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Kristin and Tom at the Madison Hotel

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Kristin and Tom at the Madison Hotel

How did you meet?
We met in the fall of 2013 at our friend’s birthday party (this friend was my bridesmaid and her husband was our best man!). We went on our first date at the Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Morristown soon after on October 12, 2013, and visited a Chrysanthemum show and walked the grounds of the arboretum. We also sat on a bench and talked for hours. Our date lasted for over 8 hours and we spent some time in the local town of Morristown as well!

How did you get engaged?
We love to spend time outdoors and try new things together. On May 29, 2016, Tom proposed to me at the Arboretum. We walked around the arboretum and did a photo scavenger hunt of different plants and animals, and then Tom surprised me by asking me to marry him while we were sitting on the same bench we had sat on during our first date! A small group of people were nearby and applauded us. We then went to a restaurant in Morristown afterwards to celebrate!

Details of the day!
Since the Madison Hotel is such a historic and elegant venue, since we love nature, and since the Arboretum is such a special spot for us, our wedding style was an elegant garden themed wedding. We decided our main colors were navy and gold, to match the setting of the Madison Hotel ballroom. I originally envisioned a mermaid style dress, but once I tried on the ballgown at Kleinfeld I knew it was the right dress for my wedding day, with elegant show-stopping ruffles and beading. For flowers, we used succulents, garden roses, and greenery to reflect the gorgeous qualities of the conservatory where our ceremony was, as well as have a unique twist on flowers. I had a heart shaped piece of fabric from my grandmother’s handkerchief sewn inside of my dress, since my grandmother was ill and could not attend the wedding. I placed a charm of a picture of my grandfather around my bouquet to honor his memory, as he passed away in 2015. The bridesmaids wore navy beaded dresses, which was the original inspiration for the navy accent in our wedding colors– I absolutely loved the look of these dresses as soon as I saw them!! I am a science teacher but one of my hobbies is art, and so I hand designed a logo for our wedding which I utilized on our letter-pressed invitations and our favors, which were pint glasses for each guest.

Before the ceremony, we exchanged gifts and also exchanged letters that we hand-wrote to each other. The letter that Tom wrote me made me cry and it was so special! I gave Tom a journal that I filled out called “my favorite moment of the day” which one of my bridesmaids had given me when we got engaged– I had filled it out every day since we got engaged leading up to the wedding. I also gave Tom a Night Sky print with a map of the stars for our wedding night and location. Tom gave me a photo collage representing our relationship up until our wedding, including pictures of the Mum show from our first date as well as an engagement photo of us on our favorite bench where he proposed. I also gave my bridesmaids robes and personalized sterling silver cuffs from Lat & Lo, and each had engraved on the inside the coordinates where I first met them as well as our wedding date. We also had our first look outside the front of the hotel with our friends and family watching, and it was such a special moment! For wedding details, I also ordered custom signs from White Pine Weddings and printed them for our welcome sign, guestbook, etc., and used Minted.com for our place cards and table numbers. I love owls (I am sort of obsessed with them) and I chose our cake topper to be a bride and groom represented as owls, as well as a “Mr. and Mrs. Mongelli” script sign.

For our photobooth, I wanted it to be unique so I worked with our photographer Janine to create a “step-and-repeat” backdrop customized with our names, and we used a social media station where guests could immediately post their photos to social media after taking them. I got the props for the photobooth from Michaels, and chose ones that were mainly metallics and echoed the historic vintage feel of our venue.

Why did you choose your venue?
We chose The Madison Hotel because we wanted a unique venue that also reflected us as a couple, and we also wanted to have all of our wedding events in one place, and we wanted a venue in Morris County. As soon as we saw the gorgeous conservatory, we knew we wanted to get married there. It reminded us of the arboretum where we had our first date and where Tom proposed. Our wedding size would be too large to have the reception in the conservatory, but once we saw the cocktail hour space and the ballroom, we knew our wedding would be elegant and would perfectly fit that space. We also found it fit our budget and that the staff was helpful and willing to answer all of our questions. We ended up having ALL of our wedding events there, including the rehearsal dinner at Rod’s steakhouse, the entire wedding, the after party at Red Dog Tavern, and a post-wedding brunch the next morning.

What was on your menu?
For our menu, guests ordered tableside. Tom loves food, so he was in charge of all food selections! We attended several of the bridal showcases at The Madison, where they have food available for tasting, and Tom made his favorite selections. The appetizer was a Salad of Baby Greens with Poached Pears, Pancetta & Ricotta, and Sherry Shallot Vinaigrette.
For the main course, guests selected one of these options: 1) Roast Chateaubriand Bordelaise 2) Stuffed Breast of Chicken 3) Pan Seared Filet of Salmon or 4) Vegetarian Option: Roasted Seasonal Vegetable Tart. For cocktail hour, we also added an optional raw bar, and it was a HUGE hit!

For dessert, we added on a brownie station, and there was a line out the door for the brownies, which were served inside waffle bowls with different sauces. Unfortunately Tom and I were so busy greeting guests and dancing that Tom did not get to try a brownie (which is pretty much his favorite food), and it’s a funny inside joke we have now. Maybe if we return for an anniversary he can have a brownie! Also, I have dietary restrictions and the Madison staff were SO helpful in customizing everything so I could eat it- even the top tier of our cake was made gluten and dairy free so that I could eat it!! The staff also packed up cocktail hour food for us as well as our cake, and it was all waiting for us in our suite at the end of the night!

All about your gown!
The gown I chose was completely different from what I first envisioned. I tried on dresses at several salons and then made an appointment at Kleinfeld in NYC where I went with my mother, mother-in-law and sister-in-law, and my Maid of Honor. I tried on several gowns I thought I wanted (mermaid, illusion neckline, etc)- I knew I wanted beading on my gown for sure. I was not in love with any of the gowns for sure, and then for fun, I tried on a gown with an enormous horsetail-ruffled skirt and a beaded bodice, and my face lit up! I realized I wanted to make a statement with my gown and that I wanted to wear something I could never wear again since this was one of the most important days of my life. I knew this was how I wanted to look when I married Tom. I felt elegant and glamorous, and I knew it would be a show-stopper and would perfectly fit with our elegant but garden themed wedding.

What was your favorite moment?
My favorite moment was our first dance! My husband and I were not particularly skilled dancers, so we took lessons at Arthur Murray in Denville a few months leading up to the wedding. We learned a choreographed routine to our first dance song, which was “You Are the Best Thing” by Ray LaMontagne. We had messed up our dance at our practice performance at our last class, so for a week before the wedding we practiced in our kitchen every night and we practiced again on the ballroom dance floor a few days before the wedding. We absolutely NAILED our first dance the night of the wedding, and you can just see the pure excitement in our faces in the photos after we finished our dance. I am so proud of us for learning a new skill together, and we had fun doing it! We made some new friends at the dance classes, and it brought both of us out of our comfort zones. We still dance parts of our routine together in the kitchen on a whim to this day!

One detail you couldn’t live without?
Writing our own vows was the most special part of our wedding. Tom and I wrote our vows together, and I am SO glad we did and that we personalized for each other. Also, a surprising detail that has now become a tradition in our family happened! Tom’s dad’s best friend from home brought an antique umbrella to our wedding– Tom’s parents had used it on their wedding day and had taken a photo with it. So at the last minute, we took a photo with the umbrella. He mailed us the umbrella so now we have it at our house on display, and we will pass it on to our children for their wedding day!

Did anything go wrong?
My aunt (who is also my godmother) was supposed to do a reading during our ceremony, but she and my cousin had been at her college orientation and the flight got cancelled due to a storm. My aunt found another random couple from NJ that also needed to get home ASAP, and they drove 11 hours from North Carolina in a rental car to make it to our wedding. My aunt and cousin arrived at 8PM (my uncle/godfather had done the reading in her place) and when asked if they could stay in their travel clothes because they were going to miss the entire wedding if they changed, I said ABSOLUTELY!! I was floored that she drove all those hours just to be there for us. This is a memory we will never forget!!!

First dance song?
“You Are the Best Thing” by Ray LaMontagne. We danced to the live version played by our wedding band!

Any advice for future brides?
I think the most important thing is to stay true to yourself and your fiancé, and create a wedding that is totally unique and YOU! Pinterest is GREAT for inspiration, but it’s easy to get bogged down in details, so instead remember that no one can make a wedding as unique and special as yours. I would also take as much time as possible to be grateful for all the love and support you will receive from your family and friends. It is truly incredible. Finally, planning a wedding really pushes you to improve your communication skills. Vendors do not know what you want unless you very specifically tell them (it turns out they cannot read your mind!). Also, delegating tasks is super important! We had a brunch at our house 2 weeks before the wedding, where our bridal party helped us with jobs such as preparing favor tags, framing our wedding signs, and making the welcome bags for guests. This helped us relieve some pre-wedding stress, and was also a great way to bond with our bridal party.

Honeymoon Location?
For our honeymoon, we went to Hawaii! We spent 2 days on Oahu and saw Pearl Harbor and Waikiki beach. We then spent a week on the island of Kona (The Big Island) and went to see Volcanoes national park, where we biked out to see lava flow into the ocean (it’s not there anymore due to the recent eruptions!), and we also took a helicopter tour of the volcanoes. We also took a tour to the top of Mauna Kea where we watched the sun set at the highest point on the island, and we got to stargaze afterwards. We went snorkeling and saw sea turtles. My husband and I also have a goal of visiting every national park in the United States, so we visited all the national parks and historic sites on the Island. My husband loves Costco, and we also went to Costco and got the best pineapple ever and sat out on our balcony (Lanai) and had our favorite wine with the pineapple! We finally spent a week on Kauai, where we went ziplining on the longest zipline on the island, we went to an authentic family Luau, and we stayed at a resort and had lots of romantic dinners. It was truly the trip of a lifetime!! We also flew first class on our flight to Hawaii (not on our way back) and that is probably the only time we will get to experience that! Finally, on the way home our flight got delayed 12 hours, first due to mechanical problems and then due to weather on the incoming flight, so we went to Waikiki completely sleep deprived and had a great day on the beach and in the city, and we then waited at the airport for 8 hours and made some friends with 3 other couples who had also been on their honeymoon!