Real Long Island Wedding: Stephanie and Gregory

I had been doing internet dating off and on for a few years. I started out on match, and I didn’t really care for it, so I went on to try eharmony, chemistry.com, etc. After exhausting a number of sites, I was kind of out of options and thought, “what the heck, I’ll try match again…” So glad I did.

I showed up in Greg’s list of possible matches and he contacted me. When I saw his picture, I totally recognized him. I read his profile and thought, “Hmm, I’ve read this before…” Turns out he and I had been in contact my first go-round on match years before! Neither of us remembered exactly what happened. After emailing for a few weeks, we decided to meet. I met him at a local Boulder Creek for drinks and appetizers. As soon as I walked in the restaurant, I saw him sitting at the bar, looking over his shoulder at me. I was instantly smitten. He asked me to be his girlfriend after just a few short weeks of dating. He told me he loved me before a month was up. Marriage was a topic that came up after a few months of dating. He referred to me as his “wife” before we were even engaged.

After months and months of looking for an engagement ring, I found what I wanted. He went through the process of purchasing it and having it set. The plan was, once the ring was ready, we would have my mom hold onto it until we could get it appraised and insured. Once it was insured, he could “surprise” me with a proposal at any time. He didn’t last one night! The day we picked it up, we left it with my mom. Unbeknownst to me, he got it back from her like 5 minutes later. That night, while at home, I was in the bedroom and Greg was out in the living room, doing some sort of home improvement job like he’s always doing. He called me into the room to help him. He asked me to hold a mirror against the wall. When I did that, I saw that he had placed a note on the end table below the mirror that said “Will you marry me?” with the ring in its open box next to it. I was actually surprised! Of course, I said yes!

I had worked really, really hard to have a fantastic wedding with lots of details and extras, and special touches. My theme was peacock, since Westbury Manor has peacocks on the grounds. My bridesmaids wore peacock-ish colors; my MOH wore teal blue and my other two bridesmaids wore a complementary shade of blue called Mediterranean. I also incorporated purple into the mix with their flowers. The bouquet stems were wrapped with swatches from their dress. My MOH had a Swarovski peacock feather pin on her bouquet stem. They each wore peacock feather adornments in their hair. The programs were attached to the back of peacock feather fans which were great for the June day. We had an outdoor ceremony that was absolutely gorgeous with all the flowers and the beautiful sunshine. The opera singer, accompanied by a harpist and violinist, added such a beautiful and unique touch. We also had beautiful handmade rose petal cones made by my very talented Uncle John. The cones were in my colors and had beautiful silk flowers attached … some were even orchids (to mimic my gorgeous cascading bouquet that was about as big as my torso and made of white phalaenopsis orchids, white lisianthus and creamy colored white roses.)

My dress was a strapless, ivory silk dupioni Justin Alexander drop waist ball gown. The top was sweetheart, with ruching and crystal embellishments along the bust and down the middle of the torso, and also going around the drop, Basque waist. The skirt was full with a few pick-ups and more crystals. I loved it! I had tried on about a billion dresses before I found it. I had a to-die-for Swarovski crystal soft metal headpiece from Bridal Styles in Brooklyn. Greg and his groomsmen wore medium gray tuxedos for something different and something “lighter” for the summer season. My second dress was my “sexy” dress- Maggie Sottero’s Evita. It fit me like a glove and gave me such an hourglass figure.

At cocktail hour, we had a mariachi band, which was such a hit! I love mariachi music and I couldn’t have been happier with them. Everybody loved them! We had a mashed potato bar which was also a big hit. I also arranged for pastizzis to be at the cocktail reception, which is a Maltese delicacy since my husband is of Maltese descent. They are made from layers and layers of flaky phyllo dough and are stuffed either with ricotta or a pea mixture. Delicious! Those were a hit, too, and a nice surprise for Greg ;-)

At the reception, we had the mariachis play the father and daughter dance, “My Nina Bonita.” That was really special and touching. My dad was dancing faster than the beat and I told him to slow down to which he replied, “I just want to get it over with!” (My dad does NOT enjoy being the center of attention at all!) Too funny.
The rest of the day was beautiful. The food was beyond excellent, my play list went along great, and everybody danced and had a wonderful time. Our favors were handmade with love by my mother-in-law and they were so gorgeous and unique, and incorporated my peacock theme as well. They were glass pedestal bowls that were hand painted with peacock feathers in my wedding colors. Also, since we were married on Father’s Day, Greg had made beer (a chocolate oatmeal stout) for the guys.
Enjoy it and *breathe*! Also, try not to overly stress the small stuff because on the day of the wedding, you have to let it all go and just enjoy the moment and the love and your day. Also, hire a DOC! Simply Couture is beyond awesome! She is reasonable and a TOTAL sweetheart. She will make sure your vision becomes a reality. And!- you can email her constantly and she writes back so fast, it’s not even funny. I swear that girl doesn’t sleep! This will help with your stress level, for sure! Also, go wedding ring shopping with your fiancé for his ring. Otherwise, he will bring home the ugliest ring the world has ever seen and you will have to fight him to return it and then end up going to Chinatown to get a nicer one.