For their Park Chateau wedding on December 9, 2022, Sabrina and Justin created a Christmas-inspired celebration. All of the little details and decorations—from the seating chart to the milk-and-cookies bar and the red-rose flower wall—were done with the holidays in mind.
Sabrina and Justin met in high school would at a house party. The two 18-year-olds parted ways that night not knowing the impact that encounter would leave. One evening, Sabrina received a Snapchat from Justin asking for her opinion on his haircut. Once she answered, “keep it short,” the rest was history. In typical Justin fashion, their first date was at Chipotle. The two hit it off instantly and were inseparable after that first date. Texting and calling every night, hanging out every weekend and slowly growing to become each other’s best friends. At Sabrina’s high school graduation party, Justin finally asked her to be his girlfriend. Her response? “Of course!”
Justin proposed in Central Park. “He had a heart of rose petals, a photographer and had music playing,” says Sabrina. “After he asked, he surprised me with our entire family waiting for us on the Spirit of NY boat to take us around the Hudson to celebrate. He spent months planning it with all of our family and friends and I had no idea. It was beautiful and the best day of my life.”
Their wedding on December 9, 2022 was holiday inspired. “Having a wedding so close to Christmas, I knew I wanted our wedding colors to be Santa red and white,” says Sabrina. “The colors went perfectly with the time of year and our venue. All of the little details and decorations for the wedding were done with the holidays in mind. We even had lit up Christmas trees behind us at the altar and all of us wore fire shawls. The entire venue was lit up at night with Christmas lights so it was perfect!”
“The moment we toured Park Chateau we knew this would be our wedding venue, ” says Sabrina. “When you enter, you feel like you just walked into a French chateau and forget that you’re still in New Jersey. The staff is also incredible and even during our first tour treated us like we were family. Being Italian, my family is all about the food and once we saw the incredible spread the venue puts out, we knew we were in the right place.”
“For the cocktail hour, we did almost every station the Park Chateau offered, from seafood, pasta, boardwalk food, sushi and raw bars to a martini bar—our guests were in a food coma,” says Sabrina. “Our guests were given a burrata salad, and choice of branzino, chicken or steak for their main entree. Our cake was also inspired by the holidays with a present ribbon wrapped around it and flowers added throughout. The flavors were red velvet, cannoli, raspberry and Italian custard.”
“My gown was designed by Allure bridal,” says Sabrina. “It was the second dress I tried on and I knew instantly it was MY dress. It was mermaid style to hug me in all of the right places. Fitted up top and the bottom floated out. My favorite part is all the details. Not only is the top completed beaded and have hints of sparkle, the entire train sparkles and reminded me of Cinderella. When I found my wedding shoes made by Louboutin, they matched perfectly. The shoes were designed just like Cinderella’s with the sides being shear and it was covered in sparkles which matched my dress to a tee.”
“Honestly my favorite moment was actually getting married,” says Sabrina. “Justin and I have been together since high school, over eight years, so being able to finally marry my best friend felt so surreal. The moment the doors opened and I walked down the aisle, I saw him crying and I just couldn’t think about anything else besides how much I love him and how lucky I am.”
“Our flower wall/ photo booth! We always had a photo booth for our wedding, but a few weeks before I decided I didn’t just want a plain white background,” says Sabrina. “So I contacted Mirror Mirror by Dina and picked out their gorgeous Christmas red flower wall and ordered a sign with ‘The Salems Est. 2022′ so people had something unique to post from our wedding. I also loved our audio guest book! Instead of a traditional book, we had a old fashioned phone from Fetephone and our guests left us voicemail messages. A few weeks later, we were sent the complete audio of all of our guests’ wishes. Hearing from our guests directly was so special and we will cherish it forever.”
“Don’t stress about the little things!” says Sabrina. “The weeks leading up to my wedding I was so stressed about everything not going to plan or not looking absolutely perfect. The day of, the only thing that matters to you is how much you love the person you’re marrying. Focus on why you’re there in the first place and everything will work out.”
“We went to Sandals Grande St. Lucian!” says Sabrina. “It was beautiful and the staff was incredible. It didn’t hurt escaping New Jersey cold and snow to go to sunny 80 degree weather either.”