Francesca and Joe at South Gate Manor

Posted on February 15, 2023 by New Jersey Bride

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How did you meet?
A guy walked into a bar… literally! I was working as a bartender near his office and he stopped in for lunch, and with a little help from a mutual friend, the rest is history!

How did you get engaged?
It was 11/7/20 and an incredibly unseasonably warm day. He brought me to the dog beach at Asbury, and I thought we were just going to let our pup run around for a while since it was such a gorgeous day. Then, he asked me to hold the dog’s leash for a minute, and when I turned around, he was down on one knee! Even though I had been dropping not-so-subtle hints for months, I was in absolute shock at the moment!

Details of the day!
Once we settled on a December date, I knew I wanted to incorporate elements of Christmas (which is both of our favorite holidays), without having a full-on Christmas theme. The eventual theme I settled on was “dreamy, elegant Christmas”. Following that theme, our colors were blush pink and emerald green, with touches of ivory and rose gold. My vision for our florals was to lean in on the greenery aspects of Christmas flowers- so garlands, holly leaves, berries, pinecones, and wreaths. My bridal bouquet also contained some of these elements and featured cascading greenery, white and red roses, and holly berries spray-painted rose gold. All of the bridesmaids carried a single long-stem white rose with a green ribbon, and my maid of honor carried a small bouquet of white roses. The men’s boutonnieres complemented these and were white roses with a wintery pinecone. Both of our moms carried single long-stem red roses. Our centerpieces were inspired by Advent wreaths- a circle of greenery that contained flowers, berries, and wintery pinecones with rose gold lanterns in the center of the wreath. For our sweetheart table, the florals on the dais matched my bouquet and also contained beautiful fairy lights, and were accompanied by additional rose gold lanterns. I also custom-made Mr & Mrs wreaths, which were behind us at the sweetheart table. Lastly, we were blessed with beautiful Christmas decor at our venue, which our florist also designed- a beautiful white Christmas tree and a pinecone-encrusted garland draped over the banister. It was truly the dreamy Christmas I envisioned at the beginning of my planning!

Why did you choose your venue?
When I saw the stunning decorative arches running all the way down the hall leading to the ballroom, I knew I was going to have my wedding at South Gate Manor. I had an immediate vision of Christmas lights wrapped all around the arches and glowing on my wedding day, and Stephanie brought that vision straight to life. If my mind hadn’t already been made up by that, the level of care and personalized attention we received the second we walked into our venue tour sealed the deal. Matthew and his entire team truly and genuinely care about giving you the best experience of your life.

What was on your menu?
We both knew very early on in the planning process that we didn’t want a traditional sit-down dinner. Why waste time with all of that when everyone’s favorite part of the reception is the cocktail hour? We decided to have a cocktail reception, and even though it’s not a package that SGM offers, Matthew worked with us to make it happen! We had an Asian station, a Mexican station, an Italian station, and a carving station with so many different kinds of food from each cuisine at every station. It was exactly what we wanted with my husband being a foodie, and me wanting the party to flow seamlessly around the food service, which it did with this format! It was great to not have to completely stop the party so everyone could sit down and be served. And, as a bonus, our DJ played Christmas tunes while guests were eating. Our cake was from Chocolate Carousel and was included with our package, but even if it wasn’t I would still choose Chocolate Carousel every time! The cake is DELICIOUS and the staff is beyond sweet to work with. Our cake was pumpkin with a vanilla custard filling and was designed to look like falling snow, with pearl details worked into the frosting, and poinsettia accents.

All about your gown!
I’ve always known I was going to get married in a ballgown. It wasn’t even a question for me, and I never second-guessed my choice of style! I would occasionally (okay, frequently) browse wedding dresses on Pinterest, and one day came across this absolutely stunning ballgown I couldn’t get out of my head. Not only did I save it to my Pinterest board, but I also took a screenshot and saved it in my phone. A few months before I got engaged, I even showed the screenshot to my mom and told her this was my dream dress. So when the time came to go dress shopping, I pulled up the photo for my consultant (Rachel at Castle Couture, an absolute angel on earth!) and hoped she could find me something similar. Well, she delivered my dream dress right into my hands and it turned out to be the Loretta Gown by Hayley Paige. I tried on so many dresses that day but saved my dream dress for last. I guess I was partially scared it would let me down, but also partially just in disbelief that I, who can never make up my mind about ANYTHING, could be so sure about a dress based on a picture. When I put it on, my heart started racing and I felt like I couldn’t breathe, but in the best way possible. It was absolutely the one!

What was your favorite moment?
The first: getting ready in the morning with my bridesmaids and close female family members. It warmed my whole heart seeing all of the people I love the most in the same room, having fun together, coming together to celebrate me, but beyond that getting to love each other as much as I love them. It was such a magical few hours that I will always cherish and be so grateful for! The second: saying my vows to my husband, in church, before God and all of our friends and family. The third: when our dog joined us for photos after the ceremony! It was the one time I couldn’t stop myself from crying- I was just so happy to have our baby there with us for pictures! The fourth: entering the reception as husband and wife!

One detail you couldn’t live without?
A few come to mind: After the father/daughter and mother/son dances, I had a special dance with my grandpa. This was such a special moment and I am so blessed that I was not only able to have my grandpa at my wedding but to be able to make this memory with him. I am so glad I decided to make time for this and will hold on to the memory forever. I surprised my mom with a special dance as well! She had no idea it was coming. I feel like moms do so much to help us with our weddings, yet when it comes to the actual traditions, they’re often overlooked! So after dinner, we played the song Mom by Meghan Trainor- my mom and I started out the song alone, but then I had the DJ invite all the other mothers and daughters out to the floor, and we turned it into a big mother/daughter lovefest. It was so much fun, and my mom was so surprised and thankful! It was the least I could do in return for everything she’s done for me! I probably wouldn’t say I COULDN’T live without this, but one of my favorite little touches was the fuzzy Christmas socks we provided for our guests who wanted to ditch their shoes! It was one of my favorite nods to our Christmas theme.

Did anything go wrong?
Only a few extremely minor details that no one noticed but me! I credit that 100% to Rachael and Shannon, my wedding planner and her assistant. They were absolutely crucial in keeping us on track and on time all day, and set everything up in the venue exactly how I had envisioned it. Not to mention they are the sweetest humans in the entire world.

First dance song?
Glow by Brett Eldredge! As someone who was, for the most part, a very traditional bride, this was probably our most non-traditional choice! Neither of us wanted a super sappy song- we wanted something fun that we could have fun dancing to. My husband introduced me to this song during our first Christmas together, and since then it’s always been a favorite of ours, so it felt like a natural pick once we decided on our theme.

Any advice for future brides?
If it’s in your budget, hire a wedding planner or a day of coordinator. They will go above and beyond for you and you’ll be able to drop some stress. Don’t play the comparison game. Your wedding will be beautiful and unique to you and your husband- don’t put yourself into huge debt to try and keep up with others or what you see on social media. Don’t sweat the small things! Even the best-laid plans can always go a little wrong. If you’re not doing a first look (we didn’t do one!), extend your cocktail hour! This is probably my biggest takeaway and only major regret. We spent so much time on photos I didn’t make it to my cocktail hour at all, and I missed the harpist playing. It’s worth it to pay extra to extend so you can have all your photos and still enjoy some time at cocktail hour with your husband!

Honeymoon Location?
Barbados! We worked with Tahryn from Shore to Sea Vacations, who booked us an absolutely perfect trip to Sandals Barbados/Sandals Royal Barbados. A fun little detail of our honeymoon is that we actually spent Christmas in paradise! Keeping with our theme, we chose to have our honeymoon over Christmas week, and it was the best decision ever. It was so much fun to spend our first married Christmas not only on our honeymoon but experiencing our first Christmas in another country. I highly recommend this beautiful island to everyone!