Wedding Date on Sep 28, 2019

A Swipe On Mr. Right Little did I know that I would swipe right on my future husband, but that’s how Jon and I met! Good ole tinder! So I guess that would make me a “tinderella”! His profile picture was pizza, so I was obliviously intrigued. We had our first date at the Beer Garden in downtown Raleigh. I walked inside and it was pretty empty, so I went upstairs looking for this mysterious Italian pizza man. When I spotted Jon he was sitting at a table which felt like a football field away, so I said, “Oh hey!” from across the bar as I walked over. He smiled and waved and said, “Why are you yelling?” and has continued to ask me the same question since. I’ve never laughed more with anyone than I have with Jon! He had such a warm presence, I truly feel at home with him. Tricked Into Filming My Own Engagement Jon and I had planned a trip to Hawaii with my family, but we decided to go a few days early. We were discussing what we should do those first few days before the rest of my family joined us. Jon suggested that we go on a hike and bring champagne. I said, “Champagne? You hate champagne!”. When Jon and I moved to New York to start Madison Grey Media, he knew he was going to play a huge role as an associate filmmaker. I trained him on all of the essentials, but now I was teaching him to fly the drone. He responded and said, “Yeah! We can hike to the top and get drone footage of us popping champagne! It would be a sick shot!”. A tad suspicious, I agreed that it would be a cool shot, and convinced myself that he was just an eager film student, expanding his creative mind haha. It was our first day in Kauai and of course it was raining. If you’ve ever been to Kauai, you know that if it’s raining, you can drive to the other side of the island and it’ll be sunny. So we got in the car and chased the sun! We started our hike and didn’t anticipate how difficult it would actually be. 6 miles of steep inclines, tripping on roots, and slipping through mud, we made it to the top! The view was amazing! Jon paused and said, “Let’s fly it here!”. It was starting to rain and I knew water would get on the lens, so I said “Nahhh, let’s fly it on the way back”. We walked a little further to the waterfall, took some pictures and started to head back, just as the clouds were rolling in. We get to the same spot where the view was, but now completely covered by clouds. Jon stops and says, “Okay, let’s fly it now!”, I was like, “Jon, there’s no view and it’s raining. Let’s do another hike tomorrow and we’ll fly it then.” He looked annoyed and said, “Let’s just set your camera up and pop champagne anyway.” It was really starting to rain, so I set up my camera quickly and pressed record. We walked to where there would’ve been a view of beautiful cliffs and mountainsides, but instead a wall of white clouds. Jon pushed me to face him and said, “I have something for you….” and got down on one knee. After catching my breath, I said “yes!” and we finally popped champagne! I was on cloud 9. We put the ring back in the box for the hike down, anticipating the amount of times we would fall in the mud. And then when we reached the bottom, he put the most beautiful ring on my finger, dirty hands and all. It was perfect. Watch the engagement video: https://madisongreymedia.com/2018/11/26/hawaii-engagement-video/ Wedding Details: My grandma designed and made my dress! She started making gowns when she was a single mother (to 5 kids!) in her late 20's. Since then, she made my mom's wedding gown, my sister in laws- everyone's! My grandma has always been the matriarch of our big Italian family. She is one of the hardest working and determined people I know. I have always dreamt about the day she would make my wedding gown, so this is truly a dream come true! She is going to help me get ready the morning of the wedding! We have a neon sign with the lyrics to our first dance song! All of the signage (table numbers/welcome sign/seating chart, etc) are hand-painted to match our colors!