Daniel & I met when I was 15 years old through a mutual friend. We grew up in the same town, and were best friends before we started dating. Being friends before dating definitely set a strong foundation for our relationship.
Dan & I go to Wildwood every summer, it’s our favorite vacation. Every Friday night, Wildwood has a fireworks show on the beach, and every summer I would make sure we went to watch the fireworks on the beach. On Friday, July 29, 2016, I was exhausted from driving to Wildwood, and suggested we may not see the fireworks this year. My family kept insisting that we see the fireworks, after a lot of encouragement I decided to get ready & put on some sweatpants and a sweatshirt, my mom gasped, and yelled at me for wanting to go out in sweatpants to see the fireworks. Again, after some encouragement I decided to change into jeans & a white t-shirt. My mom made a disapproving face at my outfit yet again, but it was better than pajamas. The entire time my husband now, was very quiet. He has the best sense of humor & is really witty, I was surprised he wasn’t making any sarcastic jokes while my mother scolded me over my hair & outfit choice. We finally made our way to the beach, and Dan continued to be very quiet, we sat on the sand and watched the fireworks. My family was with me, and in that moment I was elated just being with them and watching the fireworks in my favorite place. The next thing you know in the middle of the fireworks show, Dan gets down on one knee, he continued to tell he how much he loved me, and asked me to marry him. I don’t remember every saying yes, I remember putting the ring on, it was everything I ever dreamed of. It was a beautiful & magical moment, and I loved that my entire family was there. Our annual trip to Wildwood is very special to us now that we got engaged there.
Our theme was a spring dusty blue/ garden theme, Our colors were dusty blue, silver, grey, navy, and had lots of greenery. We decided to get married in April because April is my favorite month of the year, not only is it my birthday month, but I met Dan shortly after my 15th birthday. April is also Autism Awareness Month. Autism plays a big role in my life. Both our ring bearer and flower girl have autism, so it was imperative we incorporated autism in our wedding, especially since we were getting married during Autism Awareness Month. I contacted Gianna’s Cookies with an idea of puzzle piece cookies with a tag that says “love you to pieces”, and she knocked it out of the park. I loved our favors. Our flowers were beautiful as well, our florist was amazing, he kept the ivory, silver, and dusty blue theme we wanted.
I loved the quaint elegance of Ramsey Golf and Country Club. It fit perfectly for the garden theme I wanted. The grounds are beautiful, the staff is amazing, and the food is delicious.
What was on your menu? Our wedding cake had a mix of two flavors, to target what our families love. Dan is Italian, & I’m Costa Rican. Therefore we had two tiers that were layered chocolate & vanilla cake with cannoli filing for Dan’s Italian family. For my Costa Rican family, we had one tier of vanilla cake with dulce de leche filling. It was a delicious mix of Italian & Costa Rican Culture.
All about your gown! My gown was simple, but I knew it was the one when I tried it on because it made me feel beautiful. It was the first dress I tried on, and I kept comparing every other dress to it. I envisioned myself in something completely different, I wanted sleeves & illusion lace, and sparkle. But as soon as I tried it on, I felt comfortable, beautiful, and happy.
My favorite moment was our sparkler exit.
I love all of our small details, my favorite detail was definitely my flowers. My florist was incredible. My whole family lives in Costa Rica, and besides immediate family (my mother, paternal grandmother, and siblings) so I didn’t have family there. My aunt sent me small rosary beads, so I took those rosary beads & 2 lockets with pictures of my grandparents and gave them to my florist to put on my bouquet. I loved having my grandparents with me in spirit as I walked down the aisle. They were so beautiful. I also made a lot of DIY decorations, but our guest book from Miss Design Berry is a close second.
As soon as my make up artist finished my make up, we were taking getting ready photos, and champagne exploded all over my face, I ran to my makeup artist and she fixed my make up! We also had a unity candle ceremony, and it was so windy it wasn’t lighting! Our mothers kept trying to light the candle, but they couldn’t. It was very funny. I also danced so much that my bustle broke and my friends and I were holding my dress up all night, at one point one of my friends took a hair tie and tied my dress!
“I was meant for loving you” By Tori Kelly & Ed Sheeran
Don’t sweat the small stuff, enjoy every second with your husband, family, and friends. I was extremely stressed over everything the day of and I wish I would have not worried and enjoyed the moment more.
Honeymoon Location Turks & Caicos!
