Savannah Graybill and Chris Strup: Sliding Into Marriage

A winter Olympic sport known as skeleton led Savannah and Chris to become members of Team USA. While they didn’t achieve their goals of competing in the Olympic Games, Chris and Savannah agree that they won gold when they became husband and wife on July 19.

Savannah and Chris stole away to take photographs at neighboring Stoudtburg Village.

Savannah, a graduate of Cocalico High School, was a heralded field hockey player who went on to play for American University in Washington, D.C. During her senior year at AU, representatives of the Winter Olympics came calling in search of athletes who were strong and fast. Field hockey players fit that criterion. Adventure awaited those who expressed interest, as they would initially train to become bobsledders. The prospect of becoming a part of Team USA and traveling the world appealed to Savannah, and she successfully applied to become a part of the program.

Pre-season training in Denver (PA).

Meanwhile, Chris, who had been a high school track star in his hometown of Defiance, Ohio, continued to climb the ranks of his sport at Loyola University in Chicago. After graduating, he learned that a friend of a friend had tried out for bobsledding. “I thought to myself, ‘I could do that,’” says Chris, who signed up for a combine event being held in Cleveland. “I missed being an athlete,” he says of the factor that motivated him to attend the recruiting event. So, accompanied by his father and grandfather, Chris made his way to Cleveland, where his successful showing resulted in an invitation to rookie camp in Lake Placid, New York.

Once at their respective rookie camps, the two were free to explore other sports. Both gravitated to skeleton, a sport in which a person rides a small sled (so named a skeleton) headfirst down a frozen track that winds and twists its way to the finish line, reaching speeds approaching 90 miles per hour. “I had to gain 20 pounds,” says Chris. Skeleton, which was developed in St. Moritz, Switzerland, is considered to be an offshoot of tobogganing. Skeleton was contested in the Games that were held in St. Moritz in 1928 and 1948. After that, it was deemed too dangerous a sport until 2002 (Salt Lake City), when it was permanently added to the Winter Games’ schedule.

Savannah competing in Lake Placid.

It was in Lake Placid that Chis and Savannah’s lives converged. One night they happened to be in the same bar when Chris took notice of Savannah. “She didn’t give me the time of day,” he recalls. Later, a teammate pointed out to the clueless Savannah that Chris seemed taken with her. “No,” Savannah replied.

The two continued to semi-ignore each other, although Chris wasn’t one to give up. In 2019, they were on separate tours, which gave Chris the idea to ask teammate Andrew Blaser to put in a good word for him, as he was on the same tour as Savannah. “I’ll think about it,” said Andrew on his departure. After playing a silly game in which Andrew came up with a “word” of the day, he finally told Savannah that Chris had asked him to plead his case.

Finally, in early 2020, Savannah agreed to go on a date with Chris. “Our first official date was scheduled for March, and you know what happened then,” she says, referring to the pandemic. The two departed Lake Placid for their respective homes in Pennsylvania and Ohio and began facetiming each other every night. At the end of May, Savannah visited Chris in Ohio, where he and his brother own a farm. “We decided to keep our relationship under wraps,” she says.

Chris takes off!

In 2021, Chris decided it was time for a change and left Team USA. At the invitation of Savannah’s parents, Dwight and Angela Graybill, Chris took up residence with the empty nesters and began working full-time for Breakthru Beverage Group, a national company whose portfolio includes premier wine, spirit and beer brands. Chris had interned with Breakthru while at Loyola and a sales opening in the company’s Philadelphia office prompted him to apply.

Meanwhile, Savannah continued her training regimen in Lake Placid. Her deep disappointment at not being named to the 2022 Olympic team prompted her to consider her future. She elected to retire and forge a life with Chris. They took that first step by buying a house in Lancaster City.

They agree that their time spent with Team USA was one they would always treasure, notably the opportunity they were given to travel to some of the most beautiful places in the world. (Chris names competing in St. Moritz for the first time as a favorite memory.) They’ve also made lifelong friends. “We don’t regret any of it,” says Savannah, who works in corporate communications at Zimmer Biomet. She’s also resumed playing field hockey in an adult league. “We learned a lot from skeleton and will always have wonderful memories,” she shares.

Popping the Question

In the summer of 2023, Chris did his due diligence and discussed the prospect of asking Savannah if she would marry him with her father. However, it was agreed that it would also be a good idea for Chris to discuss it with Savannah’s twin brother, Donny, who was stationed in California with the Navy at the time, as well as her brother, Ben, who lives locally in Reinholds. Of course, they all welcomed Chris to the family with open arms.

A pre-wedding photo shoot coincided with rehearsal.

As luck would have it, Chris was offered an incentive trip to Napa Valley just ahead of a trip they had planned to visit Donny and his family. It provided the perfect opportunity to propose. Chris had designed a ring with their mutual friend, Sarah Nguyen, of Sarah Michiko Designs, a jeweler in New York. “I had an idea of what she wanted,” he says.

Chris traveled to Napa and arranged to later meet Savannah in San Francisco. Poor Chris was so paranoid that the ring would be lost that he carried it with him throughout the Napa trip. Once in California, Donny’s wife, Suzy, was afraid her three children would spill the beans and encouraged Chris to propose sooner rather than later.

Taking a post-wedding stroll.

Taking her cue, Chris took Savannah to Fort Ord Dunes State Park, where a picnic basket awaited that held the ring and a bottle of Champagne. Following a walk along the beach, Chris popped the question and a shocked Savannah said yes to applause provided by Donny and his family.

Let the Planning Begin

Determining a date was the first project on their To-Do list, as an annual two-week family vacation in Stone Harbor in early July had to be accounted for. “We started looking at venues and loved IronSpire,” Savannah says of the Adamstown venue that was formerly home to the Black Angus and Stoudt’s Brewery. “It felt like home,” says Savannah, who grew up in nearby Denver. They settled on July 19, which was a Friday. “Friday weddings are totally underrated,” says Chris, who appreciated the fact that they had the weekend to spend with out-of-town family and friends, including a contingent of former teammates. The 110-person guest list consisted of friends and family who arrived from as far away as Monterey, Boise and Australia. July weddings can be iffy from a weather perspective, but fortunately the heat of early July dissipated, and the weather was perfect.

Apart from having Emily Ross on board as the day-of coordinator, Savannah and Chris planned the wedding themselves, along with the incredible help of family. For her dress, Savannah and her mother visited In White, where finding a simple, form-fitting gown was on Savannah’s mind. She found two dresses that fit the criteria and decided to sleep on it before saying yes to one of them. “I went back by myself and tried them on again and made my choice,” she recalls.

With the wedding, Chris officially became a member of the Graybill clan.

Green, white and gold became the color scheme of the wedding (Savannah’s attendants wore eucalyptus-hued dresses in various styles). Because of the greenery that beautifies the IronSpire Complex, they did not have to bring in an overabundance of florals and decorations.

Savannah and Chris also relied on the talents and the recommendations of friends and family to select vendors. In addition to Sarah Nguyen, they asked Haley Timmons, a high school friend of Chris’s from Columbus, to photograph the wedding. “She always told me that she wanted to do the photography when I got married,” Chris explains. Savannah asked her grandmother’s friend, Sharon Zimmerman, to do floral design for the ceremony and reception.

As for food, Catering by John Lowe handled that aspect of the wedding, which included passed hors d’oeuvres and a buffet dinner. “They make you feel so special,” says Savannah. “The food was delicious, and the service was incredible.” They also liked the fact that the company donates leftover food to charitable organizations. Dinner ended on a sweet note with a small wedding cake (red velvet) from La Dolce Vita and desserts from Costco. After dinner, the newlyweds and their guests danced the night away. The two did steal away for photos at the neighboring Stoudtburg Village.

Savannah and Chris thoroughly enjoyed their wedding. As she posted to Instagram a few days later, she will always remember the “joy, laughter and unforgettable memories” that made her wedding day one to remember.

On Trend

Savannah and Chris’s wedding included several trends that will carry into 2025.

Sentiment

According to The Knot, honoring grandparents, parents, siblings and friends who have passed away in a meaningful way has become a part of weddings. Savannah and Chris did so by honoring their late grandparents on their wedding day.

Sustainability

Chris and Savannah appreciated the greenery that IronSpire provided, which in their case, fit in beautifully with the color scheme. They also liked the fact that leftover food would not be discarded but shared with charitable organizations.

TGIF

There’s no rule that weddings must take place on Saturday. Consider that Friday-evening weddings take the party atmosphere up a notch, while Sunday weddings lend themselves to brunch, lunch or even backyard barbecues.

Intimate and Personal

Savannah and Chris’s guest list consisted of friends and family with whom they tend to interact on a regular basis.

Guest Involvement

At Savannah and Chris’s wedding, that began with a unique guest check-in that invited attendees to write endearing messages on Jenga blocks and add them to the growing tower of blocks. Guests could also engage in cornhole.