Love | Melissa Marie Vanore & Joseph Anthony Falck

Married

May 5 at Epiphany of Our Lord Church in South Philadelphia, with Rev. Joseph Kelley presiding. Cescaphe Ballroom in Northern Liberties hosted the reception for 200 guests.

They met

In November 1999, at a mutual friend's 21st birthday party. "I thought she was funny and interesting," Joe says, "but she didn't like me." Melissa laughs: "Then I started to realize what a nice guy he was. He grew on me." A few nights after the party, they had a first date at the now-closed Nifty Fifty's in South Philly. "All I got was a milkshake," Melissa recalls. "I was afraid to eat in front of him."

He asked

At the beach in Cape May one day, the couple spotted a plane zooming by with a 50th wedding anniversary greeting. "That would be a really great way to get engaged," Melissa commented. Joe listened: on a very hot July 29, 2004, on Cape May's beach, he hired a plane and custom banner of his own. Melissa was munching on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when Joe pointed skyward. The plane flying back and forth in front of them trailed a banner that read "Hey Mel Will You Marry Me? Love Joe." He got down on one knee in the sand. Melissa managed a yes "with peanut butter in my mouth." Joe's Dad videotaped the fly-by proposal from a nearby dune.

9 to 5

Melissa, 26, is an elementary school teacher. Joe, 28, is a union electrician.

Making a home

The newlyweds live in their hometown of South Philadelphia.

First steps

To Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed," sung by wedding band Touché.

Doing it their way

In early April, Joe fell six feet off a ladder while at work. "I landed on my feet, like a cat, and crushed my heel," he says. But crutches and a cast can't stop a wedding, and Joe scooted around with his knee resting in a Roll-A-Bout.

A beach-themed day began to take shape at Mass, where "Star Upon the Ocean" was played during the presentation of the gifts. Roses were placed at the altar in remembrance of cherished grandparents. After the ceremony, the bridal party, including matron of honor (and mother of the bride) Charlene Vanore, in a celadon skirt and matching jacket and top, piled into a rented Cape May trolley for photos at Penn's Landing - "the closest place to the water," Melissa says.

The decor at Cescaphe further recalled the beach: two-foot glass cylinder vases filled with seashells and cascading flowers adorned the tables, and a mermaid ice sculpture served shrimp cocktail out of her tail. Even the maids' bouquet jewelry kept with the theme - picks of sand dollars, starfish and shells - while the groomsmen wore baby starfish and an orchid on their lapels. Melissa's peony bouquet included delicate sand dollars. The happy couple strolled into the ballroom to "On the Way to Cape May," and later, sliced a four-tier cake with white chocolate shells and chocolate coral with a border of "sand" (cinnamon sugar).

Not a

dry eye:

After their vows, the bride and groom read special reflections to Joe's daughter, junior bridesmaid Kaleigh, 8, then presented her with a necklace of three diamond hearts. "It represents the three of us joined together," says her new stepmother.

Bloopers

While walking (and rolling) down the aisle as newlyweds, "out of the corner of my eye I see my long train wound up in the Roll-A-Bout," Melissa says. They had to stop halfway and untangle it.

Melissa says

"It does go by as quickly as everybody says. Three years of planning and it's over in six hours. We joked the next day: 'Now what do we do?' "

The honeymoon

The groom in a cast meant a postponed trip to the Riviera Maya, which they rescheduled for their one-year anniversary. Instead, Melissa and Joe spent a week at her family's Cape May shore house.

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