Atlantic City Weddings - Wedding Spotlight

Date:
May 15, 2005

Ceremony & Reception:
Lakeview Manor
Mays Landing, NJ

Photographer:
John DiMaio Photography
Northfield, NJ

Flowers:
Art of Flowers
Atlantic City, NJ

Wedding Gown
& Bridesmaid Gowns:
Here Comes
The Bride

Wedding
Gown Train:
Andrea Quaile

Hairdresser:
Judy Olsen

Videographer:
Videographer:
Illusions Productions
Vineland, NJ

How we Met: We met at a JSSKA (Jersey Shore Sea Kayakers Assoc.) picnic on the Patcong Creek in Somers Point. I didn't really want to go but my neighbor convinced me to go. I had borrowed a boat from a friend and wasn't familiar with it. I couldn't figure out how to use the rudder and kept banging into George's boat. He didn't seem to mind too much. He emailed me the next day. We got together to go kayaking - they weren't official dates but it soon turned into dating.

The Ceremony:
We had the idea to get married in kayaks right away - within a day or two of the proposal. My neighbor (who makes costumes for a living in one of the casinos) and I made the train for the dress. The train was 10 feet long and tied around the waist of the wedding dress. Wooden dowels and styrofoam balls attached to the train kept it afloat. We didn't test it out beforehand but just hoped it worked. After the ceremony I could

take the train off so my wedding dress didn't really get wet.

For the ceremony we had 12 people in the water in kayaks and the photographer. We kayaked across Lake Lenape and went in just close enough to shore so the bottoms of the kayaks hit the sand. Since the minister needed to be in front of us, he had to be on shore because if there was any wind he wouldn't be able to be in front of us. So we had the guests and the minister on the shoreline in front of us.

Disc Jockey:
Joe - Shore Entertainment
"He did a really
good job."
First Dance:
"Jersey Girl" -
Bruce Springsteen

Father/Daughter Dance:
"Butterfly Kisses"

We Saved
Money By:
My mother was really good at negotiating prices so that helped us save some money.

We used the internet:
Including this site, to get ideas and find out about bridal shows.

The Cake:
Our wedding cake was green - to look like grass. Each tier had a waterfall going down to the next tier. The cake topper was handmade to look like us by a guy named George who we found on the internet. He makes these miniature 4-12" long replicas of kayaks called "foamies." They're specially weighted replicas of kayaks that can be used in the water when the water level is too low to go kayaking. We also had kayaks on our programs (photo) and carved into the edge of our rings. Everything else, the reception etc, was very traditional.

Honeymoon: We went on a cruise to Bermuda & went kayaking there. We took the Voyage of the Seas by Royal Caribbean out of Bayonne. That was just fabulous.

Best Part: It was a great day - the whole thing. It started to rain as we got in the boat. Then we paddled across the lake but it cleared after about 5 minutes so the whole thing went well. You know, so much work went into planning the ceremony that I think we would have done it anyway even if it was raining hard.