SCENE Together

Couples on their Wedding Day

Phillips + Wolfe

Rechelle “Chelle” Phillips and Marc Wolfe first met each other twelve years ago when she was cutting his son Joshua’s hair at Ana Molinari Hair Salon on Palm Avenue.  Despite developing a crush on Marc from the time she first met him, Chelle and Marc would remain just acquaintances for several years.  Little did she realize during these “secret crush” years that good things would come to those who wait.

A few years ago while Marc was out on a date with his then girlfriend enjoying the food and music at downtown’s Blue Rooster, Ana Molinari was also there with Chelle.  Without Chelle’s knowledge, Ana approached Marc and told him of Chelle’s longtime crush.  When a mortified Chelle found out what Ana did after she returned to their table, Chelle immediately bolted from the restaurant. But Ana succeeded in her mission.  Marc was intrigued and eventually, when both he and Chelle became unattached, Marc connected via Facebook, started dating Chelle, and never looked back.

The engagement came as a total surprise. Chelle didn’t have a clue!  Marc surprised her during a private wine tasting at the Hourglass Vineyards in Napa Valley inside one of its very romantic wine caves created by fractured bedrock under the Vaca mountain range. To add even more surprise, Marc secretly hired a musician who drove from Oakland to Napa to perform the couple’s favorite song before the proposal.  The story on how he pulled this off is what makes this proposal so special.

While the couple enjoyed their wine tasting in the cave with Todd, one of the vineyard’s winemakers, the silhouette of someone else appeared at the entrance to the long cave.  As this person got closer, he appeared to be a drifter holding a guitar.  He then told Chelle and Marc he heard the wine was great at this vineyard, that he was in-between gigs, and would they mind if he tasted some wine with them.  How odd, Chelle thought!  People don’t just pop up at this special place!

Winemaker Todd immediately told the man he had to leave, but Marc immediately told the man to stay, telling him the more the merrier.  So the musician, Peter, shared wine and chatted with the couple for a bit.  Marc then told Peter that since he was drinking their wine, it would only be fair that he play a song for them.  “Any song,” the couple told him.  Peter starts playing and singing “their song,” which is not very well known – James Blunt’s “Postcards.” Chelle is shocked by this amazing coincidence and keeps saying during the song, “What are the odds?” After Peter finishes playing, Marc confesses he arranged for Peter to be there, got down on one knee and proposed, much to Chelle’s joy and disbelief.

During peak fall foliage on Sunday, October 9th, the couple married among family and close friends at the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont, with its stunning mountain views and Austrian architecture. The weekend festivities started with a wine tasting at the Trapp Lodge on Friday night, followed by a house party at the couple’s second home in Hyde Park on Saturday night featuring an ice luge and music by the band “The Last Kid Picked.” The wedding and reception on Sunday capped off the couple’s dream wedding.

Chelle and Marc honeymooned through Northern New England and into the Maritime Provinces in Canada stating that the pinnacle of their trip was staying at the Fogo Island Inn on Fogo Island, with its 420-million-year-old geologic history that includes stunning and fascinating contortions of rock formed by ice, fire, and sea.  It is one of the few places on earth where you can see the full spectrum of the magma chamber exposed.

Marc is owner of Southern Financial Trust in Sarasota. Rechelle is owner of Chelle Salon and Spa on Bee Ridge Road where she is a master hair stylist and colorist.

Convery + Miller

Since she was a little girl growing up in Dayton, Ohio, Cara Marie Convery vacationed on Longboat Key while visiting family members living on the Key. So when her mother also moved to Longboat Key, Cara knew there was no better place with so many great memories to return to and marry her love, Matthew Ryan Miller.

Matthew, a product manager for NCR in Atlanta, met his bride Cara, who is Senior Assistant District Attorney working in the sex crimes department in downtown Atlanta, with the help of his college buddy, Matthew Huckeba. Matt’s wife, Blair, has been Cara’s Realtor since she moved to Atlanta after law school.  Blair not only has a great eye for picking out great homes for her clients, but it seems she also thought Matthew and Cara would make a well-suited and beautiful couple.  Blair arranged a blind date for Cara and Matthew; a date on which the two couples would go out together.  But at the last minute, the Huckeba’s cancelled, leaving Cara and Matthew to meet solo. The rest, as they say, is history. Blair not only found Cara her new home, but her husband as well!

Now ready to plan their Sarasota wedding, enter wedding planner Maria Brady of Choreographed Events, who perfectly planned every detail. The festivities started with a cocktail reception at the Ritz-Carlton and then a magnificent dinner at her aunt’s home overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.  On Friday afternoon, the bride and her bridal party enjoyed a sushi luncheon while relishing in the luxury nail services at Paint Nail Bar on 1st Street downtown. That evening at the rehearsal dinner, Cara and Matthew, along with family and their wedding attendants, savored both the wonderful dinner upstairs at Marina Jacks, and the magnificent sunset views during the rehearsal dinner.

Cara got ready for her special day in the Ritz-Carlton bridal suite.  Despite this being the weekend of threats from the destructive Hurricane Matthew, the weather was perfect for Cara and Matthew’s wedding ceremony on the Ritz-Carlton lawn followed by a magnificent dinner reception in the Ritz ballroom, with both events designed with incredible props and furniture by local company So Staged.  The band, Power House, kept every dancing all evening and DJ Joey took over for the after party with more delicious late night snacks and a donut bar.

Immediately after the wedding, Cara and Matthew flew to Los Angeles and stayed at the fabulous Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills for two nights before flying off to Bora Bora in French Polynesia for a week stay also at a Four Seasons. While on the island, the couple snorkeled, swam with sharks, and explored the main island on an ATV.

 

Notaro + Berg

The meeting and wooing of Emily Anne Notaro by David Wheaton Berg gives true meaning to the slogan of the company they both work for. That company is J.P. Morgan and its slogan is “So You Can.”

Emily is a Client Portfolio Manager for Global Fixed Income and David is the CFO of Global Investment Management Marketing, and while they work on the same floor, they did not interact during their normal business day. David would walk by Emily’s workspace and chat, trying out his charm, but Emily showed zero interest. According to David, a mutual friend from work, Faryn, took pity on David’s efforts and invited him to join a spin class where Emily would be to see if he could woo Emily outside the workplace. It would take months.

During those months in waiting, in true millennial fashion, they talked more and more via instant messages, discussing a trip to Paris by Emily and Faryn, and Emily’s love of literature, and in particular, Ulysses, by James Joyce.  While he had never read this book, thanks to Google, he was able to discuss the book at length.

David then dragged his friend Jerry to a co-worker’s birthday party, so he could distract Emily’s friends while he flirted with Emily. According to David, “Even though Jerry is an appalling wingman, I managed to get a date with Emily. Emily then cancelled on me and I did the logical thing and got blind drunk. To my absolute shock, I was awakened the next day by a text message from her asking if we could get brunch.  For anyone else, I would have rolled back over and slept off the hangover, but I knew that Emily was different, and so out to brunch I went. We went on three dates in one week and became inseparable.”

Since David’s parents, Kristina and Jonathan Berg reside on Longboat Key, the couple visits Sarasota many times each year. They wanted their wedding to be glamorous and formal, yet relaxed and comfortable, so they chose The Ringling. One of their guests said she felt as if she was at a beautiful event in a private home, which is just what Emily and David wanted. The bright, bold jewel tones they selected for the décor were the perfect compliment to The Ringling.

Having a meaningful ceremony was also quite important to Emily and David, and their rabbi, a family friend, not only illuminated what made their relationship special, but also helped guests, many of whom were not Jewish, understand key dimensions of the religious ceremony, as well as Emily’s decision to convert. A string quartet learned some of their favorite contemporary songs for the ceremony.

Being foodies, they spent a lot of time on custom cocktails, inspired by their favorite New York restaurants, as well as a menu that would give their guests lots of options and flexibility. A sufferer of food allergies, Emily chose gluten and dairy free cupcakes, gluten free crepes, and ice cream sandwiches served from an ice cream cart.

Emily and David both love Sarasota, and have been inspired by the warmth of the community, and thrilled by the support they received to make their wedding weekend exceptional, especially the generosity of Arthur Lopes at Pomona, who rented out his restaurant for the rehearsal party; the creativity of the welcome bags made by Sarasota Chocolate Bark Company; and, the vision of So Staged, which built a birch tree Chuppah with an ombré hydrangea crown from the ground up. And they credit their seamless and extraordinary weekend filled with love to Maria Brady, who made planning a wedding from afar, a dream.

The couple honeymooned in South Africa, where they went on a safari, visited wine country and went diving with the sharks.