Highland Brewing Company Event Center

Wedding Day

Wedding

Reception

Our Wedding

-------------------------JANUARY 25th, 2021 UPDATE -----------------------------

Dear Family and Friends,

 

 As we hoped 2020 would bring the end to the pandemic, we are all too aware this will be a continued effort in 2021 to do our best to further control the COVID19 virus. With that being said, last March we made a decision to move our wedding from May 2020 to May 2021 in hopes of having the wedding we envisioned. However, with the current state of the pandemic, we again have had to re-look at our plans for 2021.

 







It is with heavy hearts (again) that we inform you all that we have decided to officially cancel our May 9###sup/sup###, 2021 wedding celebration. We both feel that even with the vaccine roll out, we cannot guarantee the state of COVID19 pandemic and therefore, the safety of our guests in regards to holding a large gathering and the celebration we envisioned. We hope you all understand this decision, and we apologize&nbsp;for any inconveniences we may have caused you. Please continue your current efforts of social distancing, masking up, and please consider obtaining the vaccine for COVID19 if offered to you.

 









As some of you may have heard, we were able to have a small wedding ceremony on September 12, 2020 in Southern Pines, NC with family, as we could not wait another year for our official marriage. &nbsp;









We still hope in the future to hold a celebration, when we are all able to be in large gatherings and feel safe, dance the night away, and have the reception we always envisioned for ourselves with family and friends at our side. We currently do not have any future dates planned for when this could be, but once we know we will happily spread the word! 

 









&nbsp;Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions.









&nbsp;Love,

 

 Mia and Ben







 _______________________________________________________________________________ 







The year was 2014.









He was just a small town boy (not literally but he went to college in Bloomington Illinois). He took the midnight plane going to Balt-Ti-More, because that is where he got a job after college. She was just&nbsp;a city girl, not born but raised outside north Detroit. She took the middle lane (on the Pennsylvania turnpike)&nbsp;going to Balt-Ti-More. 





















In what better city to start this story than in the Greatest City In America.&nbsp;While working on the same floor in a research lab, Ben and Mia hadn't had much interaction besides an occasional work sponsored trail run or post-bac meeting. Ben decided he needed to shake up things and started a kickball team for all the science nerds to join and get their butts kicked. Mia, a natural athlete, was instantly drawn to this. Thus began a spontaneous and free spirited friendship. They spent time together working (or avoiding work), exercising, and traveling.





















Soon their friendship turned into a romance. This was tested when Ben moved down to Winston Salem, North Carolina for school. Luckily through perseverance, Facetime, and many hours on highway 81 and 95 Mia was able to join Ben in Winston Salem for a job and eventually school herself.&nbsp;





















As they built a life together, soon Ben came to realize slowly but surely that he couldn't imagine it any other way. So on one lucky day (no pun intended), Ben surprised Mia at Federal Hill in Baltimore, with some of her greatest friends, 171 pictures, a ring, and a very important question.&nbsp;





















Since then Ben and Mia have both graduated from school and moved up to Ann Arbor, Michigan for jobs. They have added&nbsp;a dog to their family, Rosalind Franklin or Rosie, who is soon to be on Portugal's Next Top Dog Model.&nbsp;

The Greatest Story Ever Told.

Our Story

Details

Photos

Renee is the first member of&nbsp;Charlie's&nbsp;Angels - Edelhauser Edition&nbsp;with her dark hair. Renee has known Mia her whole life and honored Mia by giving&nbsp;her&nbsp;her&nbsp;first hair cut without their Mom's permission. Renee has a passion for cooking, scraping ice off her windshield while freezing&nbsp;her arse off,&nbsp;and&nbsp;Blink 182 despite their&nbsp;ups and downs throughout the years. Renee&nbsp; likes to&nbsp;sew&nbsp;sick-sophisticated-sleek-sassy items&nbsp;and making multiple trips to the grocery store each week. Renee is currently living in St. Paul, MN working at the University of Minnesota in Pediatric Hematology Oncology clinical trials.

Current shared interests: face-in-a-hole photo editing, spoiling their pets while also forcing them to snuggle, and blue moon ice cream that somehow ends up on their&nbsp;clothes.

Renee Edelhauser

Brother, role model, and former Ed Sheeran look alike Ben has known Matt his whole natural born life. Matt is the initiator of the great Becker migration to North Carolina, which brought the Becker Boys closer together than ever before. While the athletic genes were never in their favor with Matt's asthma and Ben's incredible lack of hand eye coordination, together they may make a halfway decent athlete.&nbsp;Matt is currently living in Charlotte North Carolina, and works as a Data Analyst for Spectrum (which does Ben no good since he has moved to Xfinity land).&nbsp;

Current shared interests include: Beer, sharing incredibly cute stories about their dog-daughters, and recounting hilarious stories of Mark and Marcia.

Matt  Becker

Expert Greek folk dancer and econometrics II instructor. Mark and Ben met in college through the cross country team. Despite his incessant need to call Ben a hipster and his love for the Goldbergs&nbsp;they became quite good friends. Mark&nbsp;even walked&nbsp;over 900 miles to see him one time. Always down for a mediocre diner, Mark and Ben also share a mutual interest in Bojangles Eatery&nbsp;and Sandwich Company.&nbsp;&nbsp;Mark is currently living in Chicago (but not downtown), and working for someone doing something over Ben's head.

Current shared interests include: Running when Mark is injured, the TV show Scrubs, and&nbsp;jumping high 5's.

Mark Giannis

Andrea is the red headed recessive Edelhauser sister. Growing up, Andrea required the most sun screen - yet was usually the burnt Bert of the siblings. Andrea has known Mia here whole life and is the one who influenced Mia's love of science. Her current passions are treat-yo-self food experiences, trendy clothes but&nbsp;refusing to pay full price,&nbsp;and biking the streets of San Francisco hoping to be picked up by a professional BMX team. Andrea has a passion for traveling and always has everyone questioning how often she actually works because of her exciting trips! Andrea is currently living in San Francisco, CA working as a labor and delivery nurse at UCSF.







Current shared interests: leaving each other&nbsp;screaming voicemails&nbsp;for fun, drinking champagne on a Wednesday, and comparing&nbsp;our ~model~ boyfriends careers.

Andrea Edelhauser

Psuedo-sibling, couch crasher, and easiest-to-get-along-with-friend as reported in Ben Magazine (c).&nbsp;Brandon has known Ben almost as long as Matt has. They initially bonded over their mutual natural deep-seated inability to play little league baseball. They have since seen slightly better days such as: losing 2 ACLs,&nbsp;being pushed out of plane together, and Ben attempting to learn how to Floss from Brandon's step sisters (I'm going to leave that to your imagination for how well that went). Brandon currently lives in Plainfield Illinois and works as Manager for an engineering company for which he has passed on exactly 0% of his electrical engineering knowledge on to Ben.

Current shared interests include: Video games, Nachos, and Frolf.&nbsp;

Brandon O'Neal

Kelli and Mia first met in second grade after Mia moved from Ohio. Their relationship was off to a rocky start when Kelli came over after school one day and sat on Mia's precious lime green&nbsp;blow up chair. However, the incident was quickly forgotten about and thus began&nbsp;countless neighborhood bike rides, playing softball, and making up odd games in their backyards.&nbsp;Kelli is known as&nbsp;a Honorary&nbsp;Edelhauser Sister. Her current passions are rock climbing to achieve Spider-man like skills, science-ing away in the lab where her mice have become some of her best friends, and her dog Gordie! Kelli is currently living in Newport Beach, CA attending UC Irvine obtaining her PhD in reproductive toxicology.&nbsp;Current shared hobbies include using excessive adjectives and nouns to greet each other, science, and perfecting the microwaved nacho (note: do not put lettuce on nachos before you microwave).

Kelli Malott

You can tell this is Paul Bastian by the way he is, he's pretty neat. A former professional swimmer turned master chef, his fate changed forever on one fateful October night when Paul had a skype interview to be the tallest roommate of Ben Becker. Based on the absurd sportswear Ben was wearing on his way to lose a kickball game and&nbsp;and Mia's cacophonous laugh Paul knew&nbsp;that these two would make most excellent friends. After living with Ben for a year, Paul upgraded to the much cleanlier casa Edelhauser life and got to enjoy the Mia and Ben relationship even when they weren't together. They managed to stay friends since even as Paul has abandoned his southern roots for a more northern identity. Paul is now attending attending medical school in the Electric City, to soon be America's Next Top Doctor.Shared common interests include: sharp things, science, and talking about Paul's lackadaisicalness.&nbsp;

Paul Bastian

Scott, Scotty, Meeeeesta Scott, the more beautiful half of the 'Gruesome Duesome',&nbsp;and McTurbs all describe this wonderful man. Ben and Scott met on the college cross country team as well and had the pleasure of sharing the resort room in Adams Hall as well as being on the clearly superior Lease A in their later shanty town house. Despite being for Marengo, Scott knows how to get down, and the last time these two hung out Ben laughed so hard be broke a rib (this may not be the complete truth but Ben much prefers this story). Scott is currently living in Phoenix Arizona and works in both education and real estate, because no one career can pin him down.

Current shared interests include: syrup shots, music, and silent laughing so hard that you cant breath and it hurts a little bit.&nbsp;

Scott Meyer

Wedding Party

Q + A

Registry

Asheville Regional Airport&nbsp;is about a 20 minute drive into&nbsp;the city.

Asheville Regional Airport

Get creative! Asheville is home to many cute cabins, bed and breakfasts, and airbnbs/Vrbo places. We wanted to make sure everyone at least had the option of a hotel but feel free to scout out fun places to stay and let your mind go wild.

Many Many unnamed cabins and Airbnbs/Vrbo

Flying into Charlotte,NC makes it about a 2 hour drive to Asheville

Charlotte Douglas International Airport

Asheville Ramada Southeast

Homewood Suites by Hilton Asheville-Tunnel Road

Public buses are available from Asheville regional airport for only a dollar,&nbsp;however they only come every 90 min so plan accordingly. There are plenty of Uber/Lyft options in Asheville however so whether you are coming in, leaving, or just getting around town there is always an easy way to get there.&nbsp;

Public transit

Hampton Inn Asheville-Tunnel Rd.

Travel

The Biltmore Estate is a historic house museum that was built by the Vanderbilt family in the 1890's. Once a privately owned house is now open to the public for tours of the the property and landscape(includes a winery), historic architecture, and a walk through tour of the mansion.

Biltmore

There are plenty of ways to enjoy the French Broad river, which runs through Asheville. You can kayak, tube, paddle board and more! Here is a website of one of the few options for rentals and tours. Feel free to do your research because there are many more!

Kayak/Float the French Broad River

Oh where to start with this... Asheville is well known as the Beer Capitol of NC if not the southeast. Even if you prefer wine or liquor the breweries are worth checking out for their cool atmosphere and fun tours.&nbsp;

Breweries include:





Sierra Nevada Brewing Company (100 Sierra Nevada way, Fletcher NC)

A little bit out of town this brewery definitely is worth the hike if you can get there. On its own gigantic plot of land, this gorgeous brewery is probably the biggest in Asheville. Go visit, take the tour, eat at the restaurant, or hang out in their enormous venue space out back where there is often music and lawn games.



 



New Belgium Brewing Company (21 Craven St, Asheville NC)



Directly on the French Broad river, this beautiful space is a great place to try some new bear and enjoy the beautiful scenery. We have never been on the tour but hear its a good one. The varied beer flavors of New Belgium is definitely their strong point, so try a flight! There is usually a food truck around to grab a bite to eat.



 



Wicked Week Brewing Company (91 Biltmore Ave, Asheville NC)



With a restaurant&nbsp;&nbsp;upstairs and the bar downstairs this is definitely always a crowded place, but for good reason! They have some of the best food and hoppiest beer in town.



 



Wicked Weed Funkatorium (147 Coxe Ave, Asheville NC)



This a a sours only place made by Wicked Weed. Known for their exotic and strong flavors it is a pretty special place. Even if you are not a big sours person it is worth going because their variety is almost a guarantee you will find something you like.



 



Burial Beer Company (40 Collier Ave, Asheville NC)



One of the more interesting decorated brewery in town. They are defniitely known for their strong flavors and strong beers so watch out! Very fun environment too and a short walk from a lot of restuarants.



 



Other highly recommended breweries: Bhramai, Thirsty Monk,&nbsp;The Wedge, Greenman, High wire, and Asheville Brewing Company.&nbsp;

Go Beer tasting

Just a 20 min drive from Asheville, in the beautiful Pisgah National Forest.&nbsp; Acres full of trails and gardens await you.

North Carolina arboretum

Asheville is literally surrounded by beautiful hikes! With Pisgah National Forest to your east (<a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/nfsnc/recarea/?recid=48114">https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/nfsnc/recarea/?recid=48114</a>), the Great Smokies to your west (<a href="https://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm">https://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm</a>), and the Nantahala to your south (<a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/nfsnc/recarea/?recid=48634">https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/nfsnc/recarea/?recid=48634</a>) you cannot go wrong! Most big hikes are a good 30-60 min drive, but don't let that stop you, these view are gorgeous. Check out the url above for good hiking ideas rated by difficulty. Of Note #1: Mount Mitchell is the highest peak of the Appalachian Mountains and the highest peak east of the Mississippi River. Located just outside Asheville, the peak can be reached by car or a 6 mile hike starting at the&nbsp;Black Mountain Campground. Of Note #2: John Edelhauser would like to point out to the guest that there have been numerous Sasquash sightings in the surrounding area of Asheville. Please keep an eye out if you decide to take a hike/go Squashing (a John term for Sasquash seeking related hiking events).&nbsp;

Go Hiking!

From the Shanondoah to the Great Smokies, voted 'America's Best Drive', you cannot leave Asheville without seeing at least part of this amazing highway. With hikes accessible right from the road&nbsp;as well as many scenic overlooks,&nbsp;Mia and I would highly suggest driving on it if you can.

Explore the Blue Ridge Parkway

As we visited Asheville over the years, we have collected a list of places we have enjoyed eating at to include: 

-White Duck Taco

- Biscuit Head

- Chai Pani

-The Gourmet Chip Company

-Try you some Carolina BBQ:&nbsp;There are a plethora of good barbecue, its North Carolina after all! If you aren't into the vinegar based sauce there is still plenty of good finger licking food that you should check out. One of our favorites is Buxton Hall barbecue but don't let that stop you from discovering some more good food.&nbsp; 

- In the mood for fast food? Try&nbsp;Bojangles or Cook Out if you are on the road and in need of some fried chicken (Bojangles) or a milkshake (Cook Out).&nbsp;

maria & Ben

maria & Ben

Photos