer wedding. Also, David very much liked the idea of an outdoor wedding, but the thought of weather issues scared me. At The Atrium, they offer an indoor greenhouse for ceremonies, as well as an outdoor gazebo. We didn't need to decide until the day of the event which option we would use.

I also loved The Atrium's packages, because they were so affordable and included a lot of things we would have had to pay for elsewhere, like centerpieces. At the same time, there was a good amount of flexibility for things like menu choices.

Now that we had our location, we needed a date. We had decided on a late summer wedding, because I wanted about a year to plan and because all of our brothers were in school out of town. At the time, all of the August dates were already booked but one--and it was on hold. We picked the last weekend in July as a back up, and waited another week before we got the call that August 11 was free. . .and our wedding officially had a date.