THE PROPOSAL: Matt and I met in middle school tech class. One day in class, I cut my hand on one of the saws and he took me to the nurse, even though he was going to be late for his next class. We became best friends and we started “dating,” which consisted of walking to class together and hanging out at the mall. Six years later, he proposed. We knew that we wanted to get settled in our careers before we got married, so six years later, we tied the knot in Bermuda.
THE PLANNING: We planned this wedding over an almost two-year span, and it definitely would have been a lot more stressful if I didn’t have my mom, my grandmother, or our wedding planner, Giuliana Gonsalves of the Traveling Bride. Giuliana took care of all the logistics of the event, from coordinating vendors to making sure I ate before walking down the aisle. My mom was always there for me to bounce ideas off of, and my grandmother was the MVP of the wedding planning process. She worked on all the centerpieces, silk bouquets, and silk boutonnieres.
THE LEAD-UP: We had a group of about 50 friends and family cruise from Boston to Bermuda for our wedding. The cruise left on a Friday, but the wedding wasn’t until Sunday. We spent a lot of time laying in the sun and drinking rum swizzles in preparation for the big day. The night before the wedding, we all had dinner together in one of the ship’s dining rooms.
GETTING READY: I headed off the ship to Coco Reef on Sunday afternoon once we docked. I was joined by my bridesmaid sister-in-law, my maid of honor sister, my mother, my mother-in-law, and my brother-in-law’s girlfriend, Gina. Giuliana greeted us at the hotel and we toasted to the big day with champagne. Gina did our makeup and Blueprint Hair Studio did our hair. Matt came to the hotel a little later with his groomsman friend, his best man brother, his father, my father, and my step-father.
THE WEDDING: Our most precious memory is looking out from the altar to see how many people came all the way to Bermuda to see us get married. To have that many people love and support us enough to take a week out of their busy lives for a one-day event was really amazing. One of the details that was really important to us was getting married under the Moongate. We traveled to Bermuda together twice before our wedding and both times, we kissed under a Moongate. We wanted to continue that tradition.
THE PARTY: The ceremony was followed by cocktail hour by the pool with appetizers and our signature drink of rum swizzles. Once family pictures were wrapped up with Gavin Howarth, we made our way to the end of the cocktail hour and had our first dance. Afterwards, we had dinner at the terrace, where every table was decorated with lighthouse lanterns and shell wreaths. During dinner, my sister and brother-in-law gave speeches that made us both laugh and cry. Then we cut our cake. We spent the rest of the night dancing and taking pictures in the photo booth.
THE HONEYMOON: We stayed overnight at Coco Reef after the wedding. We considered the next day our “minimoon,” which started with breakfast at the hotel. We relaxed on Elbow Beach for the majority of the day and then headed back to the ship. For our actual honeymoon, we went to South Carolina and visited Charleston and Myrtle Beach, where we did a lot of sightseeing and relaxing.
THE FUTURE: We hope to buy a house in the near future and hopefully start a family shortly after.
ADVICE TO COUPLES: My advice to future brides is to not sweat the small stuff, because no one will care if your stamps don’t match your invitation. Also, you can’t make everyone happy, so make decisions that will make you and your groom happy.
WEDDING DETAILS
CEREMONY & RECEPTION: Coco Reef Resort
WEDDING PLANNER: Giuliana Gonsalves, The Traveling Bride
PHOTOGRAPHY: Howarth Photography Ltd.
CAKE: Cake Boutique Celebration
MUSIC: Jess Figueiredo, ceremony violin; DJ Allstar, reception
RECEPTION PHOTO BOOTH: Howarth Photography Ltd.
HAIR: Blueprint Hair Studio
OFFICIANT: Rev. Leon Jennings
