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Alyssa and Christofer at Park Chateau Estate

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Alyssa and Christofer at Park Chateau Estate

ALYSSA-CHRISTOFER-PARK-CHATEAU

How did you meet?
Christofer and I met in the summer before my sophomore and his junior year of high school, almost 15 years ago. We connected quickly over my love of high school football and he asked me to wear his jersey to the football game, while silly now, it was a huge deal for any high school girl! We fell in love quickly, as children do, and spent all of high school and college together. While a lot of people grow apart, we truly grew together. It has been such a unique experience to mature together and we are so blessed that our love and friendship carried us through all of these years.

How did you get engaged?
We love to travel to Disney World as both of us grew up going there with our families, so we make time to go with each other at least once or twice a year. In 2019, we went down for a trip and Christofer surprised me in front of the castle while we were getting photos taken. He got down on one knee and before he could even ask, a crowd had gathered and were cheering for us. It was so beautiful. We celebrated the evening by watching the fireworks hand in hand and took in the magic of the proposal so many years in the making.

Details of the day!
I wanted our day to be timeless, so I chose a french blue and white as our colors. I thought they are dreamy and evoke thoughts of a fairytale, and I believe they did just that. We were able to bring our theme to our day in subtle ways, from florals to our aisle runner to signage. We danced on a cloud for our first dance and rode off in a horse and carriage at the end of the night. Bringing in subtle touches of Cinderella was how I wanted to bring our fairytale to life, so we had to be sure to have a Cinderella carriage ice sculpture and other small details throughout the day. For favors, we opted to go with traditional Italian bombonieres and homemade limoncello to honor our Italian heritage, along with small frames that were used as our escort cards.

Why did you choose your venue?
We had always thought we would get married in Disney World, we even flew down to tour venues and plan our wedding. When we found out our dream wedding could only be held at midnight on a weekday, we decided we weren’t willing to give up our big wedding dreams and brought our planning back to our home state. Park Chateau was more beautiful than any venue I have ever seen, Disney included. The royal feel, the romantic chapel, the jaw-dropping chandeliers, the sprawling grounds of green and floral hues, and not to mention the perfection that is the bridal suite. What was even more important was their incredibly impressive food, their cocktail hour is out of this world. The number of options, the quality of the food, and the display were a true testament to New Jersey cocktail hours. We also fell in love with the staff as they make sure everything is absolutely perfect for your day. They are incredibly thorough and detail-oriented, I didn’t have to worry about anything. Devin from Park Chateau communicated with me through everything, she was a tremendous help since I chose to plan the wedding myself.

What was on your menu?
We wanted to wow with cocktail hour, and Park Chateau does just that. It would be easier to list what was not served! It was so impressive with an Asian station to an entire seafood bar, martini luge, waffle cones with fried chicken, and anything else you can imagine. For our menu, we decided to give our guests the options of Park Chateau’s famous Chateaubriand, French Breast of Chicken, and the Chilean Sea Bass. We started the dinner with a salad of mixed greens and burrata, we loved the way this was plated, and who could say no to burrata! Our dessert was out of this world with stations that included everything from specialty coffees set ablaze with liquor to fresh waffles. Our cake was delicious, the main flavor was Italian cream with strawberries, we also had a double chocolatey layer and red velvet as well.

All about your gown!
I wasn’t sure exactly what I was looking for when gown shopping, but I knew my one requirement was to feel like a princess. Being only the third dress I tried on, I fell in love so quickly. It had everything from lace to crystals to beading to gorgeous button details down the back. I knew at that moment, this was the gown. Sparkling in the lights of the dressing room, I saw myself as a bride for the first time. Once I spun and saw the ballgown move, I was even more sure this gown was the one. Because it was very heavy, I ended up with a second dress to dance the night away in. For this gown I wanted to go a little sexier, a figure accenting gown with such simplicity that it screamed Vogue to me.

What was your favorite moment?
My favorite moment was entering our ballroom as husband and wife. We got to see the joy and love on all of our loved one’s faces and just bask in the moment of being celebrated. We came in to The Greatest Show and as the sparklers went off, we danced and spun and embraced, it was a beautiful moment.

One detail you couldn’t live without?
Our flowers were so important to me! They are truly a detail I couldn’t have gone without. I wanted them to capture our theme of a fairytale, with an ethereal touch. They felt absolutely magical, the draping orchids and the light blue of the fern had a stunning quality that just elevated the setting.

Did anything go wrong?
Our biggest battle was with postponing to have the safest event possible. As a medical student, I wanted to ensure that our event was everything we wanted, while also following all CDC guidelines. due to this, we suffered through three postponements. While disheartening, we thoroughly enjoyed our extra time as fiancé and fiancée, it was truly a special time in our lives and while quarantining we became closer than we ever thought possible. We were so lucky to have our fourth date, on the Fourth of July no less, be absolutely perfect! Restrictions were lifted, almost all of our guests were vaccinated, and we finally felt like a safe wedding was in the cards for us. A few days before our wedding, our bakery lost power, and our gorgeous custom white chocolate castle cake topper we had flown up from Themes Come True in Disney World melted! I was so upset as the castle topper was special to us, it was where we got engaged and we designed our entire cake around it. Luckily, they were able to overnight us a new one straight from Disney, Our cake was saved!

First dance song?
“Is That Alright?” by Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born)

Any advice for future brides?
Take every single moment in, it will go by so quickly. I actually tried to practice living in the moment prior to our wedding, taking in every sight and sound and butterfly. I took time to reflect on our upcoming day and I knew that I didn’t want to let any small mishap upset me, I told myself our day would be fluid. We had a lot of vendors and I knew something was bound to go wrong in some capacity. Whatever will be will be. As a type-A person, I never thought I would be able to do this, but I am so glad I did. I remember our day so well, I will always have these memories to treasure!

Honeymoon location:
We were so lucky to spend our honeymoon in an overwater bungalow in Jamaica at both Sandals Royal Caribbean and Sandals South Coast. We spent 8 days in absolute paradise on a private island where our every need was catered to. The bungalow was absolutely out of this world and had the flight not been so short, I would have thought I was in Bora Bora.

wedding details

Hometowns

Atco, NJ

Reception Location

Park Chateau Estate & Gardens

Photographer

Milton Gil

Officiant

Father William Mentz

Bride’s Gown

Ball Gown: Mori Lee from Castle Couture Fit and flare: Allure from Bridal Garden

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Alyssa and Christofer at Park Chateau Estate

wedding details

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Bride’s Gown

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