After five years of dating, Duquesne University Law School sweethearts Kara Eaton and Jepthah Orstein knew they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. And they wanted to make that happen as fast as possible.Just six months after Jepthah popped the question in late March 2011, the couple became husband and wife. “We really didn’t want to wait,” Kara says with a laugh.Jepthah could not wait to propose either. On a random weekday, he picked Kara up from work, as he usually does. But as he slid the gear into park, Jepthah asked Kara to retrieve something from the glove compartment for him — her engagement ring. “I later learned he had picked up the ring that afternoon and couldn’t wait to give it to me,” Kara says. “He couldn’t hold on to it for very long.”
The Ceremony
Once engaged, Kara and Jepthah immediately started planning, booking the Mansion at Maple Heights in Shadyside for a late-summer wedding. Kara found the perfect wedding dress at Anne Gregory for the Bride — a lace Monique Lhuillier gown. Jepthah and his three groomsmen wore matching suits, and Kara went in search of the perfect ties. “I looked at hundreds, I think,” she says.
On the morning of the big day, the couple and their families enjoyed breakfast together then split up to get ready. They reconvened for “first glance” photos with the bridal party at nearby Mellon Park before the wedding, with Araujo Photography capturing their playful side. “We weren’t nervous by the time the ceremony came because we had been together,” says Kara.
A Christian minister performed the nuptials at the Mansion, using Kara’s grandfather’s ceremony.
The Reception
Once they were officially married, the couple wanted to cut loose and have fun. One hundred guests made their way from cocktail hour to an outdoor tent for dinner and dancing. The space was designed to look airy and classic, decorated with lace overlays on every table and all-white bunches of flowers designed by Bill Chisnell Productions. “I wanted everything to be simple and elegant,” Kara says.
Big Burrito Catering put out a delish dinner spread, Bella Christies supplied the cookies, and Meghann Walsh, pastry chef at Cioppino of Pittsburgh, created a RumChata and vanilla cake with buttercream icing — but Jepthah was in charge of the drinks. “My husband is a beer connoisseur,” Kara says. “He had four different types of beer from East End Brewing, and we had Dreadnought Wines help us out with some wine.”
Their first dance as husband and wife was to “Wonderful Tonight” by Eric Clapton, and when the dancing ended, the couple spent their wedding night at the Mansion.
Even though they planned a quick hitch, Kara said she enjoyed every minute of the preparations and her wedding day. “I wouldn’t change a thing,” Kara says. “It was the perfect day.”
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