She Secretly Recorded Their First Dance Song and He Didn’t Even Recognize Her Voice At This Maritime Parc Wedding

When Toni and Joseph chose Maritime Parc in Jersey City for their March 22, 2025 wedding, they were drawn in by the venue’s clean modern lines, NYC skyline views, and—in a detail only Joseph could love — the acoustic tile ceiling that promised the dance floor would sound as good as it looked. Beautifully photographed by Wild Hearts Photography, their celebration was rich with personal meaning at every turn: dark red calla lilies carried by Toni as a nod to both their grandmothers; vinyl record table numbers honoring Joseph’s love of music; a cocktail hour gallery of family wedding photos going back generations; and a nine-person heirloom crown, lovingly restored, that had been worn by Toni’s grandmother, her sisters, and most of their daughters before it ever touched Toni’s head. But the moment that stopped the room came during the first dance, when guests heard a stunning rendition of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” — and Toni leaned over to tell Joseph it was her voice on the recording. He didn’t believe her at first. Then he did, and the whole room came undone.

Their Story

By happenstance, they met at a bar one weekday evening, Joseph after training for his new job and Toni after work and prior to a church board meeting. Toni was studying for a professional continuing education test when Joseph approached her to ask who studies at a bar. This friendly conversation at a bar led to our first date where Joseph happened to pick Toni’s favorite restaurant without knowing based on a suggestion from one of his coworker’s. “We were off to a good start,” says Toni.

The Proposal

Joseph and Toni talked about taking the next step to get engaged, even looked at rings, when unfortunately Joseph had a back injury that changed the course of their future. At that time, talks of engagement were put on the back burner to focus on Joseph’s healing and both focusing on his shift into a new career path involving additional schooling. After becoming even stronger as a couple through Covid spent at Joseph’s parents house in Virginia while Toni working remotely and Joseph finishing up his college program virtually, Toni wanted to focus on getting a house and Joseph wanted to get engaged.

Well Toni won and somehow during the crazy sellers market of 2021 their first house bid was accepted. Meanwhile Toni was plotting how best to surprise Joseph with a surprise engagement. A few days before closing on their new home on a normal family walk through Loantaka park with their dog Jenks, Toni nervously proposed to Joseph. Joseph’s first thought was that it was a joke and where was his ring. By which Toni answered by pulling a pair of silicone bands from her pocket. Joseph completely taken aback with surprise said yes.

Both families were ecstatic by the surprise news as Toni had kept this plan a complete secret. Half a year later, once money was saved up again after purchasing a home, Joseph planned a beautiful proposal with a private dinner on a pier in Jamaica with a gorgeous custom ruby and diamond three-stone ring designed and handmade by Bob at Mendham Jewelers.

Choosing the Venue

“St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Morristown is the church we belong to,” says Toni. “As the most important part of our wedding day we couldn’t be happier with St. Peter’s as a venue.” Toni as a little girl didn’t dream much about what her wedding would be like but always knew she wanted to get married at a church.

“We focused on venues within 30 minutes of the church,” explains Toni. “We looked at about 25 venues over two rounds. We initially looked thinking we had a bigger guest count but had to do a second round of looking when we reduced our list. That is when we found Maritime Parc. As soon as we walked in we knew it was exactly what we were looking for. We loved the clean lines and modern feel, the elevated food offerings as Toni loves to cook, the reception space with the unique design of acoustic tiles as Joseph loves music and how the music would sound was important to him, plenty of restroom stalls which was very important to Toni’s Mother as she said you want people on the dancefloor not in line for the two stalls so the 10+ met her requirement, then the bonus of having two bridal suites with separate bathrooms and best of all the amazing NYC skyline views.”

Details of the Day

First item they set was that Toni was going to carry dark red calla lilies, both her grandmother and Joseph’s Mother carried them as their wedding flowers paying homage to both families.

Then after the venue and Toni’s dress were picked out the rest of the decor flowed naturally. A black and white theme was kept with pops of dark red/wine and navy blue. Invitation suite was kept black and white.

The cocktail hour tables were decorated with photos from the couples 10 years together, photos of our parents and grandparents wedding photos were featured on a table showcasing the love stories that came before ours, as a nod to Joe’s love (obsession) of vinyl the table numbers were 45 sized records and the seating chart was done on 12 inch vinyl records.

Centerpieces were white calla lilies that had long stems with the calla lilies reaching towards the ceiling in tall vases.

Menu Highlights

For dinner the first course was heirloom tomato confit with burrata and arugula, main entree was a choice between filet mignon with bordelaise sauce accompanied by creamed spinach and a truffle potato puree and a pan seared branzino filet with broccolini, chanterelle mushroom, farro and a sorrel sauce.

Favorite Moment

Toni has a fear of singing alone which Joseph is always encouraging her to do more of. So as a surprise to everyone but her sister and her college friend and her husband who helped her with the recording, she stepped way outside of her comfort zone and recorded a rendition of ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ to be used as their first dance/wedding song.

Joseph was so unsuspecting that he mentioned that the song was different but didn’t recognize the version. Toni said it was her and flabbergasted Joseph responded ‘No it’s not’ and Toni said listen and he was in total shock.

Toni’s sister at this point told the family, who was all together as they had a King’s Table setup, and their responses of wiping their eyes were captured in photographs. After the surprise Joseph understood why Toni didn’t give him her gift that morning as it was their wedding song sung by her pressed onto a red heart shaped vinyl record.

Wedding Day Attire

Toni wore a crystal and pearl beaded sweetheart neckline princess gown with the bottom being Mikado Silk and detachable one shoulder sash by designer Pronovias, a cathedral length pearl veil and Toni’s family heirloom crown worn by nine people before her (her grandmother and her two sisters and the majority of their daughters including Toni’s Mother) which was lovingly restored for her wedding by Headpiece.com, diamond and pear necklace gifted to her by her Mother and calla lily earrings and matching bracelet gifted to her by her aunt who is also her godmother.

Joseph wore a custom Indochino 3-piece suit.

Advice For Other Couples

“Be true to yourselves,” says Toni. “Yes, take input from your families and incorporate it where you can but don’t be afraid to politely say no when it clashes with your vision. Also have grace and appreciation for those supporting you.”

Honeymoon

“We delayed our honeymoon due to work schedules and it was the best decision. We didn’t have to start planning until after the wedding and were able to save up more money for an epic trip,” says Toni.

“We went to Italy for 18 days staying in Milan, Florence, a few towns in Tuscany and finished outside of Parma. Highlights of our trip, besides strolling Italian towns and just experiencing the lifestyle with no real plans except soaking in the beauty around us and enjoying our time together, include: attending the Formula 1 race in Monza at the “Temple of Speed’ which was one of Joseph’s bucket list items as Ferrari is the team he roots for (fun fact – Joseph worked as a mechanic on Ferrari’s early on in his career), went to an artisan’s workshop where he carved a pasta imprinting stamp in front of us which made a beautiful and useful souvenir in a tiny Tuscan town, Market day cooking class with Emiko Davies at Enoteca Marilu in San Miniato, dinner in the vines that is hosted once a year after the harvest at Pieve di Pitti where the family owned winery hosts 150 people where we had appetizers and wine in the olive grove followed by dinner in the vineyard consisting of a five courses all were made by the grandmother and seven of her nonna friends including some of the best risotto we’ve ever had, and on our last night we had a private pasta making class at an ALMA educators home in Parma after which we ate with her family in her garden.”