By all estimates, Jersey Shore’s Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola is thriving. A quick recap of her 2025 is proof. While filming Jersey Shore: Family Vacation and opening her Sweetheart Coast retail store in Atlantic City, she gave birth to her first child with Justin May just three months before their winter wedding at Park Château. She also squeezed in a “Last Toast on the Coast”-themed bachelorette party at Ocean Casino Resort and a bridal shower in Monmouth County.
“I always say, pinch me. I feel like I’m in a dream,” says Sammi. “I’m living my best life right now.” On their wedding day, December 4, 2025, in addition to their 240 guests, MTV was there filming for Jersey Shore: Family Vacation. The final 18 episodes of the sequel/spin-off series premiere on Thursday, May 7 on MTV and give fans of the long-running franchise a glimpse at Sammi’s elegant and, of course, super fun wedding. The whole Jersey Shore cast, with the exception of Sammi’s former boyfriend Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, and their partners were there on the big day.
Justin was not a cast member on Jersey Shore, but you could say he was almost an extra on the show. As a bouncer at Karma, the Seaside Heights club that the cast frequented for nights of shenanigans, Justin had crossed paths with Sammi back in the day. In 2021, they officially met at Martell’s Tiki Bar in Point Pleasant. “We had a lot of common interests, a lot of common life goals, and we just had a lot of fun together,” she says.
Fast forward to March 2024, and Justin surprised Sammi with a proposal at La Mondina in Brielle in front of their family and friends.
Once they were engaged, the couple wanted to start a family. “I did IVF, and I was having failed transfers and stuff, so the baby thing wasn’t working out,” says Sammi. So they refocused on their wedding.
She had heard that 2025 was supposed to be a good luck year, so the couple booked a Thursday wedding at the lavish Park Château Estate & Gardens in East Brunswick, just before the year wrapped.
Turns out, 2025 really was lucky after all. Vincent Keith May was born on August 20, 2025. “The blessing of God happened, and we were able to get pregnant and have a baby,” says Sammi. “The wedding was just the extra added cherry on top.”
After Vincent’s arrival, the wedding planning moved swiftly as December was fast approaching. Sammi credits her vendor team with pulling off her dream day during crunch time, especially planner Kristin of Eventful Days.
Finding her three wedding dresses (a classic gown for the ceremony, a bedazzled one for the reception and a short after-party number) was hard because Sammi was pregnant while shopping. “I wasn’t sure if it was gonna fit me after I gave birth, but we somehow made it work,” she says. All her dresses, as well as the bridesmaid dresses, were from Castle Couture in Manalapan.
Sammi says she did a lot of research for her wedding on social media. Ultimately, this is the wedding day vision she landed on: “I wanted it to be a little classic. I didn’t want bright colors. I didn’t want the whole holiday theme really, even though the Park Château is beautiful during the holidays I wanted it to just be kind of simple, just greens and whites and a lot of candles to make it feel romantic.”
The ceremony took place in the Park Château’s elegant on-site chapel. Justin saw Sammi for the first time as she walked down the aisle in a stunning strapless Vera Wang gown. The couple chose not to exchange personalized vows. “To say something so truly sentimental in front of cameras and all these people would make me so nervous,” she says. Sammi and Justin said “I do” under a striking white and green floral arch. The bridal party all wore black and was made up of family members and close friends.
During cocktail hour, guests were greeted by a unique seating chart. After they found their name and table number, they could ring a bell and a white-gloved hand passed a glass of champagne through an opening in the wall. “It was an interactive thing for the guests, and [they] really loved it,” says Sammi. A sentimental detail came from Justin’s father, who built a custom wooden card box that read “Samantha & Justin.”
The reception room looked like “a floral wonderland,” says Sammi about the flowers by Fiore Designs. “They went over the top, and they transformed the whole room.”
After their first dance and some toasts, including one by her Jersey Shore co-star Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, Sammi changed into a “shimmery gown with blingy diamonds.” Then, the party really started.
There was a tiki bar with drinks and fun props as a shoutout to the Shore spot where Sammi and Justin met, plus a photo booth, cigar bar, a live artist creating watercolor paintings of the guests, and an amazing DJ, JB Pro Live. “The music was the best,” says Sammi. “We were on the dance floor just having the time of our lives.” Cupid the Line Dance King performed his hit “Cupid Shuffle,” which he changed to the “Sweetheart Shuffle.”
Then, MTV surprised Sammi with the perfect Jersey Shore tribute—a Shore Store set up at the reception. (The cast worked at the boardwalk souvenir shop on the show.) T-shirts featuring a cartoon of Sammi, Justin and Vincent were handed out to guests. “It was one of my favorite things of the day,” says Sammi.
The night continued with an after-party, also at Park Château, with a pizza truck. When everyone was all partied out, they walked across the street to the Château Grande Hotel.
Sammi and Justin loved everything about their big day. “We talk about it all the time, and we just can’t believe how amazing of a day it really was,” says Sammi. “Nobody had a bad time. It was just so fun.”
Justin and Sammi have yet to take a honeymoon, but they plan to in the next year or two. “Right now, we’re in babyland, and we’re loving every minute,” says Sammi. The family of three lives at the Shore.
Like Sammi, many of the cast members have traded in partying for parenthood. And Sammi says it’s nice to bond over that. “I have used them for a lot of advice when it comes to kids and babies. They’re all wonderful parents,” she says.
Although MTV won’t be filming Jersey Shore anymore, Sammi hopes it’s not the end. “I’m excited to see what’s next,” she says. “I hope that there’s still room for all of us on TV eventually, again, someday.”
On March 4, 2026, the whole cast posted a video on Instagram with these words stamped at the end: “This fam is forever”—alluding to a potential upcoming project together.
“We’re so close, the cast,” says Sammi. “I feel like our time is not done yet.”
Sammi Sweetheart’s Wedding Vendors
Venue Park Château Estate & Gardens, East Brunswick Photographer Amber Dawn Photography Planner Eventful Days Content Creator Brielle Cummings Content Florist Fiore Designs Music Ceremonious Strings; JB Pro Live Entertainment Cupid the Line Dance King Hair Senada K. Ceka Bride’s Makeup Drita Paljevic Bridal Party Makeup D’Amelio Cosmetics Bride’s Gowns Castle Couture Bride’s Sneakers CaliCakeCo Cigar Bar The Mobile Cigar Lounge Suits Bucco Couture Wedding Bands Cozzi Jewelers Sip Wall Seating Chart Litbarz Stationery Art Paper Scissors Officiant Rev. Michael Whalen Floor Wrap Shout! Dance Floor Wraps Backdrop Royal Backdrops Live Painter Event Painting with Gina Cake Palermo’s Bakery Tiramisu/Shots Dolce & Gelato Catering Food Truck CG Pizza T-Shirts Shore Store Guest Illustration Favors Stine Hildre Art Accommodations Château Grande Hotel
Sponsored Story
