Courtney Jo & Adam|| Virgin Islands

The Proposal

of

Courtney Jo

& Adam

I woke up on Saturday morning in late July and got asked out on a date. I was hesitant to go, but I said yes, with nothing better on my agenda. With no intentions, the date proceeded. It was a sunny day, and we were standing at the bar outside. My date had seen someone he knew and walked away to go say hello. Standing at the bar alone, I watched the most handsome man walk up beside me. Immediately, he turned and looked at me, and we smiled at one another. He said hello, and we proceeded to have the most spectacular five-minute conversation of my life. Our energies just matched — it was like talking to someone I’d known my entire life, except it was with someone I’d never met— quickly. I gasped and said, “Oh my gosh, I’m on a date right now!! But I like you way better!!” seconds later, my date returned, and I introduced the two as if Adam was an old friend. Adam walked away, and I knew that I couldn’t leave without ever seeing him again. I told my date I would be right back and snuck out to find Adam. I gave him my number and said he would call me if he ever wanted to go on a date sometime. The rest is history. God works in mysterious ways, and I believe people don’t come into your life by accident. It sometimes seems the most amazing people you meet or those fantastic experiences you have happen when you least expect them, often when you’re not even looking for them. Adam is the most energetic, kind-hearted, and thoughtful person I have ever met. The moment I met him, I heard the voice of God say. “That’s the one” it’s one of those moments people tell you about, but one you don’t truly grasp the power of until you experience it. Adam and I are both very passionate people, with many similarities personality-wise — we just get each other. Being married to your best friend is so extraordinary.

The Wedding

of

Courtney Jo

& Adam

There aren’t enough words to encapsulate how magical and amazing January 31, 2022, was — the day I got to marry my best friend. If I could redo the entire day, I wouldn’t do a single thing differently. Each moment of the day was uniquely perfect. When my fiancé and I got engaged, we wanted an intimate destination wedding.
We caught a flight to the U.S. Virgin Islands to check out villas to rent for our wedding week when we started wedding planning. We were looking for an estate where we could have our wedding and host our immediate family and bridal party. When we visited The Beach House, VI in St. Thomas, we immediately fell in love with it. We spent any free moment wedding planning for the next year and a half. I have always been a very particular person when it came to planning and quickly found out that so did my fiancé (which wasn’t much of a surprise as he has always been so passionate about anything he’s a part of). Adam was tremendously helpful throughout the process – when I would ask him to get involved in certain aspects, he had no problem jumping in and being equally invested as I was. That part of our wedding process was exceptional, being equally involved and communicative of our vision throughout the process. We were devising our wedding day together.
We both wanted a timeless and classy wedding. Something that would have been trendy fifty years ago. Despite the unconventional aspects of our marriage: being a destination and tropical wedding, we wanted the entire wedding to encapsulate an elegant, polished, and classic look. We tried to make our wedding as traditional as possible. We didn’t do a first look; instead, we opted for a first look with my Dad, which was very touching. My Dad has been someone I have always looked up to; not only has he been an amazing Dad, but he always showed my sister and me what it meant to be an excellent husband to my mother — he set the standard high for how a man should respect a woman. The first look with my Dad was one of the moments of my wedding day I’ll never forget.
Another moment of our wedding day that was personally my favorite was our ceremony. It was an overcast day until I walked down the aisle. The clouds opened, and the sun came shining down. It was one of those moments where you feel God smiling down at you. You could hear the ocean waves and the peace surrounding us during our ceremony. I get goosebumps thinking about it.
We asked Adam’s Uncle David to perform the wedding six months before the wedding, and to say he was more than thrilled is an understatement. For the next six months leading up to the wedding, writing our ceremony was that man’s full-time job, and he blew it out of the park. Our ceremony encapsulated so much intimacy and love. We wrote our vows, and they were so eerily similar despite keeping them secret from one another. There is something so touching about sharing your love for one another with your family and friends.
After the ceremony, we took our pictures and then went into our first dance. Adam and I secretly took dance lessons leading up to the wedding from Leigh at Cincinnati Ballroom Dancing, and our guests LOVED it. We had a lift and spin, where Adam lifted me in my big dress and spun me around — it was my favorite part of our dance. We chose Into The Mystic by Van Morrison, a song that we both loved from the beginning of our relationship. The first dance was followed by the father-daughter and mother-son dance. Both were so special and endearing.
After the dances, we went to get seated for dinner. At this point, I had not seen the floral and seating setup for our dinner. I had only shared my vision with everyone involved. I’ll never forget walking in with Adam- – both of our mouths immediately dropped. It was like we walked right into a romantic movie. The entire reception area was better than anything we could’ve ever imagined. The significant part of our wedding was the involvement of so many people. The thing about your wedding day is that you can’t (or at least shouldn’t) be running around the venue decorating and moving things the way you want, which was extremely hard for me, and I’m sure many brides who have a particular vision on how they want their wedding to look. You have to have complete faith that everything will be okay, and you have to remember that ultimately weddings are about love, the unity of you and your forever. You won’t even notice 99% of the things you are worried about leading up to your wedding once your wedding starts. You’re too full of joy and love to see.
I was so blessed to have an entire army to make my wedding happen (my mother-in-law, mother, Aunt Dona, cousin’s wife Sarah, sister, and bridesmaid Maddie — just a few).
The greatest thing about getting married is spending the rest of your life with your best friend and soulmate. The moment I met Adam, I knew there was nothing more I wanted than to build a life with him. After the wedding, you start building the rest of your lives together — it’s pretty awesome. The joy and peace of being in love are indescribable. It’s something I hope everyone gets to find in their lifetime.

Courtney Jo’s

Bridal & Formal

Experience

My experience at bridal and formal was honestly absolutely amazing. A week before I came in for a consultation, a good friend mentioned that it was cutting it close and that I should book an appointment pretty soon. Frantically, I called my sister, and she said, “Don’t worry, I’ll get you booked. I know where we should go”. A week later, we showed up at Bridal and Formal, and coincidentally, Randy Fenoli was in the shop that weekend for a trunk show. I was paired up with Lacrecia, a pleasure to work with. She was extremely outgoing and was on a mission. We worked so well together.
As I began looking for dresses, I was on a mission to find a form-fitting lace dress. Still, the moment Lacrecia and I turned the corner, I spotted a timeless, charming gown and immediately said, “I have to try that one .”We grabbed it and proceeded to hold a multitude of form-fitting, lace dresses. Once we got back into the dressing room, I told her I had to try on the big A-line gown (which coincidentally, as we later found out by Randy Fenoli himself. was the infamous Bentley gown.) The moment I stepped into the dress, I loved it. I walked out, and immediately my crew loved it just as much as I did! A few of them even said, “Okay, I think we’re done now!”. I proceeded to try on the lace, form-fitting dresses and immediately found my mind wandering back to that beautiful a-line Bentley gown. I think I tried on the Bentley 10 times. The neat part about my experience was Randy Fenoli coming over and telling us he designed that dress. He said in the thirty years he’s been doing this, there couldn’t have been a more perfect dress, and I agreed. One of those ones in a million moments made me feel so assured in my decision.
Lacrecia was absolutely amazing! She was such a pleasure to work with. Her personality was so uplifting and kind from the moment I met her. She listened to what I wanted and helped me find exactly that, and then when I changed my mind on what I wanted, she jumped gears and knew exactly where to lead. Overall working with Lacrecia was fantastic. In fact, the entire team and experience at Bridal and Formal were excellent. We came back for the bridesmaids’ dresses and mother of the bride and groom dresses and had a fantastic experience.