Love |

Married

June 3 at St. Stephen's Orthodox Church in Fox Chase, with three priests, including two family friends, presiding. The nearby Knowlton Mansion hosted a reception for 160 guests.

They met

In October 1998 at the Opera Company of Philadelphia's production of La Boheme. Christine, a soprano, and Rob, a baritone, were together onstage - she in the chorus, he as a customs sergeant - and had to kiss in a tavern scene. "We're both tall; we both have blond hair. It was the beginning of many good kisses," Rob says. They socialized at parties, sang together as members of the Philadelphia Singers and by 1999 were walking their dogs together. On Feb. 11, 2000, Rob took Christine out for her birthday, to the Saloon in South Philadelphia, their first official date.

He asked

May 21, 2006, on the beachfront veranda of their South Beach, Miami, hotel. That evening, sipping wine in the shadows, Rob popped the question. "It was important to me that it was a private moment - not with some waiter standing over me," he says. An added bonus: His jeweler sold him on an illuminated ring box. "The light-up box was pretty cool, but the ring was better," says his bride.

9 to 5

Christine, 35, of Fox Chase, is an adjunct faculty member at Villanova University, teaching music appreciation and piano. Rob, 47, of Swarthmore, is a tour manager for local and national choirs. Both are freelance singers for the Opera Company and Philadelphia Singers.

Making a home

The newlyweds live in Lansdowne.

First steps

"Fields of Gold," by Sting.

Doing it their way

Eight singers, led by Choral Arts Society conductor Matt Glandorf, serenaded the couple at their Eastern Orthodox ceremony with Psalm 148 by Lvovsky and selections from Rachmaninoff's vigil and liturgy. "To hear them singing so beautifully," says Rob, "that was the most beautiful moment of the day for me. That was the nicest gift."

Christine, attended by a bevy of bridesmaids in red, orange and fuchsia silk shantung dresses, wore a strapless corseted beaded gown with a pickup skirt and a cathedral-length train from Lizelle's Bridal in Havertown. She asked an Opera Company dressmaker friend to do her alterations - in exchange for piano lessons. The costumer also added her "something blue": a dress loop to slip over the wrist. Her groom wore white linen Versace.

At Knowlton, Conroy Catering set up an outdoor grill to prepare leg of lamb and Tuscan pork loin with a red pepper puree. Each place setting was topped with Jordan almond favors wrapped in tulle and colored ribbon (a nod to the bride's Albanian heritage). Following rounds of Albanian dances, guests were served flambéed bananas foster alongside a three-tiered square chocolate cake with hazelnut frosting.

Not a dry eye

Each of the three priests "had special things to say," Christine says, but Father Eugene Vansuch "said I was like a daughter to him. I've known him since childhood."

Bloopers

"We had one friend," Christine recalls, "who was dancing like a maniac - before he was plastered! He said he was doing it so everyone" wouldn't be embarrassed to show off his or her moves.

Christine says

"Invite everybody who's important to you. Don't have second thoughts about who you cut off. That's the most important."

The honeymoon

Eight nights at the Hotel Parador, Costa Rica. After 10 days at home, it was off to the Spoleto Festival in Italy for three weeks.