Tolpa, 31, and Gordon, 28
APRIL 30 – Accountant Michael Tolpa celebrated his marriage to Stacey Gordon, a development coordinator in the same firm, at Rockefeller Center on the ice-skating rink beneath the glittering golden Prometheus statue. “But it wasn’t actually on the ice,” her mother says. “The ice was covered, and there was a tent. People above thought a rock star was getting married! They were peaking through the tent.” It was the first wedding ever held on the spot. How did they score such a cool venue? Stacey’s dad is the longtime general manager and vice president of the Rock Center Café and the Sea Grill. “(Stacey) spent a lot of time ice skating there as a kid,” mom says.
ESSENTIALS
First met: at work
Ceremony location: Saint Jean Baptiste Catholic Church on the Upper East Side
Dress: strapless, ivory-colored Amsale gown with a cathedral length train
Honeymoon: Fiji and New Zealand
Touloupis, 48, and Besignano, 49
APRIL 23 – Angela Touloupis and Robert Besignano have four children between them from previous marriages, and they were all part of the wedding ceremony. “We all lit the unity candle together, not just me and Robert,” says Angela, a special education paraprofessional. Her new husband is dean of students at a Catholic high school. After the ceremony, everyone headed to Gargiulo’s in Brooklyn, where the bride hardly sat down. “We danced the night away and enjoyed every moment,” she says. “We wanted a big party, and that’s what we got!” They also wanted an angel theme, which explains the angel ice sculpture in the middle of the raw bar. “We just truly believe there are angels among us and they played an important part in joining our true souls,” Angela says.
ESSENTIALS
First met: through friends
Dress: champagne-colored, ballroom style gown with spaghetti straps
Schuman, 31, and Rattigan, 32
APRIL 30 – Melanie Schuman, a television field producer, had a hunch she would slide off the chair during the hora because of her full wedding gown, and she was right. Luckily, she landed on her feet – “I had some good shoes!” – and bounced back quickly. “I got right back on,” she says. “Everyone was cheering, and my heart was racing a little. You feel a lot higher up than you are.” Melanie and her husband Kevin Rattigan, a district manager, had their reception at Water’s Edge in Long Island City, with a view of the 59th Street bridge and the entire Manhattan skyline. As the party wound down, the pair took 60 “seaworthy” guests on the East River’s choppy waters for a boat ride. “The weather was kind of iffy,” Melanie says.
ESSENTIALS
First met: Through friends at a bar called the Naked Lunch
Guests: 160
Honeymoon: A Mediterranean cruise off the coasts of Italy, France and Spain
WEDDING OF THE WEEK
Higgins, 29, and Nugent, 28
APRIL 22 – Native New Yorkers Kerry Higgins and Mark Nugent have known each other since they were seven – they grew up just blocks away from each other and even went to the same school. “His dad was my basketball coach,” says Kerry, a teacher. After graduating, they fell out of touch until they met again at a Point Pleasant bar two years ago. Mark, now a fireman, took Kerry as his wife at the Sacred Heart Church on Staten Island. Creating the guest list couldn’t have been easier, Kerry says. “We basically just invited the whole neighborhood where we grew up!”
ESSENTIALS
First met: in second grade
Favors: silver candlesnuffers
Guests: 220
Honeymoon: Aruba
O’Mahony, 26, and Barron, 33
APRIL 15 – Before performing the traditional cake cutting, Julia O’Mahony and her new husband, Andrew Barron, had a deal, Julia says. “We agreed we were going to be nice to each other,” she says. But Andrew had other plans.
As Julia “tried to be careful,” Andrew went in for the kill at the spur of the moment. “And I ended up with three pieces in my mouth! He got me all over the face!” But Julia says no harm was done, and her makeup wasn’t even ruined. “Besides, I would have done it to him if we hadn’t agreed earlier not to,” she says.
ESSENTIALS
First met: at a Christmas party
Honeymoon: Orlando, Florida
Wedding party: Maid of honor, matron of honor, five bridesmaids, two best men, five groomsmen, two ring bearers, two flower girls, “and a partridge in a pear tree!” Julia jokes.
Favors: The place cards were handed out in silver frames
Dowd, 27, and Sclafani, 29
APRIL 30 – Kellie Dowd and Anthony Sclafani say the highlight of their wedding reception at the Venetian in Garfield, N.J., was the Venetian hour. “It was like a show,” says Kellie, an accountant. “They opened up the walls and brought out pans that had like 12-foot flames coming out of them!” Kellie first met Anthony, a pharmacist, at a Bon Jovi concert. “But it’s not like we’re big Bon Jovi fans. We just happened to both go to the concert,” Anthony says. Fans or not, they played “Living on a Prayer” at the wedding. “It was like an inside joke,” he says.
ESSENTIALS
First met: at a Bon Jovi concert
Favors: cruets
Wedding song: Chicago’s “You’re The Inspiration”
Guests: 215
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