Real Wedding: Johnny & Joanna
Cake: Montauk Bake Shoppe Event Rentals: American Tent Company Invitations & Stationery: Designed by Bride Floral Design: Strawberry Fields Reception Site: Sole East
Joanna and Johnny met and began their romance through the means of another romance - someone else's romance. While both working as assistants, their respective bosses, a fashion editor and a photographer, were a couple and would often bring their assistants along with them for different jobs. For several months Johnny and Joanna were good friends and looked forward to shoots, when they had the opportunity to see each other. Joanna couldn't deny an attraction to Johnny, but she was afraid of the circumstances in their workplace that a relationship could affect. "I started falling for him but as worried about starting a relationship since we worked together and it could be awful if things didn't go well," she says of her previous worries. When they finally did start dating, they kept their affair a secret from their bosses, just in case things didn't work out. Their secrecy went unneeded however, as the relationship began to grow from something casual into something more serious.
It was during a trip to Marrakesh in Morocco that Johnny finally popped the question to Joanna. Nestled away in the back of an intimate restaurant, warmed in a quiet nook by their own personal fireplace and an exotic dinner, Johnny took her hand and shyly asked Joanna to marry him. Through tears of happiness, Joanna answered with a nod and kiss, which was all that Johnny needed for an answer.
The Sole East resort in Montauk, NY was a place that Johnny and Joanna both knew as a place of memories and aesthetic beauty. Joanna is from the North Fork area, and her familiarity with the area made North Fork a definite choice for the location of their wedding. Johnny and Joanna had been spending a few days at the Sole East every August and during their stays their, had fallen in love with their backyard garden and the majestic scenery of the area. "When we got engaged and started planning, we both thought of it," Joanna says in regards to choosing Sole East as the final decision.
As for the wedding itself, the couple wanted a wedding that had elements of the non-traditional in it. Though they liked the idea of a wedding being a place where everyone could come together to celebrate, neither of them were partial to the idea that the event would have to be pre-set and dictated by the traditional rituals of a wedding. Instead, they organized their wedding with a casual theme in mind, forgoing the receiving line and serving the wedding cake to guests themselves. There was also a fire pit where everyone was able to make and eat S'mores, which was a hit with kids and adults alike.
A particularly significant moment for the bride and groom involved their first dance together. Johnny and Joanna had agreed to split the music choices, with Joanna getting to choose the recessional and Johnny in charge of the first dance tune. They discarded the old tradition of not seeing the bride before the wedding and were in their room together, before the start of the ceremony. Alone, they danced to their first song together as husband and wife, away from the wedding guests and celebration commotion. Joanna remembers this moment as something special between just her and Johnny, hidden away from the chaos of the wedding. "It was a really romantic song and a private, intimate moment before all the public merriment of the party. It was very poignant for me."