How did you meet your Fiance?

Dave and I were best friends in High School that shared many special moments together, including attending our prom! We shared the same group of friends. Dave played basketball and I was the basketball manager, so pretty much he could not get away from me! ;) We always knew there was more to us, but did not truly realize it until we went away to college. (Did I mention that we choose colleges ten hours apart?!)

The very day we both graduated from College, we started dating and have been together ever since!

Tell us about the proposal!

Dave plans surprise dates pretty often, but for some reason when he told me we were going on one this day, I had a feeling a proposal was in my near future!! I got all dressed up smiling ear to ear and anxiously agreed to get our day date started. We were living in Hoboken at the time and ventured into the city to go to a fabulous brunch. From there, Dave said that we would stop in at his office to drop off my purse, as I could not bring that on the rest of our date. We dropped off my purse and walked around the corner of the seaport to a Helicopter Pad!! In my head, I swear I screamed “jackpot” and was convinced this was a proposal! I mean, who dates for 5 plus years and goes on a helicopter ride as just a Sunday afternoon date??

Part of me felt a little sad for Dave as I know he always tries to surprise me and I am pretty impossible to surprise. We got in the helicopter, went up in the air and I immediately felt stressed with how noisy it was! Dave continued to be adorable pointing out beautiful landmarks of New York City. I was not looking anywhere but his lips, as I was desperately trying to read them... anxiously awaiting my proposal! We finally landed and I assumed it was too noisy for him to propose and that he would do it as we got off the helicopter. Well… we get off and there was still no proposal in sight! I was shocked and speechless….

As we walked back to Dave’s office, he told me later that he was laughing in his head as he knew me too well and knew how secretly disappointed I was. We got in the elevator to go up to his office for my purse and all of a sudden the elevator stops. I thought to myself, “can this day get any worse?!” Shortly after, Dave turns to me and says he wouldn’t want to be trapped in an elevator with anyone else and proceeded to get down on one knee. I accepted and he then advised there was a camera in the elevator and we would have our proposal on tape forever and pressed the button to have the door man let us out. It was the most perfect proposal and to this day cannot believe he was able to surprise me!

How did you choose the location for your wedding? What type of venue were you looking for?

We both have big families and knew our guest list was going to be rather big. It was crucial to find a large venue and even larger dance floor for our party loving guests! We went to the Venetian in Garfield, New Jersey and instantly fell in love with the ballroom. We knew it was the perfect place for us.

How did you decide on your bridesmaids dresses? Tell us about your experience at Bella!

My experience at Bella was amazing! There is a Bella Bridesmaid (Madison, NJ) in the town I work in and I swear at one point I was going there everyday trying on dresses on my lunch break! I was addicted and wanted to make sure I could find a dress that my nine bridesmaids would love. My mom is a little old fashion and loves the look of all of the bridesmaids matching, so I wanted her to be happy with my choice and wanted all of my girls to look and feel amazing. Once I saw the color royal in the luminescent chiffon from Jim Hjelm, I knew I had found my ideal color and fabric. It went great with the groomsmen classic black tuxes and our venue. Funny enough- I think I put the most thought into choosing my bridesmaid dresses, definitely more thought than my own dress!

Who designed your bridal gown? Where did you get it?

Lazaro was the designer of my dress and I got it from Kleinfeld Bridal in NYC. It was pretty much love at first sight! I saw it and knew I had to try it on and instantly knew I had found “the dress”. I was pretty shocked to find my dress so quickly! They say... “when you know, you know” and that certainly applied to me and my dress search!

What was your favorite part of the day?

It is too hard to pick one favorite moment from the day because there are a million! But, my top three would have to be: I loved getting ready with my mom and bridesmaids at my parents house the morning of the wedding. We sat around in the monogrammed button down shirts I had made for everyone, sipping champagne and telling stories, while getting our hair and makeup done. It was such a fun morning!

Also, I loved exiting the church seeing all of our family and friends cheering us on. Dave and I went into a separate room in the church while everyone exited...we were so happy! Also, my cousin was outside playing the bagpipes... it was a surprise detail I had forgotten to mention to my Italian hubby, but come on, what did he expect marrying an Irish Gal?? Needless to say- he loved it.

Lastly, dancing the night away with everyone. Our amazing twelve piece band had everyone on the dance floor...just what we had wanted the entire evening. It was a blast!

What inspired you when you were planning your big day?

I looked at a lot of different wedding blogs and joined Pinterest to help track of all of my inspirations while planning. We got married in the fall and I love and have always loved vibrant colors. It helped seeing that you can do whatever makes you happy and made me think it was okay to step aside from the typical fall color scheme. I tried to use and do things that reflected Dave and I as a couple.

What advice do you have for other brides?

It sounds so cliche and a million people told me this, but it’s true…the day goes by so fast! I had prepared myself to not let anything interfere or stress me out on our wedding day because I wanted to enjoy every single moment, and I can truly say I did. You have to be able to take everything in and relax because it goes by so fast!!! Enjoy every minute of it! :)