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Angela and Erik at The Estate at Florentine Gardens

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Angela and Erik at The Estate at Florentine Gardens

How did you meet?
Erik and I met at a bar in Hoboken on Halloween—his birthday weekend! He got my attention outside with the baby onesie costume he was wearing… it just looked funny on a guy who was 6’3″. When I got inside, my maid of honor and I were standing at the bar when he tried to squish himself in between us to get a drink. I called him out on his silly costume, and the rest is history! We were both with our closest friends and even some of his family, so it’s funny because we can say that everyone was there the night our story started. He’s never been back to Hoboken since so we always say we were meant to meet that night!

How did you get engaged?
Erik’s a private pilot so I always joked with him saying that he better not do one of those proposals where the girl thinks they’re crashing mid-flight and she reads a manual and it says “Will you marry the pilot?” So he found a loophole and still proposed in the sky…in a hot-air balloon. I had no idea where we were going when we got in the car. He was so nervous and jittery at lunch and I knew something was up. We were 1,000 feet in the air when I looked down onto a field and there was a giant banner that said “Will you marry me?” and when I turned around he was down on one knee!

Details of the day!
We wanted a light, elegant and classy feel while still having fun small details that made it special for our day. I didn’t want too many harsh colors, so my bridesmaids wore beautiful taupey-champagne colored dresses and the groomsmen wore classic black-and-white tuxedos. All of the flowers were white and neutral with touches of anemone flowers in my bouquet. We had little hints of black and white in the ballroom—everything was kept light and airy but we had black napkins and table numbers. Our cake had little details of black as well! While trying to have a timeless classic feel to the day, we still wanted little touches of fun details. We had a neon sign in the ballroom that said “Til Death Do Us Party” and one that lit up our last name in the lobby and that was one of my favorite little details!

Why did you choose your venue?
I’m a hairstylist and makeup artist in Bergen County, so I’ve been to my fair share of wedding venues. The Estate at Florentine Gardens is definitely the one I’ve been to most. My clients and friends through the years have told me of how amazing their food and service is so that was extremely important to us. When I heard they were renovating their venue, I immediately called to schedule an appointment to tour! We fell in love with how light and airy it was and the beautiful grand ballroom and booked right away.

What was on your menu?
Florentine Garden’s cocktail hour has always been known to be over the top, and it’s safe to say that everyone was overwhelmed with all of the amazing food. Our dinner menu consisted of Chateaubriand with caramelized shallot merlot sauce, french-cut breast of chicken stuffed with spinach and fontina with a black truffle red wine demi, and miso-glazed Chilean sea bass with a teriyaki beurre blanc. The big hit was the Chilean sea bass—we still have guests telling us how tasty it was and I myself think about it all the time! For our cake, we picked chocolate mousse along with vanilla cake with french buttercream and strawberry marmalade. We were also able to send our guests home with bacon-egg-and-cheese sandwiches and coffee as they walked out!

All about your gown!
It’s so cliché, but while I was trying on dresses nothing felt right until I put one on that I never would have imagined I would like. I always imagined myself in a sparkly lace gown, and I ended up loving satin! After trying on about 25 dresses, I narrowed my favorite designer down to Justin Alexander. His dresses were all so timeless and chic with beautiful silhouettes and fabrics. I combined the top of one dress and the ballgown skirt of another, added a few more details, and voila! There was my dress! I’ve always been the type to do a little something different when it came to dressing up. While it was a little nerve-wracking to go with a trendy one-shoulder neckline, I felt confident that the classic look of satin fabric would balance it out perfectly. The little details were my favorite part. I call the fabric that flowed off my shoulder strap my “streamer”; it could snap on and off so it wouldn’t drag all night but that was one of my favorite parts of the dress, so I added a finger loop and it made for stunning dancing pictures! I also extended the train by two feet and added buttons all the way down; it’s the little things!

What was your favorite moment?
At the very start of dinner, the deejay started playing “That’s Amoré,” by Dean Martin. Within 10 seconds, the dance floor was packed with all of our favorite people dancing and singing along. We were twirling, big groups were hugging and swaying, and it was truly just a wholesome moment; you could tell everyone was just genuinely happy to be there. Some of my favorite videos from the day are from that moment; definitely a core memory!

One detail you couldn’t live without?
The day most definitely wouldn’t have been the same without our floral arrangements! Our amazing florists decorated the staircase in an extra spectacular way—all I told them was that I want the flowers to be white and neutral and to have lots of dimension, and man did they deliver! It was definitely the wow factor to our big day, along with the escort card table centerpiece to match.

Did anything go wrong?
One small but funny thing that went wrong is that our friend officiated the wedding and was so nervous that he forgot to tell everyone to sit down when I got to the end of the aisle! It was such a short ceremony and no one noticed- it actually made for great pictures. We’ll always have that be a running joke now!

First dance song?
“I Am Yours,” by Andy Grammar.

Any advice for future brides?
Don’t force anything, be in the moment, be your natural self! Do what feels right to you, not what you think you should or shouldn’t be doing.

Honeymoon location:
We are going on our honeymoon in October of 2022 to Dubai and Maldives!