Jennifer & Jesse | Crescent Beach Club | Bayville, NY

An Oceanside Sunset

We were good friends in high school, but did not begin dating until we graduated college and returned to our hometown. I am an education teacher and Jesse is a project manager. We commuted to our jobs in the city on the LIRR together and after a while, Jesse asked me on a date.

One night six years later, Jesse took me to dinner at Sugar Freak, one of our favorite restaurants in Astoria. The tabletops feature notes from prior patrons underneath a thick piece of glass, which Jesse and I always enjoy reading. Jesse had secretly gone to the restaurant earlier and placed his own love note under the glass. Once we were seated, we began reading all the notes as usual. Not knowing one of them was Jesse’s letter to me, I began reading his aloud and as I was doing so, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!

We chose Crescent Beach Club because we believe it has the best ocean and sunset views on the North Shore and we loved the idea of being on our own private beach. Matt Silver, the general manager, Stacie DeRosa, the private events manager, and Denise Chevalier, the director of sales, were wonderful to work with. They showed great attention to detail and a genuine concern for making our wedding the most memorable day of our lives. Stacie went out of her way to accommodate Jesse's brother Sean, who is hearing impaired. She placed an individual copy of his best man speech on every place setting so all the guests could follow along as he delivered his speech.

We had a Roman Catholic ceremony at a church nearby. We were married by Father Kevin Dillon. Then, off to Crescent Beach! Our cocktail hour featured several passed hors d’oeuvres and food stations. Some of our favorites were the baby lamb chops, crab cakes, and risotto lollipops. We also loved the raw bar and the lobster mac and cheese from the Roma station!

“Great Gatsby meets the Beach” was the theme for our ballroom. We wanted the sophisticated elegance of the Gatsby era mixed with the natural relaxed feeling of the beach. To do this, we chose a color scheme of eggplant purple, silver, and white, accented by purple and blue uplighting in the room. The centerpieces consisted of purple hydrangeas, lisianthuses, ranunculuses, and a single purple orchid, all surrounded by votive candles.

A live Frank Sinatra tribute singer serenaded us and our guests during dinner! We started off with an antipasto salad and then a rigatoni pomodoro dish for the pasta course. For the main course, guests were given a choice of horseradish herb-crusted Atlantic salmon, country chicken stuffed with apples, sliced chateaubriand, or eggplant rollatini.

Thank you to all those who helped make this the happiest day of our lives! From our family and friends who have supported us throughout our lives to the many we worked with in our journey of wedding planning, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts! Thank you Matt, Stacie, Denise, and the rest of the staff for making us feel like a part of your Crescent Beach Club family!

The Crescent Beach Club
333 Bayville Avenue, Bayville, NY 11709
516.628.3000, www.thecrescentbeachclub.com