“Fit for Royalty”
Pedro worked down the street from my parent’s house for years, but we didn’t officially meet until the summer before I started college. One of Pedro’s coworkers, who happened to also be a good friend of mine, introduced us. We had our first date at Jones Beach and we’ve been together ever since. On our eight-year anniversary, Pedro asked me to marry him! We celebrated our engagement at our family’s favorite Portuguese restaurant before sharing the news with loved ones. Now, I am a producer on a news channel and Pedro is a director of technology solutions.
The moment we walked into The Estate at Florentine Gardens, we knew it was our venue. It literally took my breath away. We fell in love with the ballroom, the beautiful chandeliers, and the manicured gardens. The venue is classy, elegant, and timeless, and we loved how they hosted only one wedding at a time. We are both Portuguese, so the food was a priority for us. And Florentine did not disappoint!
Florentine’s event consultant was my dream wedding coordinator. He was on top of every detail and made sure everything ran smoothly, from all the planning to coordinating with our vendors. It was a pleasure working with the talented Sal Travis, director of entertainment, on our lighting, video/theatrical packages, and photo montage. Jeffrey Lepselter, the maître d’, and Kerry, the bridal attendant, were by our sides to help with anything we needed every moment of the night.
We had a traditional Catholic ceremony at Pedro’s family church. The ceremony was done in both English and Portuguese by Father Matthew Janeczk. We had a live organist and a singer and we even worked with an artist (illustrated Paige) on a custom illustration of me and Pedro for our programs. As a special touch, the lace on our unity candle matched the lace on my dress. As we exited the church, our bridal party waved ribbon wands!
During cocktail hour at Florentine Gardens, our guests were blown away with the assortment of food and the top-notch service. We had pizza and pasta stations, a ceviche bar, a Chinese take-out station, and even custom ice sculptures with our monogram to match our wedding invitation! The ballroom, it felt magical and romantic. The room was lit with lots of candles, amber uplighting, and our monogram shining on the dance floor.The tables were decorated with blush, white, and pink flowers and gold accents, from our personalized menu to table numbers with Swarovski crystals (by Stephanie Somodi). The highlight for us was the custom sweetheart table, decorated with white drapery, a matching table and chairs, a riser, and a gold monogram at the front of the table. BDazzled Events worked with our florist and together they truly created a set-up fit for a king and queen!
Throughout dinner, our DJ Andrew Gangi played traditional Portuguese music and we had a live artist (Katherine Gressel) paint our first dance. We surprised everyone with a seven-foot LED robot that sprayed the crowd with a CO2 gun and handed out LED batons.
The first course was a lobster risotto and intermezzo of lemon sorbet. For entrées, guests chose from a New York Strip Streak with peppercorn sauce, French cut chicken breast stuffed with spinach and fontina cheese, or crab-crusted Chilean sea bass with a citrus beurre blanc. We loved our wedding cake with cascading roses and the Viennese dessert display with cookies and pastries, a chocolate fountain, an ice cream sundae bar, and more!
We are forever grateful to our parents, my sister and Matron of Honor Lilly, Pedro’s best man Joe, and our bridal party for their love and support. Thank you to our family and friends for traveling to celebrate with us. We could not have had our dream wedding without our incredible vendors. Shout out to BeBe & Dita on our sweetheart table, my amazing glam squad Juliette and the AMA team, our talented photographers Anthony and Chris, our florist Elena, and DJ Andrew. And a very special thank you to Jason, Sal, and all the amazing staff at The Estate at Florentine Gardens. We couldn’t have done this without you.
The Estate at Florentine Gardens, 97 Rivervale Road, River Vale, NJ 07675 201.666.0444, www.florentinegardens.com
“The moment we walked into The Estate at Florentine Gardens, we knew it was our venue. It literally took my breath away. We fell in love with the ballroom, the beautiful chandeliers, and the manicured gardens. The venue is classy, elegant, and timeless, and we loved how they hosted only one wedding at a time.”
