Real Long Island Wedding: Pauline and Daniel

How did we meet?

I was on a social networking site and my profile picture was of me in Italy, with the Piazza San Marco in the background. I wasn't looking to meet anyone, in fact, I was tired of all the blind dates, but Dan had sent me a message that asked 'when were you in Italy.' I had just gone backpacking through Italy and was feeling completely renewed and so I was glad to finally have met someone who had something interesting to say. We agreed to meet at a Starbucks and as I sat and looked out the window, I saw a man with brown hair come in so I came up to him, said hi and introduced myself. Well, it turned out he wasn't my date!! So I sat back down and my actual date/future husband arrived and within 5 minutes of meeting, we left Starbucks and went for a walk on the boardwalk at Jones Beach. We soon found out we had more in common; we both went to Stony Brook University, Dan would soon be working in the hospital where I was currently employed and we both grew up only 2 miles away from each other.

The Proposal:

We were on vacation in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic when Dan proposed. We were walking on the shore one morning and I sat down on a beach chair, wondering why Dan was acting so weird! Dan, being nervous, almost dropped the ring in the ocean twice! Finally, Dan came up to me a popped the question.

What made our wedding day so spectacular?

Well, Dan and I love being near the water, whether its going to the beach or going on a cruise, so the Venetian Yacht Club was perfect. One of the things that made our wedding so different is that it was a bit of an international wedding; Dan is Italian American and I'm Filipino, and we had guests travel from all over the US, Canada, Europe & Asia come to our wedding. One of my favorite details were about 100 lotus flower candle holders my aunt brought from the Philippines that we placed on the tables. Also, part of Filipino wedding ceremonies the use of a cord that is loosely draped around the bride and groom in a figure '8' or an infinity symbol to symbolize the couples bond. My cord, which my grandmother brought from the Philippines also, was actually made of a string of gold coins dipped in gold to wish good fortune on our marriage.

My bridesmaid bouquets, made by LA Blossom, were composed of varied shades of pink peonies, sweat peas, lisianthus & white orchids. They really popped against my bridesmaids’ Pool blue dresses.

Another touch that were spent a lot of time on were our Votive Place card holders; each votive was wrapped in Vellum paper with a battery operated candle inside and stated each guest's name & table number. These were made by a friend of the bride who is a graphic designer. On the place card table, we also had 8x10 pictures of our parents wedding day. Our wedding favors were bride & groom brownie pops made by Jeannie of Afresh Approach. (Formerly of Morgan's Bay Confections.) Jeannie was fantastic to work with and was one of our favorite vendors.

My husband and I enjoy going wine-tasting on Long Island's North Fork. Instead of a 'Signature Drink,' we had bottles of Duck Walk Vidal Blanc Ice Wine served during the Viennese hour.

We also had a pirate ship Groom's Cake from Dortoni Bakery for our Rehearsal Dinner.

What was the most memorable part of your wedding?

I guess the most memorable part of my day was seeing so many people who I love were together in one place. I was so overwhelmed to see my grandmothers from the Philippines, my relatives from Greece and Germany and my college friends all in one place. In terms of fun, I think we had a great DJ -MME Entertainment, if you're looking for a party...at one point, my husband actually stage dived off a speaker during the wedding reception.

Important Advice for future brides:

I think it’s not uncommon for brides to try to please everyone else when planning her wedding. YOU are the bride and it’s the one day in your life you're allowed to be 'selfish' because the day is about YOU. Don't worry about pleasing anyone else. It’s your wedding, not theirs, and they will have to get over it.

Eat. Just Eat.

Get a videographer. I had Rob Coupe and the video wasn't cheesy at all and he captured so many great moments that I missed. I loved watching my sister's maid of honor speech, and my husband and I love to watch our video.