Said I Do – Jan. 7, 2017
“I was beginning to get stressed when his grandmother gave me a gift from him. It was a beautiful Tiffany pendant necklace with two hearts and my new monogram engraved on the back. He also wrote a touching note to his ‘new wife’ that made me feel better and know that everything was going to be OK.”
Kerstin and Rick Villano were just teenagers when they first met at Wellington’s Cold Stone Creamery. Both were working there after school and on weekends. Kerstin was 16, and Rick was 17. Unlike many high school romances, theirs stuck.
Years went by and Kerstin and Rick were still going strong. But when did she realize that they were destined to be together forever?
“He took me to the Keys a few years back,” Kerstin recalled. “The entire trip was packed with tons of fun activities he had planned for us. During a sunset cruise we went on, I remember looking at him and thinking that I just knew.”
Rick entered the military, and Kerstin went on to college. It was a trying time, with such distance between them.
“Rick was stationed in New York, and I was finishing up my bachelor’s degree in Florida,” Kerstin said. “We often had to go months at a time without seeing each other.”
One Christmas, unbeknownst to Kerstin, Rick came home. “My family and I went to lunch at Ta-boo. After lunch, we walked down to the clock tower, and he was there, waiting,” Melissa said of Rick’s unexpected proposal. “Both of our families were there to capture and share the moment with us. It was very special because that was the same place my dad proposed to my mom.”
Kerstin chose a wedding dress by Alfred Angelo. “It was actually the very first dress I tried on,” she said. “I knew it was the perfect one immediately.”
They wed on Jan. 7, 2017 with both the ceremony and reception taking place at the Playa Largo Resort in Key Largo.
“We were getting ready for the ceremony, and my nerves were getting the best of me,” Kirsten said. “I was beginning to get stressed when his grandmother gave me a gift from him. It was a beautiful Tiffany pendant necklace with two hearts and my new monogram engraved on the back. He also wrote a touching note to his ‘new wife’ that made me feel better and know that everything was going to be OK.”
Alexandra Bannon was Kirsten’s maid of honor, while Rick’s younger brother Nick Villano served as best man. The couple’s first dance was to “From the Ground Up” by Dan + Shay, but it was the mother/son and father/daughter dances that caused the most buzz. “He asked his mom to pick the mother-son dance song, and I asked my dad to pick the father-daughter song,” Kirsten said. “Without knowing, they both picked the same song! It was ‘My Wish’ by Rascal Flatts.”
Stacia Morgan did an amazing job as the wedding photographer, and when it came time to plan a honeymoon, Rick’s parents stepped in with an offer the couple could not refuse.
“His family sent us to Europe. We spent a couple of weeks in France, Spain and Italy,” Kirsten said. “Hands down, our favorite part was seeing the Amalfi Coast in Italy — heaven on earth with the decadent gelato, giant yellow lemons bigger than your head, and the smell of the leather goods.”
