Giana and David wanted a wedding that was “everything but ordinary,” says the bride. The couple had their ceremony at Bespoke Home + Life in Collingswood, a plant and decor shop, before their tented backyard reception. They opted for food truck bites and fun disco ball decor to complete their unconventional NJ wedding vision.

Their Story 

“We met though the David’s cousin when we were in elementary school,” says Giana. “We rekindled in high school and now the rest is history.”

The Proposal 

“We got engaged on Halloween of 2020,” says Giana. “My husband had my best friend’s daughter come trick or treating at our house and she had the ring in her candy basket.”

Their Wedding

For their October 1, 2022, big day, “our wedding was everything but ordinary,” says Giana. “We wanted to make sure that we did everything nontraditional. We wanted a moody/retro feel. We had our planner incorporate lots of velvet furniture and dark colors. We had all black candles lined on all of the tables along with single bud flower centerpieces. We had the whole tent wrapped in black curtains to give it an intimate feel. I think we had a total of 100 disco balls. We had a custom round bar painted in a green color to fit our mood of the wedding.”

Choosing The Venue 

“We originally had a venue booked in the city but then Covid-19 restrictions made it impossible for us to have it there so we decided to use our backyard,” says Giana. “From the beginning, I wanted to have a backyard wedding but my husband was against it. We told our planner we wanted the most over-the-top backyard wedding and she made that happen. We did have our ceremony at Bespoke Home + Life in Collingswood. I got ready at my grand-mom’s salon, Mary Jo’s Hair Fashion in Audubon. My mom got ready there for her wedding and now I was able to as well.”

The Menu 

“We decided that we didn’t want it catered like a normal wedding,” says Giana, “so we rented three different food trucks. We had Fork in the Road supply all of our passed cocktail-hour items (seared scallops, classic grilled cheese with tomato soup, cheesesteak sliders, fried chicken slider and a chipotle skirt steak taco). Fork in the Road then made sandwiches for the dinner portion (French onion grilled cheese, crab cake sandwich, pulled pork sandwich with apple slaw, truffle fries and Brussel sprouts). We also has East Coast Pizza provide our guests with personal pizzas (create your own, Margherita pizza, white spinach, buffalo chicken and BBQ chicken). We also had a six-foot long charcuterie table made by A Little Cheesy Board. For dessert, we had Lexylicious provide everyone with homemade ice-cream cookie sandwiches. We knew  we wanted our wedding to be more relaxed than other weddings and we wanted to make sure our guests had plenty of options. Our cake was a blueberry velvet cake from Sweet T’s bakery in Haddonfield.”

Bridal Style 

“My dress had a square neckline, crepe, form-fitting, button down the back, long train and I wore my mother’s veil,” says Giana. “Very simple and elegant. It took me two weeks to decide it was the one. It fit perfectly and it was the most flattering. It was everything I wanted—very stretchy and light weight.

Favorite Moment 

“Besides the fact that I got to marry my best friend,” says Giana, “I would have to say the champagne gun was my favorite moment. To this day everyone still talks about it.

Special Detail 

“The disco balls were really one detail that made our whole vision come together,” says Giana, “as well as the menus for the place settings, little signage everywhere, custom beverage napkins, the champagne gun and hundreds of lit black candles.”

Advice

“Do what makes you happy and be different,”says Giana.

Honeymoon

“We kept our honeymoon simple since I was 20 weeks pregnant on the day of our wedding,” says Giana. “We took a relaxing trip to The Reeds in Stone Harbor and we had weekend spa treatments.”