1. Real Weddings

Dana & Josh: A Formal Wedding in Durham, NC

March 16th may sound like a pretty innocuous date to most people. But for Dana Florio and Josh Howard, setting their wedding on that particular day wa

March 16th may sound like a pretty innocuous date to most people. But for Dana Florio and Josh Howard, setting their wedding on that particular day was a decision that could have alienated many of their wedding guests before the big day ever arrived. THE BRIDE Dana Florio, a resource deployment manager THE GROOM Josh Howard, an assistant U.S. attorney THE DATE March 16 Dana explains: Knowing that the great majority of our guests intensely follow college basketball, and as huge Duke Blue Devils fans ourselves, we took a big risk getting married on the first Saturday of the NCAA tournament. But the choice of the setting had nothing to do with basketball. Dana and Josh met as undergrads in the University cafeteria. Years later, Dana was visiting Josh who was living in Washington, DC, at the time. He took her for a walk on the National Mall at dusk, and just as the sun set and the monuments began to light up for the night, Josh fell to his knee and proposed. I cried and cried and cried, Dana admits. When it was time to choose a site, going to back to Duke where it all began seemed like a romantic -- and fun -- choice. We thought having our wedding at Duke would be a wonderful opportunity for all of our friends to return to campus and celebrate with us, says Dana.

The Catholic wedding ceremony began with a processional down the very long aisle at the Duke University Chapel. I joked that I would have to begin a training regimen to avoid being out of breath once I reached the altar, Dana remarks. Erik Lautier, a fraternity brother of Josh's and a professional singer, performed Ave Maria and later teamed up with the band at the reception to sing for the newlyweds.
The Couple
Dana wore a gown from Bianchi while her maids two-piece ensembles were by Lazaro.
The Cake
Guests sipped the couple's signature cocktail, Bellinis (an Italian concoction of champagne, peach nectar, and peach schnapps), before moving on to the reception where a feast began with lobster ravioli in lobster bisque and featured entrees of filet of beef and sea bass with lemongrass shitake soy glaze on wilted spinach. For Dana, the moment that she finally sat down to the meal between her new husband and her sister, the maid of honor, was the moment she finally was able to relax.
The bride spent her wedding morning munching a scone at a favorite bakery, then headed to the salon with her mom, where they joined the bridal party for a hair-and-makeup morning. Josh ate a Bojangles biscuit (Bojangles may be Josh's favorite place to eat, Dana points out) and then washed his truck with his dad.
As fate would have it, Duke tipped off just as the bride and her dad stepped down the aisle. And the moment the I dos were done, guests rushed to the cocktail party where there was a television in the bar. The newlyweds posed for a few quick photos, then moved to the front of the crowd that was cheering the final moments of the game. Duke won, which was especially good news since the wedding ceremony was held at the Duke Chapel, the cocktail hour at the on-campus Oak Room restaurant, and the reception at the Washington Duke Inn and Golf Club, a university-affiliated hotel. A loss may have made it quite a bit harder to get the group into party mode.