The day is very long and I remember thinking that I just wanted the day to start and do the first look so I could see Maxx.
Alanna
Maxx & Alanna
Eau Palm Beach Resort, Sat Apr 14th
The day is very long and I remember thinking that I just wanted the day to start and do the first look so I could see Maxx.
Alanna
Alanna: PLEASE BE A SUNNY DAY, PLEASE BE A SUNNY DAY.
Maxx: When I woke up in the morning, the first thing I did was go sit on my balcony to just take in the magnitude of the day. I reminisced on all the good times Alanna and I had together leading up to this day. It was so relaxing to just look out into the ocean on such a beautiful day.
Alanna: Everything. Choosing just one moment is impossible. Between seeing the décor for the first time, the wild dance party, everyone singing along while Maxx and I did our first dance, so many things were highlights. But specifically, two things come to mind. The first was seeing Maxx. The day is very long and I remember thinking that I just wanted the day to start and do the first look so I could see Maxx. He makes me feel calm. The second I saw him I felt exactly that. But another highlight for me was probably my sister’s speech. My sister was my maid of honor, and she suffers from anxiety and does NOT like to speak publicly. She was so nervous and I had prepared myself for the possibility that she may not speak, but she did and there will never be a better MOH speech than the one my sister gave. Everyone was hysterical laughing. She got a standing ovation and I had never been more proud of her.
Maxx: The first look was the highlight for me. Leading up to seeing Alanna I was very anxious, but once I saw her I was completely at ease.
Alanna: The easiest decision to make was doing a destination wedding. We love to travel and we wanted to get near a beach. The hardest decision was choosing which beach!
Maxx: The venue was the toughest decision, as we knew we wanted a destination wedding, but finding a spot we both loved was not easy. The easiest decision was letting Alanna make all the hard decisions (unless she actually needed my help).
Leading up to seeing Alanna I was very anxious, but once I saw her I was completely at ease.
Maxx
The easiest decision to make was doing a destination wedding. We love to travel and we wanted to get near a beach. The hardest decision was choosing which beach!
Alanna
Alanna: The proposal was a complete surprise and I am not easy to fool. Originally, I thought he was going to do it in Italy, because we were going for my birthday in May and I thought there was a chance it would happen there. But it happened two months before. Maxx told me his friends were coming to New York and staying at the Gramercy Park Hotel and that after work we were going to meet them for a drink. I rushed home from work, showered, and showed up with sopping wet hair and no makeup to meet him at the hotel rooftop. When we got out of the elevator the rooftop was completely empty and decorated with rose petals. Then he got down on one knee and proposed. A few minutes later our family, who I thought was in Florida, was hiding and popped out and surprised me.
Maxx: I knew the time frame that I wanted to propose but I wasn’t exactly sure what day or how I wanted to do it. When I finally decided on a date, Alanna and I got a call from Alanna’s best friend boyfriend that he was going to propose the following day I was planning on doing it. In a panic I decided to change my date to a few weeks earlier than planned. I told Alanna we were meetings friends from out of town for a drink at the gramercy park hotel. She showed up to the hotel with sopping wet hair! The rooftop was set up so that when we walked in I would propose. Our families surprised her as she thought they were all in Florida. We had a big celebration that night with our closest friends and family.
Alanna: My grandma was diagnosed with Stage 4 Ovarian cancer and had gone into remission when we got engaged. It was such a happy time, but a few months before my wedding the cancer came back and she passed away. My grandpa was a holocaust survivor and so my grandma was very proud of my Jewish heritage. We incorporated all the traditional Jewish traditions into our ceremony and I wore the ring she wore every day on my finger as I walked down the aisle. We also wrote our own vows and I was very proud that we both made it through to the end without crying.
Maxx: We read our own vows, which was really special.
Alanna: The love that was in the room. Maxx and I both have a lot of friends and we really adore each and every person that was there that night, and on top of that our parents are best friends and share the same friends. Because of that, everyone in the room knew both Maxx and I really well and I think you could feel that from the beginning to the end of the night.
Maxx: I hope our guests remember all the love in the room and how much fun the entire weekend was.
We also wrote our own vows and I was very proud that we both made it through to the end without crying.
Alanna
Alanna: The day was perfect and I wouldn’t change one thing. I just wish we had more time to take in all the wonderful moments and details.
Maxx: Everything really went perfectly; there is nothing I could think of that I would change!
Alanna: His patience. Maxx is the most easy-going person in the world. Nothing bothers him.
Maxx: There are so many things I can list that I admire about Alanna, but what I admire most is the way she genuinely cares about her friends and her family. She makes everyone feel as if they are the most important person in her life.
Alanna: That everything works out the way it’s meant to.
Maxx: I have learned that communication is so important. It is always best to be open and honest with one another.
I just wish we had more time to take in all the wonderful moments and details.
Alanna
...and there will never be a better MOH speech than the one my sister gave. Everyone was hysterical laughing. She got a standing ovation and I had never been more proud of her.
Alanna
I hope our guests remember all the love in the room and how much fun the entire weekend was.
Maxx
With a graduate degree in painting, Nathan Smith brings a distinctly compositional sensibility to his work at The Day, where he is also known as the house philosopher. Having extensive experience living internationally, Nathan has a special ability to pick out the unique beauty of varying cultural traditions—something he is able to do whether the wedding is in New York or a more exotic destination.
