Bridgerton Dreams and a Pasta Surprise: Casey & Andrew's Wedding at The Estate at Florentine Gardens

Author: Natali Grace Levine
Wedding date: 07/11/2025
City: Jersey City

Love Story

It started, as many great New Jersey love stories do, at the shore.
Casey and Andrew met Memorial Day Weekend in Manasquan — a mutual friend had invited Casey to a party at Andrew's shore house, and the rest, as they say, required very little deliberation. "Once we met, we were immediately inseparable," Casey recalls. They began dating that following Fall, moved in together in Jersey City about a year and a half later, and built five and a half years of the kind of life that makes a wedding feel like a natural next chapter rather than a milestone to reach.
By the time Andrew started quietly planning the proposal, the relationship had already acquired its own geography — Brooklyn, where Casey's family is from; Hoboken; Manhattan; the Hudson River winding between all of it.

About Your Wedding

From the very beginning, Casey and Andrew knew what kind of day they wanted — and it was not a complicated brief. "Aside from wanting a beautiful wedding with amazing music and food, our biggest goal was FUN," Casey says. "We truly wanted to have the most fun possible with the most important people in our lives."
The aesthetic vision was equally clear. Casey had been inspired by a floral expo she had seen at The Estate at Florentine Gardens — loose, continuous florals that moved through the space with an almost theatrical generosity. "I attempted to channel Bridgerton for our wedding," she explains. "I wanted loose florals, greenery, candelabras, mirrors." The color palette followed naturally: creams, blush pinks, and deep greenery that felt romantic without being overly formal.
Two hundred guests. Thirteen months of planning. One vision, held firmly from the first conversation to the last detail.

Morning Details

The morning of November 7th, 2025, began at The Estate at Florentine Gardens, where both Casey and Andrew got ready, surrounded by the people they love most. The stationery, setting the tone for the day, had been designed by 1127 Series — signage on mirrors, a handwritten calligraphy menu for every guest, welcome signs, and signature drink displays that turned each detail into something worth pausing over. The invitations had been designed by E-Three Designs, and the wedding bands — a detail close to both their hearts — had been specially crafted by a dear friend who happens to be a jeweler.

Bride Getting Ready

Casey's dress was designed by Maggie Sottero, purchased from Castle Couture in Manalapan, NJ, and the story of finding it is almost as good as the dress itself. "I anticipated going to several places and trying on many dresses," she says, "but I actually got my wedding dress the first time I looked." She was surrounded by her mom, her future mother-in-law, her aunt, and two cousins. "My closest girls. So it was perfect."
The bridesmaids wore gowns by Dessy, their dresses chosen to complement the soft, romantic palette of the day. Bouquets were designed by Arcadia Floral and Co, whose loose, garden-gathered arrangements were a direct extension of the Bridgerton vision Casey had held onto throughout the planning process. Hair was done by Luxuri Beauty and makeup by Sierra Ortiz — @artsiartistry — both of whom helped Casey arrive at the ceremony looking exactly as she had imagined.
Two pieces of jewelry completed the look in the most meaningful way possible: a diamond tennis bracelet, a gift from Andrew for the wedding day, and her mother's wedding band — the one her mom had worn when she married Casey's father.

Groom Getting Ready

Andrew got ready at The Estate at Florentine Gardens, surrounded by his closest people in the hours before the ceremony. While Casey was putting on her mother's ring and finding her bouquet, Andrew was preparing quiet gestures that would make the day memorable for reasons beyond the beautiful decor — including a surprise he had been planning for months that nobody at the dinner table would see coming.

First Look

The first look took place on the grounds of The Estate at Florentine Gardens — the same setting that had made Casey fall in love with the venue long before the wedding day arrived. Five and a half years of history between them, and still, in that moment, seeing each other felt like something new. The grounds held them quietly, the way a place does when it already knows it is part of a story worth remembering.

Photoshoot Before The Ceremony

For their pre-ceremony portraits, Casey and Andrew stayed exactly where they were. "The grounds at Florentine Gardens are simply beautiful and picturesque," Casey explains. "We couldn't imagine having our photoshoot anywhere else."Oscar and Loance Salazar of Salazar Photo and Film moved through the estate with them, capturing the kind of images that belong specifically to this couple, this venue, and this particular November light. Grace and Hector of Knotty Art Studio were there too, building the visual story that would eventually become the film of the day.

Ceremony

The ceremony took place in the Ceremony Room at The Estate at Florentine Gardens — the room Casey had dreamed about since the moment she first saw the florals climbing the fireplace and mantel. "The florals and greenery up the fireplace and mantel in the ceremony room were a MUST," she had said during planning. "I was not willing to compromise on that design." Standing in that room, surrounded by exactly what she had imagined, she walked down the aisle to Perfect by Ed Sheeran.
The person waiting at the front of the room to marry them was not a stranger — it was the friend who had introduced them. "The girl who introduced us was our officiant," Casey says simply. They read their vows to each other in the room Casey had always pictured, with the person who started everything standing right in front of them.

Photoshoot After The Ceremony

Just married, with the ceremony room still warm behind them and the evening ahead, Casey and Andrew stepped back into the grounds of Florentine Gardens for their post-ceremony portraits. The Bridgerton florals, the November golden hour, the quiet that settles over a venue in the hour after a ceremony — all of it captured by Salazar Photo and Film in images that will outlast every other detail of the day.

Wedding Venue & Decor

The Estate at Florentine Gardens had been Casey's answer before she had even fully formed the question. "I had seen a floral expo done at The Estate at Florentine Gardens that absolutely floored me," she recalls. "The loose, continuous florals were beautiful."
Arcadia Floral and Co brought the Bridgerton vision fully to life — loose arrangements spilling generously across surfaces, greenery winding up the ceremony fireplace exactly as Casey had always pictured, candelabras and mirrors throughout that gave every room a warm, candlelit depth. The color palette of creams, blush pinks, and greenery was soft enough to feel romantic and specific enough to feel intentional. Signage designed by 1127 Series appeared on mirrors throughout the venue — welcome signs, a seating chart, signature drink displays — each one hand-lettered with the kind of care that turns logistics into atmosphere.
Every table had a menu with the guest's name in calligraphy. Every detail had been considered. And the room, when it was finally full of people, looked exactly like what Casey had been building toward for thirteen months.

Reception

The reception was everything Casey and Andrew had promised themselves it would be — loud, joyful, and full of the people they love most. The Suyat Band kept the floor moving from the first song to the last, and the first dance — From the Ground Up by Dan + Shay — set the emotional tone for everything that followed.
Signature drinks set the cocktail hour personality perfectly: Casey's Watermelon Margarita and Andrew's classic Old Fashioned, both exactly right for who they are. Pasta stations at cocktail hour led to a decision that would quietly become the most talked-about moment of the dinner: Casey and Andrew chose to skip a formal pasta course. Which, as it turned out, did not sit particularly well with one guest.
"My old school Italian father did not like that we skipped the pasta course," Casey explains. "Throughout the planning process, he would often joke about him missing the pasta course." Andrew had been listening. As the first course of the dinner was being served, he arranged for Casey's father to receive his own private pasta course — just for him. "He absolutely loved it."
It was the kind of gesture that says more about a person than any speech could — and it happened in the middle of a reception that was already full of them.
"From beginning to end, each person we worked with was an amazing person with immeasurable talent," Casey and Andrew said of their vendor team. And looking at the day they built together, it shows in every single frame.