Nanina's in the Park - Marty and Grace's Wedding - 09/23/21

Marty & Grace 09/23/21 | Nanina’s in the Park - Belleville, NJ

Mr. & Mrs. Keating

✨CONGRATULATIONS to the NEW Mr. and Mrs. Keating !✨Marty & Grace’s Wedding Day. 9/23/21 at Nanina’s In The Park, Belleville, NJ - Ralph DePiro Photography 📸

WHAT A WEDDING!! It finally happened…I REPEAT, It finally..HAPPENED. This one means a lot to the RDP Family. One of RDP’s own, Lead Videographer, Marty Keating. Before we get into this amazing day. Let me just say…I am so dam proud, and happy for these two that it brings a tear to my eye. Marty has been a part of RDP from the beginning, and throughout the years, that business relationship grew to something much bigger. A forever friendship. Let’s not forget his beautiful, awesome, partner in crime, his WIFE (that’s gonna take some getting use to). Grace, there’s so much to say that I couldn’t put it all into words..but I want to say..thank you. Thank you for making my friend so incredibly happy ❤️.

Marty and Grace, are such loving and caring people, and deserve the absolute best. That is exactly what they got. Surrounded by all of their family and friends, the love in the room. It was impossible to miss. It’s been quite the journey to get to this point and, they did it. Just seeing them both together on their wedding day, the constant smiles on their face, all of the emotions, the joy, It just warms my heart.

I’m so excited, I couldn’t help myself and had to grab some photos from this epic day. I love you both and couldn’t be happier to have been apart of it all! Now, let’s show these two some love! Stay tuned for many, many more photos coming soon from THE NEWWWW.. Mr. & Mrs. Keating’s Wedding Day 👰🏻‍♀️💍🤵🏻‍♂️!
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🏠Venue: @naninasinthepark @stlucysnwk
📸Photo: @ralphdepirophotos
📹Video: @ralphdepirophotos
💇🏻‍♀️ Hair: @mel_marek30 @bella_rigas
💄Make up: @byalyssa
👗Dress: @seng_couture @missstellayork
🎤DJ: @trebbleandbassnj
💐 Florist: @michaelsflorist
🙋🏻‍♀️ Coordinator: @labellaplanning
👔 Suits: @indochino

What did you like most about working with Ralph DePiro Photography? Is there anything you would have changed about the work/technique/etc.?

Ralph and his team are absolute professionals and we wouldn’t change a thing! I (the bride) had a mini anxiety attack during the portraits and you can’t even tell in the photos. Everyone was just as excited for the day and gave us the best photo and video we could’ve ever asked for.

How did you meet?

We technically crossed paths in 2009 when we were in the middle school musical together but we didn’t officially meet until 2012 when Marty was a senior and I was a sophomore in high school. We were both placed in a second period Theatre Arts class and started talking around the holidays and he asked me to be his girlfriend on NYE just seconds before midnight.

How did you get engaged?

Marty suggested we spend a day going to my favorite place - Seaside Park, NJ. It was the coldest and rainiest day in April and I was secretly hoping that if I didn’t get out of bed, he would say we didn’t have to go. After some convincing, we made it to the shore when his phone started to blow up. RDP and his team just “happened” to also be in Seaside that day so we planned to meet up on the beach that I grew up going to. Before I knew it, Marty was on his knee and I was in such shock that I barely let him speak. All of our friends came running at us with balloons and my family threw us a mini engagement party at our house. It was a chaotic day but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Why did you choose your venue?

We toured three other venues and each were beautiful but something was always off. The second we walked into Nanina’s in the Park, we knew it was the one. We wanted classic NJ feel with the best food for my big Italian family and that’s exactly what we got. The team at Nanina’s gave us SO MUCH we were blown away. We also wanted to get married in a Catholic church and St. Lucys in Newark was the perfect choice as it is across the park from Nanina’s and I grew up going to the St. Gerard festival every year.

Tell me about your favorite wedding details, and how you came up with them?

We are big broadway fans so we incorporated a few show tunes into the wedding day. I walked down the aisle to Phantom of the Opera, one of our readings was in Godspell, our entrance song was from The Wedding Singer, our first dance song was from High School Musical 3, father daughter dance was from Hamilton, etc. We also incorporated the color purple…a LOT of purple…lol.

Were you nervous? How did you squash the nerves?

The nerves only hit about 5 mins before we had to leave to go to the ceremony. I took two shots of tequila which helped me get down the aisle and once that was over we were good to go for the rest of the night! It’s tough being apart from your best friend on the day of your wedding. All you want to do is see them and talk about the day so once his first look at me walking to him was over, we both calmed down and the rest of the day went perfectly!

Did anything go wrong?

Yup! Flowers were the wrong color and size, I popped my dress strap off in the first 30 seconds of walking into our reception, my dress had multiple rips in the back and the zipper broke but at the end of the day it all seemed so insignificant. Our florist was very sweet and came back to change some flowers around and I was sewn into my dress during dinner. All signs of a successful wedding and none of our guests even noticed!

What advice would you give couples planning their wedding, right now?

The day is about you and your partner. Period. Try not to let too many people get involved or give their two cents. And… get yourself a GOOD team of people to back you up. RDP and his team were an actual dream to work with and we couldn’t have made it though the day without our wedding planner either. Weddings (especially Jersey weddings) are not easy to plan so do what you and your partner need to do to make it work. We also had a private last dance after our guests left the reception. It was the perfect end to our night and we still cry thinking about how special it was to spend those last few moments of our wedding day with my new husband.