Dream Celebration

Zak and I met in West Palm Beach in the summer of 2016. While Zak was a complete stranger to dating apps, truth be told I was spending multiple nights a week there.

A few flirty messages and a four plus hour date later, we quickly discovered our mutual love of pizza and beer, New England skylines and Florida shorelines, and — thankfully — that I was absolutely not a Giants fan.

Fast forward four years and we had survived a 1,200 mile move and six new jobs, but nothing could have prepared us for what came next.

After a short but intense battle, we lost a true matriarch of our family, and I was struggling to pick up the pieces. Yet, with Zak by my side and the love my dear Aunt Andrea had for him, it was clear Zak was already my partner, and the rest was merely a formality — and, the fun part.

When Zak popped the question over an incredible sunrise with an equally incredible quarantine beard, I of course said yes, knowing the only thing I wanted more than to be Zak’s wife was to throw a wedding unlike any other.

We quite quickly settled on a date — June 06, 2021 — what would have been my aunt’s 53rd birthday. However, what took much, much more effort was the venue, and I knew I had an uphill battle before me. I needed a place with a capacity for every person my father had ever met — 318 of them to be exact — yet with a charm that made you feel like the only couple who ever mattered. I wanted character, I wanted romance, and from the very moment I saw it, I wanted — no, I needed — The Inn at Longshore.

While Covid forced our hand and caused a postponement no one wanted, the 832 days of planning, replanning, and my dad still extending the guest list couldn’t have been more worth it. People came hungry — for food, for entertainment, for joy, and for love. Longshore provided it all, and then some.

It was as if Christine and her team — along with Amy, the wedding planner/therapist/friend of my dreams — knew just how badly we needed this day to be perfect, how much healing we had to do. They made it look effortless, feel limitless, and as if it had to be the best day of their lives, let alone ours.

Now, nearly a year later, the gratitude I feel is still overwhelming, and I’m reminded of it every time I look at the background on my phone, or pass exit 42 on the Merritt Parkway. The only thing I'd change is that it’s already over.