Gina Maria & Michael’s Wedding Day Highlights

These two make such the perfect match together, it’s like they should be married!

But seriously, that opening line is a bit cheesy, but so true for Gina Maria and Michael. This duo has so much in common and when they glance at each other it’s like they already know what the other person is thinking. I love wedding days like this, so when we arrived at the Hilton Garden Inn in Philadlephia we knew we were in for a FUN day (especially when we knew we were ending the day at Union Trust)!

Lisa from Bella Angel was putting the finishing touches on hair when we walked into Gina Maria’s room. The bridesmaids helped Gina Maria unwrap and hang her beautiful wedding dress in the window for a handful of photos. I love her description of the dress and her reasons for the initial purchase – “Mike is a big guitar guy, and when the consultant (at Country Bride and Gent) told me my dress had pick-ups, I knew I had to buy it.”

Between the ruching and the pick-ups, Gina Maria was quite the vision in her wedding dress. As she got laced into her gown, the flowers from Carl Alan Florist created a beautiful backdrop as well as her bridesmaids dressed in their Bill Levkoff (from Gerri’s Bridal) cranberry dresses. As she got dressed, her sister and her bridesmaids helped get all her details in place. Gina Maria’s Mom was also quite the cheerleader as she slipped on her wedding shoes and jewelry. Dad’s jaw of course dropped when he saw his little girl all dressed up for her walk down the aisle. He couldn’t help but trim a few extra threads from the back of her gown before the whole crew loaded into the trolley by Philadelphia Trolley Works for their ride to Saint John the Baptist in Manayunk.

Michael also spent his morning at the Hilton Garden in Philadelphia. Him and his guys dressed in their Men’s Wearhouse tuxedos and headed over to the church so he could marry his beautiful bride-to- be. Though the aisles were full of guests, Michael and Gina Maria kept their eyes fixated on each other as much as they could as she was escorted down the aisle by her father. Through the butterflies and excitement, Gina Maria knew the two of them shared the same happiness and feelings of celebrating with all their closest friends and family.

A kiss at the alter sealed the deal, and Gina Maria and Micheal were officially married! Everyone in the bridal party gathered on the trolley and we were whisked around Philadelphia for some bridal portraits. The newlyweds could’t help but smile at each other as they hung out with their bridal party and took photos on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and Second Bank. To top off their portrait session, we headed back to Union Trust and the newlyweds climbed up on the cocktail hour bar for a fun photograph. Wham, bam, bold, this new Mr. and Mrs. are ready to take on the world together!

The ballroom at Union Trust fit Gina Maria and Michael’s vision of elegant and classic to a ‘T.’ Termini Brothers Bakery‘s cake sat prominently next to the head table on the dance floor. And though we are just a few short months since their wedding day, Gina Maria and Michael only have the photos of their fun cake topper to look back on (when they returned from their honeymoon, they opened their cake topper box to find one of the newlywed headless and the other missing a foot inside! Whoops!). I’m sure eventually they will look back on the broken cake topper and laugh – for it seems like it was the only thing that went awry on their wedding day!

Cole, from Pulse Entertainment, got the crowd up dancing (and perhaps even sang along to Taylor Swift as Michael shared a dance with his two daughters). The dance floor was poppin’ all night with great dances and laughter by all. Finley Catering really brings out the charm at Union Trust; it is such a completely beautiful venue and really set the scene for their wedding. (the ceiling at Union Trust may be my absolutely favorite part of this venue, I included in it their highlight slideshow below, be on the lookout for it).

We are so happy for the two of you! We absolutely adore that your favorite thing about being married is how official and permanent the feeling it is (and it really only gets better as you add on the years together!). Congratulations!!!

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