Episode 8- WE’RE FRIGGIN’ MARRIED!

Yay! Our wedding! That was the best day of our lives!!!

Ok, so we will be officially husband and wife for 6 months on Christmas Day… and it’s been a whirl wind of a year.  2011 will be an even bigger year (hopefully…) and all we can say is “Good bye 2010!”  Wedding planning is hard enough… a few of our closest friends got engaged this past year, and we plan on passing them down all the knowledge we got from planning… and we’ll share that with you as well…if you want…

Sandra-

I loved our wedding.  I really did.  There was no stress, no fighting, no drama; just perfection in my book.

Joey and I never had a budget.  We are the type of people that if we want something, we make it work. We weren’t looking for a small celebration either; we both come from large families, and have a lot of friends, and found it crucial to make sure we had a wedding that topped out engagement party. 

When we got engaged, we decided right off the bat that we wanted an extravagant event, making sure it was formal and that every detail was finely tuned to our style and way of living.  We weren’t settling for second best, and we knew that we had to sacrifice a lot of things to get there (for instance, my shoe addiction…).  But we made it. And as it turns out, we really loved our wedding. You get married once hopefully, and you want to do it right. We knew we didn’t have a fairy godmother to grant us a wedding and we knew that if we were going to have a “wedding to remember” than we would have to really pour our hearts and souls into planning. And that’s what we did. And the end result was a platinum wedding worthy of wedding books.  

We didn’t necessarily have a theme per say; we were influenced by the 1940’s and 1950’s.  I wanted to channel Old Hollywood Glamour and bring in details that would “ring-a-bell” and pay homage to such a beautiful era in fashion.  I didn’t want a costume party; just elegant, glamorous, and above all mix modern tradition with old.  And of course, we wanted to respect our heritage and incorporate proper Italian traditions. Nothing cliché and definitely nothing to get any Italian upset; Just sophistication.

I loved everything about our wedding; right down to the invites with peacock feathers.  There was so much attention to detail… and it made a difference in my mind.  It was literally a dream come true…

My workout and diet completely changed when it came to the wedding.  I literally cut out all sweets, carbs, salt and ate protein and salad for 2 months straight.  I busted my ass at the gym, and I trained like I was in a competition.  Obsessed? You better believe it.  My dress was beautiful but it tortured me!  But it was the motivation I needed.  I think I’m going to teach a Bridal Boot camp class.  Get brides everywhere to be in top notch shape for their big day.  By the way I love how my back looks!   And did I mention my BUTT!!! J I actually felt confident that day.

Watching the episode last night made me cry a little too…but in a good way.  Oh it breaks my heart to see my daddy cry.  He was happy but it must be so hard to let your little girl go.  I’m the first born! My mother and father couldn’t have been prouder that day.  And I’m not just saying that either. I think parents go through an emotional change when their child gets engaged.  It’s like they are closing a chapter in their book and opening a new one.  My daddy is still one of the major guys in my life.  Joey and my father get along so well and I am so grateful they do.   I’ll always be daddy’s princess…

Seeing Joey for the first time gave me butterflies.  He looked amazing in his tuxedo. By the way, who got picked up in the Bentley? Me! And who won the vest color war? ME! I love you Joey… I win!

We took pictures at Old Westbury Gardens, and we saw each other before the wedding so this way pictures could be done.  We made it very special.  Even though someone who shall remain nameless made Joey turn around before we were in position… I know who you are lol…

Joey loved my dress and how it looked on me.  He wasn’t showing off either. He still tells me how amazing I looked.  He makes me feel so beautiful…

The ceremony was perfect.   Joey and I knew we needed to have a beach wedding because the beach is our sanctuary.  It’s our church, where we go to think, pray and its serenity. The Surf Club had the ideal area for our ceremony to take place.  The ceremony was the hardest part of our day.  We were standing in front of 200+ people, committing our love and faithfulness to each other.  So I wouldn’t cry, and I so would have love for you to have seen this, Joey kept sticking his tongue out at me and making faces so I would smile.  Joey loves my smile, and tells me all the time.  I noticed when I am nervous I have this laugh that makes it so obvious.  At one point though, the tears couldn’t stop, and it was pure emotion as I said my vows to him.

You have no idea how happy we were that the hard part was over and that the party could begin! We knocked out all the pictures (we have about 2400 pictures by the way) and enjoyed the cocktail party.  But we didn’t get to eat! We decided to greet everyone instead.  And look at the ice and cheese sculptures, and ice luges! 

I LOVED THE CHEESE SCULPTURE! It was wax and cheese and it was so different.  We had carved watermelons and ice sculptured mermaids but THE CHEESE MERMAID took the prize! 

So our 1940’s old Hollywood Glamour meets the Godfather inspired wedding went off without any drama, or problems or headaches.  The reception was beautiful and our guest had the best time (I can say that truthfully because of the endless phone calls we received!).   Joey gave me the best wedding ever, and literally he treats me so well.  We couldn’t be happier with the way our wedding turned out.  It was the best day of our lives!

There’s nothing like a Joey and Sandra party. We throw amazing, memorable bashes, not to be cocky.  It’s going to be hard to top this one.  I’m turning 30 in 2 years… Joey…so what do you think lol?

Joey-

Well the episode finally came that we all have been waiting for. I was very happy that you actually seen how I really am and wasn’t portrayed as the “asshole”. LOL. Unfortunately you couldn’t get to see the extravagant of what our wedding was really about.  So over time we will be adding photos as well as clips from our wedding day. 

It’s funny. My cousin just got engaged about a month ago.  I gave him the option of 2 one way tickets for him and me to go to Fiji or suffer like I did through this process. I guess Sandra and I are going to have to use the tickets. I guess he likes torture.  Just kidding; but no really I did say it to him. 

The morning of the wedding I was feeling fine, I wasn’t feeling nervous or anything. I was just anxious to meet up with Sandra and see her for the first time. So after some pictures with guys, a few beers to take the edge off, we made our way over to Old Westbury Gardens.

Sure enough I got screwed out of the Bentley- Thanks to my wedding planner (Francesca, thank you, love you!)-

When we got there, one of my slightly buzzed groomsman made a comment which made me turn around and saw Sandra quickly when she was walking over when I wasn’t suppose to.  You’re a dumb ass bro!

When I saw her I couldn’t believe how amazing she looked in that dress and wanted to “skip the wedding and go to the honeymoon” lol.  She was absolutely gorgeous and that’s when I realized “Holy shit I’m getting friggin’ married!”

So after all the pictures, we made our way to the Surf Club, up in New Rochelle.   We were greeted with cocktails and they made us feel like Royalty.  As we went into the bridal suite, I started becoming very antsy.  Waiting for the ceremony felt like the day was just slowing down, and I just wanted to get the ceremony over with. 

Finally, our Italian singer, Allesandro came to sing Sandra’s entrance, which unfortunately you didn’t get to hear, probably because they didn’t have a mic on him, so that’s why there was the traditional “here comes the bride” music.

During the ceremony, I noticed Sandra was trying to hold tears, so I started making facing at her and sticking my tongue at her to make her laugh, which thank God it wasn’t shown, but I didn’t want her to ruin her makeup.  I guess I’m not so bad after all people

So after all is said and done, we go to the cocktail hour.  I was hoping that I would have been able to enjoy the cocktail hour with my guest, since we got the pictures done quickly after the ceremony.  Every time I went to get some food, guest would come up to us.  So we decided to forget about cocktail hour and greet our guest.  Which I was a little disappointed about considering the amount of food and different stations we had.

This brings us now to our reception.  Only I get called in for the first time with my wife and walk through our bridal party and get tapped in the balls by every groomsman I had! Thanks guys! Paybacks a bitch! From there on we had a great reception, between the music, the Italian Singer, the food, the liquor; we made that night very memorable. Our guests still talk about it.  All the extravagant details we added to make this wedding truly amazing.  We even had a Venetian hour that topped it off with fireworks, and every dessert you could think of.

This was definitely one night I wouldn’t change for the world.  Then we honeymooned in Hawaii for 2 weeks, which was the perfect ending to our wedding trauma.

If I had to give anybody advice that was thinking about getting married, I would say “DON’T DO IT!” :-) (Sorry had to say it)

We just wanted to say thank you to all of our fans for your support and positive feedback. I know a lot people out there completely think of me a different way, but hopefully, seeing the real me will help change your mind.

You haven’t seen the last of Joey and Sandra. Keep tabs on www.JoeyandSandra.com to find out about our appearances, as well as updates, pictures and videos on our lives.  2011 is going to be a VERY good year.

PS… write to VH1 and tell them who you REALLY Love (me). You can also let them know that you want to see us in our very own show.  Who knows, maybe you can see us going through the baby process next…

Sandra- Kiss my ass Joe!

Joey-