"Frankie and I met three years ago. I was a manager at a retail store and had lunch with a friend who also worked in the mall. My friend brought along Frankie, his new manager. We hit it off and went on our first date to an Italian restaurant in the city. We became a couple a month later. Frankie is currently in sales and I am now a kindergarten teacher in New Jersey.

"Two years later, I went to visit him at his home after my final interview at a school in Mahwah. He was waiting for me down on one knee. I screamed, then saw the ring and screamed again. I didn’t even noticed the banner and balloons across the fireplace reading, “Dana, will you marry me?” I was so happy, I could not stop smiling.

"We knew we wanted our reception at The Castle at Skylands Manor. It’s a Renaissance looking mansion with 24 newly remodeled bedrooms and thousands of acres of beautiful botanical gardens. It was everything we wanted.

"Frankie’s mom, Linda Pergola, who is the catering director and event planner at The Castle at Skylands Manor, was very supportive and was there to help with all the wedding day details. She suggested we collect wedding pictures from both sides of our family and put them around the mansion to create the feeling of being in our home.

"There was an unbelievable amount of passed hors d’oeuvres, including shrimp, filet mignon on bread, mini BLT’s, rissoto balls, hot butternut squash soup shots, crab cakes, and chicken macadamia skewers. We also enjoyed a wine and Tuscan station, a ravioli station, a grilling station with chicken, lamb chops, a raw bar with oysters, clams, and lobster, and a fresh mozzarella station.