Real Long Island Wedding: Michele and Mario

My husband and I have always been huge Yankee fans! We have watched countless games over the last 9 years together. When we started to plan the wedding my husband came up with the idea and it went from there. And, I loved the fact that my fiancé/now husband really wanted to participate, get involved and help…it made our wedding really seem much more like OUR special day.

My husband’s idea for a Yankee themed celebration led me to research the various ways other couples used the Yankee theme in their wedding planning. I then took a little here and there and my husband, his twin sister and I came up with little things of our own as well….not to mention that I got a lot of help from girls on LI weddings for ideas.

My Yankee-themed garter belt served as my something blue (I got it off ebay). Our favors were beer mugs (from the Dollar Tree) and peanuts, cracker jacks and sun flower seeds. Our table numbers were retired/ popular Yankees with their pictures and statistics (my husband helped a lot with that). We had a Yankee ice sculpture. The seating cards were designed to look like tickets. The groom’s cake was a small, tiered cake by Sugar Chic that was designed to look like a baseball/stadium. The cake toppers were a bride and groom; The groom is hitting and the bride is pitching to him. (I got those off ebay too). Lastly the bridesmaids’ dresses and the groomsmen’s vests/ties were navy blue. We were going to make the wait staff wear team jerseys but they came in too late. All of the tags had Yankee symbols on it. (favor tag and flip flop tags)

Our wedding and unique celebration really reflected who we were and still are…and how far we’ve come. We’ve been dating since high school. We went through college together and when I started my first job teaching he started medical school. It was incredibly hard at first but like everything you get used to it. We got engaged on June 30, 2007 and knew we would have to wait until medical school ended to be able to get married. Not only did we want to wait for him to finish school but, at the time, it was also financially impossible to afford a wedding. When he got hired at NYU pediatric program for his residency program we were incredibly excited. He found out a few months before the wedding that he would start his residency orientation the Monday before our wedding. Although I was upset he was able to attend the rehearsal with no problem but had to work all day the day before the wedding and got back to his parents house on LI late that night. He works long hours and his schedule changes frequently but we can both agree it is worth it because he loves working with children. Just like before it will take time to get used to it but it is well worth it. Since he just started his residency we will not be able to go on our honeymoon until February, but at least we get to go…and we’re really excited about our special getaway. We can hardly wait

We are going on our honeymoon in February when I have off from teaching and he has a week off from the hospital. We are going to the Rivera Maya, and staying at the Aventura Spa Palace. We picked this location mainly because we are both big history buffs (I am a social studies and special education teacher in Brooklyn). The Yucatan peninsular is the home of some of the Mayan ruins. We also picked this location because of its beauty and the weather in February.

Burtons did an amazing job! And, they were very instrumental in helping us pull our theme together. I gave them a piece of my mother’s veil and a little picture charm of my dog Roxie to put on my flowers and they did it with no problem. The flowers were truly amazing and the colors popped like I wanted. Since the Navy is not really a summer color I ordered bright colored flowers to add the summer colors to the girls. The service was amazing and the flowers lasted a long time. The prices are also very affordable and the customer service was very accommodating.

I would also like to extend my kudos and sincerest thanks to: After Hours and Sugar Chic. When I first signed a contract with After Hours I had a hard time finding reviews about them , which worried me. But, Phil the owner was great! A real entertainment pro, he got people out of their seat and he had excellent communication with me from the minute I booked until the wedding was officially over! They were truly amazing! The entire dance floor was packed! Sugar Chic made the groom’s cake and it was one of the best cakes I have ever had. She was so nice and really was super creative in making my cake…and more than I could have ever expected!

It was important to me that ALL my guests had a good time. One of my biggest pet peeves is going to weddings and coming home with swollen feet and burses on them from the straps. That’s why I came up with the idea for a flip-flop basket. My twin sister Danielle, older sister Liz, my mom, and I made the flip flop basket. The last two years we went on both of the old navy dollar flip flop days and my whole family purchased as many flip flops as we were allowed. We had 200 people attend the wedding so we needed a decent amount of flip flops. The tags on the flip flops had a small poem, the size and a Yankee symbol on them. Everyone loved the idea and I am so happy I did it…and that I had all the great help that I did.

In fact, my twin sister Danielle, older sister Liz and mother really helped me a lot. They made everything for my shower and it was truly an amazing day!

My twin sister Danielle helped make all of the paper DYI’s from the table numbers, flip- flop tags, seating cards and so much more. She came with me to all of my fittings, gave me her honest opinions when other may have not and put me in my place if I needed it. My twin sister is getting married on Oct. 3rd and I hope to be there for everything like she was for me. I really don’t think I could have done all of this without her.

However, despite all the planning, organizing and fanfare, the best part of the day was actually getting married. Getting married! I think sometimes you get so swept up in planning every small detail that you forget why you are truly there. I have been with Mario for 9 years and he is the best thing that ever happened to me. I was upset because the camera crew was blocking Mario but my mom and sisters started crying when I got to the alter and when I later asked them why (besides us getting married) they said it was the look on Mario’s face when he saw me. I truly regret not seeing that and I hope when I get my pictures this week I will get the chance to see it! We made sure that we stopped at various parts of the day and just looked around and took everything in. The day flies by so quickly! It was truly the best day of my life, so far (even with the rain). For some reason every time we got out of the car to take pictures is stopped raining and then continued when we got back in the church/car/hall.

I loved the wedding/marriage SO much, that, that’s what I would stress above all to other brides. All of the small details, yes, are important ,but you must remember the real reason you are going through all of this stress. The advice we got from family members was to stop and look around and take it in because other wise you will get swept away in it and it will be over before you realized it began.

After Hours and sugar chic. When I first signed a contract with After Hours I had a hard time finding reviews about them which worried me. Phil the owner was great he got people out of their seat and he had excellent communication with me from when I booked until the wedding! They were truly amazing! The entire dance floor was packed! Sugar Chic made the grooms cake and it was one of the best cakes I have had. She was so nice and really was creative in making my cake! If you can include these two vendors I would really appreciate it.