Jackie and Cody at Seasons Catering

How did you meet?
We met at the summer camp we both worked at, which was our home away from home, back in June of 2014. While we both have worked there for a few years already, summer 2014 was the year we both were magically put into the same division and we thank our lucky stars for all the people involved in that. After our first date at the Lakewood Blue Claws minor league baseball game, we spent the rest of the summer nights at the Jersey shore boardwalk, enjoying half price apps at Applebee’s, and running around the county fair. As quickly as summer came, the leaves began to turn and Fall was right around the corner. Before Cody left to continue his second year at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ and I left for my first semester of college at the University of Hartford in CT, the two knew this was meant to be more than a summer fling.

How did you get engaged?
After a year of spending time together in our one bedroom apartment with our 100lb dog due to the pandemic, we knew it was time for a mini vacation. Our little getaway took us to Cape May, NJ where we wanted to spend the day at a winery and enjoy eating lobster by the water. Little did I know, the weeks leading up to this day Cody was working secretly to set up a surprise proposal at the winery. We went on a private tour of the winery and at the end Cody had a whole set up where he got down on one knee.

Details of the day!
No specific theme to our day, but we said the three words that we wanted our special day to portray was elegance, timeless and party! Our colors were navy blue, champagne, and gold. Arcadia Floral Company did all of our floral decor and we pretty much gave them full control as flowers are not an area of expertise for us. All we knew were the colors we wanted and they delivered far beyond than we could have imaged! We are frequent Atlantic City visitors! When we got engaged in Cape May we also went to AC! So we created custom playing card travel cases because you should always have a deck of cards for a game night!

Why did you choose your venue?
We visited over 20 venues and at first we knew we wanted a huge room that would encompass the party vibe we were going for, but when we walked into Seasons and met the owner Carl, we realized it was so much more than that. One aspect we loved about Seasons was that their background comes from the restaurant industry, so their standards are extremely high on the food and they completely outdid themselves from the extravagant cocktail hour to the 5 star dinner options. Another reason we chose Seasons was because as funny as this sound there wasn’t a lot of choices to be made. Everything you see in the package, for example the cocktail hour stations, YOU GET EVERYTHING! We didn’t have to only pick a handful. We can go on and on, but one last thing would be the ballroom, was the exact vision we were looking for from the fun lighting package that gave us the party element to the classic decor that made the aesthetic feel elegant and timeless.

What was on your menu?
We had a wide variety of cocktail hour stations! And for dinner there was the option of Filet Mignon, Salmon with a jumbo shrimp tail, or Chicken. For our cake flavor, we went with vanilla with chocolate fudge. We wanted a simple classic but it was fun trying all of the more crazy flavors at our tasting!

All about your gown!
I was the type of person who knew the type of gown I wanted, not because I was stubborn and I actually tried on many gowns that were very different styles than what I wanted, but I just like a certain type of look on my body type and like to dress the way the way I feel most confident and beautiful. Once I put on this Martina Liana dress, I felt confident, beautiful, elegant and just like the perfect bride for me. If I could describe my dress I would say its timeless in the sense that I believe the a-line style is one that will not go out of style, but had fun flare with the beading, sparkles and see through spots on the top of the dress that made it more modern. It also had pockets, which when I first got the dress I obviously said I was going to use, but was too busy to think of what to put in it. I did add customizations to my dress by closing the v-neck a bit more than the original dress and making the back of the dress about 6 inches higher on my back (just a personal preference).

What was your favorite moment?
My first reaction to this question is to say the whole night and then my second reaction is to say marrying my best friend, but both of those sound very cliche. So, really thinking about it, when Sweet Caroline came on every single person (all 230+ of them) was on the dance floor and for background this is the song of the summer camp my husband and I met at. Not only were my husband and I (mostly me) emotional while this song was playing because of the connection it has to our history, but the whole room of the most important people in our lives screaming the lyrics to this song still gives me the chills to this day.

One detail you couldn’t live without?
My custom converse my The Purl Gurl because there was no way I could have danced the night away like I did in heels!

Did anything go wrong?
NO! Thankfully because I had the best planning team between the Detailed Events by Lo team and the Seasons’ team who made everything go off perfectly!

First dance song?
Die a Happy Man – Thomas Rhett This has been “our song” since the very beginning.

Any advice for future brides?
Soak it all in because the time from your engagement to your wedding goes by in a blink of an eye! Do research, but also trust your gut. You and your partner are going to be each other’s rock during this process, not matter the size of the wedding or each others involvement, always make time outside of wedding planning related activities and remember what got you to this moment. Friends, family, co-workers, etc. are giving you advice because they are trying to help – even though it may not feel like it, so say thank you and don’t make a big deal about it. If your partner wants to be involved let them, if they don’t try to find the small things they will feel appreciated for – it is both of your days and you should BOTH be represented. Listen to the experts, as in the actual experts such as the vendors!

Honeymoon Location?
Hawaii for two and a half weeks! We went two islands – Oahu and Maui. Your honeymoon is one of the only times where you can take all of this time off from work and no one really questions it (at least for us) so we definitely made sure to enjoy it!