Adrienne had never had any intention of registering on an Internet dating site; nevertheless, one of her girlfriends finally convinced her—and there, she met Joey. “So, yes, it was the first time I tried a dating site; but yes, obviously, it worked out!”
After a week texting and e-mailing back and forth, they agreed to meet in person. Joey worked in Hollywood, and Adrienne had a business meeting there, so they met at a restaurant.
“We were both pretty easy-going and we trusted each other right off the bat.” Adrienne says. “So it made our relationship easy.”
Soon after that meeting, Joey texted and asked her what she was doing. Adrienne answered that she had just thrown a pot roast into the pot. “Then I just go, ‘So what time’s dinner?’” Joey says. “And I invited myself over.”
It wasn’t long before the relationship became serious, and when Adrienne changed jobs for a better one in San Francisco, Joey uprooted himself and went there, too.
One of the things they most enjoyed doing was going out wine tasting. Every Labor Day, it became their tradition to rent a house in wine country. When Joey secretly called one of their favorite wineries and told them that he planned to propose, the winery was thrilled, it was their first proposal. Everyone there knew about it.
“We had people aiming cameras at us the whole time,” Joey says. He was so nervous, he didn’t quite get down on one knee. “She didn’t quite say yes,” Joey continues, “but she was grabbing for the ring, so I took it as a yes, and then she finally said yes and she cried.”
Adrienne had not thought about details of a wedding before, but that changed when the two got engaged. Then, being a natural organizer and decision maker, Adrienne soon had everything either picked or on its way to being done, months ahead of time. “We’re lucky in that way, we have the same taste in food, drinks and even décor, so it worked.”
On the day of the wedding, Champagne was passed to guests as they arrived for the ceremony. Most of the photographs were done before the ceremony, so that the newlyweds could spend their time with guests afterward. Adrienne says that the first look photographs were key for them, though for Joey it was a bit nerve-wracking. All he remembers is the countdown, with people saying, ‘She’s coming.’ ‘Wait, no she’s not.’ ‘She’s coming.’ ‘Don’t turn around.’
“It felt like it was 20 minutes,” Joey says, “but it was probably a two minute walk for her from the bridal suite to where I was. When I turned around, I was trying not to cry because if I cried, she might start crying. She looked gorgeous and I couldn’t wait to make her my wife.”
Adrienne says she wasn’t nervous the whole day. “I was calm and happy and elated the entire time,” Adrienne says. “There wasn’t worry, there wasn’t anything; it was just—I felt happy, and I couldn’t wait.”
—Margaret Snider
