From High School Love to Newlyweds at The Briarcliff Manor
Dan and Stefanie grew up only a street away from each other, being on the same bus in elementary school but not meeting until Freshman Year of High School. From then on they were inseparable. Read all about their journey of love and how they ended up here with us at The Briarcliff Manor!
Question: How did you two first meet?
Answer: Stephanie: We met in high school at a party at Dan’s [groom] house. I went with my friends who were friends with some of his friends, small world!
Question: What was your first impression of each other?
Answer: Stephanie: I thought he was this cool older guy and I wanted to get to know him better. He thought I was cute and wanted to get to know me better as well.
Question: What was your first date?
Answer: We had a group date in 2009 at a restaurant in New York City. We went with a large group of friends and sat next to each other at the restaurant, but we were still both very shy.
Question: Who said ‘I love you’ first?
Answer: He did ?
Question: What is the most memorable date that you two shared?
Answer: I really loved when we used to go down to the river in our town and sit in the car and listen to music while eating pizza from our favorite pizza place.
Question: Is there a favorite spot you two share?
Answer: We’ve been to Aruba twice together and absolutely love it there, but after going to Greece for our honeymoon, we might have a new favorite spot. We used to love this restaurant called Goldfish, but it closed. Now we love this new spot we found, Brother’s Fish & Chips. We also love Fortina in Armonk and BarTaco in Port Chester. We’ve been on so many amazing dates at all of these places it’s hard to pick a favorite.
Question: Who met the in-laws first?
Answer: Stephanie: I met his parents first.
Question: What are your favorite things about each other?
Answer: Stephanie: We love that we can be ourselves around each other. We’ve known each other for so long, that he knows me better than I know myself. We love that we feel safe and comfortable with each other. We also love that we are each other’s biggest cheerleaders and support systems and can go to each other for anything.
Question: Do you have a special tradition on Valentine’s Day?
Answer: Before our weeding date we were counting Valentine’s Day as our anniversary since that was when we had our first date and since we had been together for so long, we couldn’t remember when our actual anniversary was. We usually just go out to a nice dinner or go to a Broadway show.
Question: When did you know that you were going to propose to her?
Answer: Dan: When I realized I was going to spend the rest of my life with her, I thought, “What am I waiting for?”
Question: What was your proposal like..where was it?
Answer: Stephanie: We got engaged on a golf course in Palm Beach, Florida. We were on a family vacation with his parents, his sister and his brother-in-law, and while the boys were playing golf, the girls were at the spa. We were supposed to meet in the clubhouse for lunch, but the boys wanted us to meet them on the 18th hole to take pictures. The course was amazing. Perfectly manicured and right next to the ocean. His sister and brother-in-law took a picture together first, and I didn’t think anything of it when he asked me to take a picture with him too, since we take pictures together all the time. After we got our pictures I turned to walk away and the next thing I know, he was on one knee asking me to marry him. It happened so fast that it took me a few seconds to realize what was happening, until I finally said, “Yes! Of course!”
Question: How did you feel when he proposed?
Answer: I was over-joyed! We had talked about getting engaged, but I had no idea when it was going to happen. I was overcome with happiness and couldn’t wait to spend the rest of my life with this man.
Question: How long have the both of you known each other?
Answer: Since our parents live on neighboring streets, we used to be on the same bus in elementary school, but we didn’t actually meet each other until my freshman year in high school and his sophomore year in high school, so we’ve know each other since 2006, so 12 years! We started dating my junior year in high school and his senior year, that was 2009. We dated all through college and after college and then moved in together and were living together for about a year when we engaged in 2017, so we waited about 8 years before we decided to get married.
Question: What was your favorite part of your wedding day?
Answer: Stephanie: I loved that Dan and I spent the whole night together, laughing and dancing with friends we hadn’t seen in years.
Question: How would you describe the style or theme of your wedding?
Answer: Our wedding had a classical / romantic theme. We had vintage white bird cages as our center prices with lace tablecloths with champagne underlays and white flows, garlands and white lanterns down the aisle and on the fireplaces.
Question: What did you look most forward to? The wedding day, the ceremony, the honeymoon?
Answer: I was most looking forward to the wedding day – so much planning had gone into it over 13 months and I was ready to see it all tied together. He was most excited for the honeymoon since he planned the whole thing!
Question: What was the most fun detail of your wedding to plan?
Answer: I really enjoyed looking at invitations. It was important to me to pick something that conveyed the theme/ style of my wedding right off the bat. I know everyone has that one thing about their wedding that they went above and beyond on, and for me, that was the invitations. For me, they represented the first thing that my guests would see that would set the precedent for the whole day.
Question: What was the most unique detail at your wedding?
Answer: I thought that having a harpist was the most unique detail at my wedding. I thought it fit with the whole classic/ romantic theme and she played beautifully during the processional and recessional of the bridal party. Not to mention, I haven’t seen anyone else have a harpist at their wedding, so I loved how different and unique that was for the ceremony.
Question: What was your something borrowed, something new and something blue?
Answer: Something old – I changed my shoes to these super comfortable TOMs wedges that I’ve had for years, the earrings I wore were given to me when I was young, so I would also consider that my something old.
Something new – My dress was new, my wedding shoes were new, my veil was new, my headpiece was new.
Something blue – I wore blue diamond earrings that were given to me when I was very young [also my something old]. They were given to me by a very close family friend who was unable to make it to the wedding, so I’m happy that I could carry a piece of her with me that day.
Question: To the Groom: What were you thinking when you saw her walking down the aisle?
Answer: Dan I am so happy to be marrying her, and with all of our friends and family here with us.
Question: What is the first thing the groom noticed about the bride when she walked down the aisle?
Answer: Dan: She looked exactly how I expected, absolutely beautiful.
Question: Is there anything from your wedding day that you will keep as memorabilia?
Answer: Stephanie: I kept Dan’s boutonniere. I also kept the glass that we broke during the ceremony.
Question: Were there any family heirlooms that you cherished with you on the wedding day?
Answer: Stephanie: We used my grandfather’s kiddish cup to drink our wine out of during the ceremony. He passed away before I was born, but I was named after him, so it was extremely special to have a piece of him there with us.
Question: What is “your song” and why?
Answer: Our song is, “Speechless” by Dan and Shay. It talks about how beautiful his wife looks and takes place on their wedding day. Dan always tells me how beautiful I look, so the song was very fitting and describes us perfectly.
Question: Who was your maid of honor and why?
Answer: My maid of honor was my sister. She is 3 and a half years younger, and we started getting really close when we did cheerleading together. She knows me so well and made planning my wedding fun and exciting. She helped me with a lot of the big decisions, and for that I am eternally grateful.
Question: Who was your best man and why?
Answer: The best man was Dan’s best friend from college. He actually grew up a town over from us and Dan met him right before they went off to college and actually realized they were going to the same school. They were roommates all the way from freshman year to senior year and have been best friends ever since. He would even third wheel on our dates when I would come to visit.
Question: Did you have your honeymoon yet? How was it/where was it?
Answer: Yes, we went to Greece the day after the wedding. We were there for 12 days. We flew into Athens, and stayed there for two days, saw the Acropolis, the Parthenon, went to dinner and explored the city. Then we flew to Santorini for six days. Santorini was so relaxing. We hung out at the pool every day and enjoyed all the amazing food and sunsets. Then we took a ferry to Mykonos and stayed there for three nights. I loved being right on the ocean and exploring the town, I fell in love with the cobblestones and white and blue houses, it truly felt like Greece. Then we flew back to Athens for one more night to get ready to fly home the nest day. It was the best trip we’re ever taken, and we cannot wait to travel together again.
Question: How would you describe your wedding day in one sentence?
Answer: The most magical day of my life.
Band – Liquid A
Photographer – Pete Lott Photography
Florist & Décor – Décor by Vincenza
Bakery – The Dessertist
Transportation – PMV Limousine
