Courtney & Paul

Please, tell us your engagement story!

My husband and I met while working at a restaurant called Dirty French in the Lower East Side of Manhattan (he was a bartender, I was a sommelier). We hadn't been back to visit in a while, so he suggested we get drinks one Saturday in May (right around our two-year anniversary). While we were sitting at the bar, literally right in front of the spot we first met behind the bar, he got down on one knee and proposed. Apparently, everyone in the restaurant clapped - I don't even remember! And our former coworkers poured us Champagne. Afterward, we went to a friend's bar around the corner to share the news - when we got into the back, all of our friends and family were there for a surprise engagement party! It was perfect.

What made you choose your venue and theme?

We knew we wanted to get married outside of NYC, and we liked the idea of picking a spot that everyone could stay at for an entire weekend - like a little retreat for all of us. We drove up to Connecticut (where I'm from) and looked at two wedding venues, and we liked the cozy, rustic feel of the Heritage Hotel. We planned to have our reception in this big, wooden-beamed room, but we moved it outside under a tent due to Covid safety concerns. Ironically, there was a threat of a thunderstorm that forced us to move our ceremony inside, and we ended up having it in that big room we loved. As for the theme - I never really had one in mind, and we were originally supposed to get married in October 2020, so I joked that the theme was "fall in New England." Since we postponed the wedding until May 2021 and kept all the same decor, I supposed it ended up being a theme after all.

We know it was important to you to incorporate everyone you love, can you tell us more about that and your experience working with SuitShop?

Our number one priority throughout the wedding planning process was to spend as much time as possible with our family and friends, and that became even more important after the pandemic hit (and that is also why we postponed). I knew that I wanted my close friend Brendan to be a bridesman, so I suggested to Paul that he ask his sisters to be groomswomen - he is one of four siblings, and they are very close. (My brother was a groomsman, and Paul's brother was the best man, so we had all of our siblings in the bridal party!) But I was super stressed about finding matching men's and women's suits in the rich blue color that we wanted - I searched high and low for options that might match. A friend mentioned offhand that they had used SuitShop for their wedding, and when I checked it out, I gasped - matching men's and women's suits, without having to compare color swatches from two different stores! I was thrilled. My dad even liked the color so much that he bought a suit from SuitShop, too! It was great that my husband could add a vest to his suit to stand out a bit more, and everyone was able to exchange for the right sizes super easily. Honestly, finding SuitShop took so much of the stress out of wedding planning, and everyone (especially the ladies!) looked amazing. (And my husband has already worn his suit to another wedding!)

Any advice for brides/grooms to be? 
Even though it's stressful, savor every moment of your wedding journey because it's such a special, unique time. Everyone says your wedding goes by fast, and I was prepared for that - but there's still nothing you can do to slow it down! (And get a videographer - you'll cherish the opportunity to relive that day.) As a Covid bride who was checking restrictions, mandates, and case levels daily to figure out if we would be able to have our wedding, I get how stressful it can be to plan a wedding right now, and we were certainly sad to miss a few important members of our family on our wedding day. I thought that I would be fixated on everyone who couldn't attend - but in actuality, I was just so happy to see all of the people who could. Your wedding day will be perfect, even with the inevitable imperfections!