Shanel & Joe’s Wedding – Miami, Florida
Continue reading for how their story began, in Shanel’s own words…
“We actually met through the dating website eHarmony. I was only on the site for 4 days before meeting Joseph. There is a whole step by step process on eHarmony to be able to speak to someone that’s considered a match for you. Joseph skipped every step and sent me a direct message. A “very direct” message. Haha He said he didn’t want to go through the step by step process, he loved my profile and would love to speak to me over the phone and immediately gave his phone number. I was initially very hesitant because although I had subscribed to the site, I was still weary about the idea of meeting someone off the internet. Of course, I ended up saying okay, called him. We spoke for 2 hours about our family, friends, religious beliefs, political views. I don’t think there was a single thing we didn’t cover. He finished off the conversation with asking me to meet him in person that weekend. Long story short, we met and we hit it off. That was the 1st week of December 2012. In January he invited me to his mother’s house on his mom’s birthday to meet his entire family and also asked me to be his girlfriend that same month. On Valentine’s Day in February, he told me he loved me. And in March we conceived my 1st beautiful surprise, our daughter, Olimpia. We spoke about marriage, but it was not something we wanted to do just because I was pregnant and I did not want to have a wedding while being pregnant. We decided to put it off and continued to put it off until a little over a year later, we found out I was going to have another beautiful surprise, our daughter Aleta. Who was born December 2015. December seems to be a very good month to us! Again, I did not want to get married while pregnant, so we decided we would definitely plan it after the baby was born. In June 2015 for my 29th birthday, Joseph took me to Miami to spend the weekend at the Versace Mansion. A place that I knew and loved as a child, and only dreamed of entering. My mother has always been a fashionista, she still has the very 1st Gianni Versace dress that she purchased for me as a child. Which is now hanging in my daughter’s closet. So, this really was a lifelong dream of mine to be able to enter this home. Joseph saw how in love I was with the mansion and little did I know, when we left, he started the wedding planning, along with our wonderful concierge, Status Luxury Group. Shortly after, he surprised me with the news that we would be getting married at the Versace Mansion in October 2016 and he also wanted it to be on his 40th birthday. Together with our wedding planner, Jennifer Pear, Karla Events, and Status Luxury Group, we planned our dream wedding weekend. My wedding dress was a gorgeous blush pink design from Pnina Tornai. My shoes from René Caovilla. My jewelry was from Thomas Knoells. My daughters wore Mischka Aoki along with silver glitter shoes from Livly. My husband wore a custom suit with Louis Vuitton shoes. The entire weekend was absolutely magical and my wonderful photographer Sal Galvano (In Focus Pro Photography) captured every moment perfectly!”
Venue: Versace Mansion
Photography: In Focus Pro
Bride: Shanel @mommy2oliandaleta
