R O B + G A B R I E L L E
Rob and Gabrielle both grew up vacationing with each of their families on the Jersey Shore (no not the Snooki Jersey Shore) and couldn’t imagine a better place to celebrate their wedding day. The two had been inseparable after their first date and knew pretty well from the beginning that it was game over (or begun?) at that point.
F R O M T H E B R I D E
How we met…
Rob and I met through mutual friends, one of my best friends from college had grown up with Rob. We started to hang out as a group, but when our friends moved away he was forced to ask me out himself. Our first date was on the 4th of July and we had our first kiss under the fireworks. I think we both knew that it was game over for both of us at that point.
We knew it was love…
After our first date, we were inseparable. We spent the entirety of that summer exploring New York City together (where we both lived at the time). I knew pretty early on in the relationship, but we both waited until we had some liquid courage while on a boat tour around the tip of Manhattan to finally say those three little words.
Our engagement…
Nearly four years into our relationship, Rob and I went on vacation with two of our best friends to Maine. We were visiting a park on the coast when Rob asked me to walk down to the edge with him. He was being very sweet and sappy – so I took the liberty of telling him that he was being “weird”. He laughed it off and spun me around and dropped to one knee. I don’t know what he said after that because I was crying too hard, but somehow I ended up with a ring on my finger!
T H E W E D D I N G
Our photographer…
I chose Lesley Colvin after seeing her wedding pictures featured on a few wedding blogs. I loved her style immediately. Her pictures all looked so dreamy and I felt like they told the ‘story’ of the wedding day perfectly.
Our dream wedding…
Rob and I had always dreamed of having a wedding at the Jersey Shore. Not the Jersey Shore of Snooki and GTL, but the Jersey Shore we grew up vacationing at with our families. Rob had stumbled upon Spring Lake, and we both know instantly that this is where we had to get married. It’s a small beachside town, only about an hour and half from New York City. We loved how charming and beautiful it was from the moment we first visited.
The ceremony…
We were married at the gorgeous Saint Catherine Church in Spring Lake. The church is the focal point of the town and you can spot it from almost anywhere in Spring Lake.
The reception…
We had our reception at the The Breakers On The Ocean. We loved that we could have our cocktail hour on the patio overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and then move into the ballroom for a sit down dinner and dancing. An added bonus was that The Breakers On The Ocean provided a coordinator for us. Eileen was wonderful and helped make sure everything from our planning process up to the day of the wedding was perfection.
Pre-wedding celebrations…
The night before the wedding we had a rehearsal dinner, hosted by my wonderful in-laws, at The Chateau Inn. We followed this up with a welcome party on the patio of The Breakers On The Ocean. I loved being able to spend extra time with our friends and family who had travelled to spend our special day with us.
The bridal party…
We have been blessed with a truly wonderful group of friends and family. I had eight bridesmaids, including my best friend from high school, my wonderful group of college friends, and Rob’s sister. Rob had seven groomsmen, including his best friends and my three brothers. We also had two of my cousins and Rob’s nephew serve as our ring bearers and flower girl.
The bridesmaids wore a beautiful purple dress from Dessy. I originally wanted to have the bridesmaids in different dresses, but they all wanted this one! The groomsmen wore tuxedos from Vera Wang’s Mens Warehouse collection. Rob also wore a tuxedo from the Vera Wang Men’s Warehouse collection.
The gown…
I loved my wedding gown! I’m very lucky that one of my best friends works for the bridal dress designer Justin Alexander. She picked out my dress for me and it was exactly what I had dreamed of. It was a drop-waist A-line ballgown. Underneath the top layer of lace was a layer of sequins. This made the dress sparkle just the right amount.
One of my favourite pieces of my wedding day look was my veil. It was my “something borrowed” from one of my bridesmaids. She wore it for her beautiful wedding the year before ours, and I’m so fortunate she shared it with me for ours!
The flowers…
I asked my florist, A Garden Party, to pick flowers that would create a soft, romantic, vintage look in shades of purple, white and green. They used hydrangea, succulents, purple kale, lavender roses, dusty miller, ranunculus and dahlias to create this look.
The reception styling…
A Garden Party did a wonderful job creating beautiful pedestal centrepieces for me. In addition, we placed a few sprigs of lavender on everyone’s place setting. I wanted a simple and romantic look for the ballroom, with small details throughout. A Garden Party did all my flowers, and Del Ponte Bakery created our cake.
The food…
We had a cocktail hour first, featuring butler passed hors d’oeurves of coconut shrimp, lamb chops, and mozzarella and tomatoes skewers. We then moved into the ballroom, where we ate a sit-down four-course dinner featuring a choice of filet mignon, chicken Francaise, poached salmon or a stuffed portabella mushroom. Our wedding cake was red velvet with chocolate chip cannoli cream filling, it was delicious!
The bomboniere…
We gave our guests little baggies of saltwater taffy, a traditional Jersey Shore treat.
Memorable moments…
My favourite moment was walking along the beach with Rob after our ceremony and before our reception. It was the first time we had been alone (or nearly alone) as newlyweds and it was just magical.
The wedding soundtrack…
Since we were having a very traditional New Jersey wedding, we couldn’t pass up the chance to dance to Bruce Springsteen. Our first dance was to his version of Jersey Girl and one of the last songs of the night was Born to Run.
M A R R I E D L I F E
The honeymoon…
We had the trip of a lifetime to Tahiti and Moorea. We loved sleeping in our overwater bungalow, it felt like we were a million miles away from the real world!
Future plans…
I’m hoping for a lot more adventures together in the next few years, including starting a family.
In 40 years…
We hope to be retired and traveling the world with my partner in crime!
W O R D S O F W I S D O M
Enjoying the engagement…
I really enjoyed our engagement! Rob and I had a fun time planning the wedding together and I was very fortunate to have my mum’s help in many aspects. In the months leading up to the wedding she and I would talk a few times a day. I couldn’t have done it without my mum!
The planning…
I tried to spread out the planning so that I wasn’t stressing about every detail all at once. I would give myself a few weeks to plan one aspect, before moving on to the next. It kept it from getting too overwhelming!
The wedding day…
My friends all made fun of me for the very detailed schedule I made for the day of the wedding (I had it broken down in 5-minute increments), but doing this allowed me to let the day unfold and just enjoy it. I’m glad I had done so much planning leading up to the wedding, because when it finally came I was able to let go. I am also grateful that Rob and I had some time to spend with each other in-between the ceremony and reception. I wouldn’t trade our walk on the beach for anything!
Wedding Location Spring Lake, NJ / Ceremony Location Saint Catherine Church, Spring Lake / Reception Location The Breakers On The Ocean / Photographer Lesley Colvin / Bride’s Gown Justin Alexander / Bride’s Shoes Jimmy Choo / Bride’s Jewellery Blue Nile / Bridesmaid Dresses Dessy/RK Bridal Hair Salon Kokopelli / Makeup Wendy Compton Odyniec, Stephanie Skatz, Janet Indorf, and Joie Lazaroff of Bluemercury / Groom and Groomsmen’s Attire Vera Wang – Men’s Warehouse / Flowers A Garden Party / Cake Del Ponte Bakery Invites The Paperia / Music East Coast Event Group / Videographer East Coast Event Group / Transportation Long Branch Trolley Co. / Favours Shriver’s Salt Water Taffy