Love: Amy Maria Vanni & Daniel Miles

Amy, an attorney with Reed Smith, went to a gathering welcoming the new summer associates in June 2009. It was hosted by one of the firm's partners, and he had invited his nephew, Dan, an economics graduate student at the University of Maryland who was in Philadelphia for a summer internship.

Dan and Amy sat at the same table. "Dan's really cute, right?" Amy's friend and coworker Tracy, asked later. "Yeah, he's cute," Amy agreed. "And quiet and real shy."

At the end of his internship, Econsult hired Dan full-time, and he moved to Philadelphia.

The next spring, Tracy organized a happy hour at the Sofitel bar. "Do you remember Dan, Mike's nephew?" she asked Amy that morning. "I invited him to come tonight."

Amy laughed at her friend. Did she keep in touch with everyone she ever met? No, Tracy said. But since Dan had recently moved to Philly, she figured he could use a hand meeting new people.

Dan walked in and took a seat next to Amy. "I was kind of interested in Amy after the first time we met," he said.

Tracy had picked up on Dan's interest. "So," she asked him, not so subtly, "Are you seeing anybody?"

Amy felt a little bad for Dan, who was the only non-attorney, and the only man, at the get-together.

"I'm going to have to object to this line of questioning," she joked.

As the bar filled up, it became too loud for conversation. Tracy suggested the three of them hit R2L. Soon after they arrived, Tracy left.

Dan found Amy smart, funny, attractive, and easy to talk to.

Amy felt the same about him. "I just felt immediately like he was a straight-shooter kind of guy, and I appreciate that."

Up until then, Dan only asked out women who he knew would say yes. He didn't know what Amy would say, but decided he must take the risk.

A week later, on a Wednesday night, they had dinner at Parc on Rittenhouse Square. Two more dates followed that weekend, and they've been together nearly every day since.

On a Friday night in March 2011, Amy, now 37, and Dan, 33, had Chinese takeout at her house. After dinner, Amy was on Dan's most hated technological device, her BlackBerry, dealing with work.

"I'm going to take Lily Parker for a walk," Dan said. Lily is a 90-pound golden retriever. "Why don't you put the BlackBerry away and come with us?"

Stressed from the work thing, Amy didn't feel like it. But there were two hard-to-resist beings asking her to go.

When they arrived at Cianfrani Park, Dan sat on a bench, despite the cold. "Lily doesn't get out that much, and she likes it here," he said in explanation.

Amy sat next to him. Then, a minute later, Dan was kneeling in front of her, offering a ring.

Dan is originally from Peckville, Pa., while Amy's family has long ties to the Italian Market area. They walked back to the family home, where Amy lived with her mother, Millie, to share the good news. Millie was thrilled, but not surprised; Dan had previously gotten her blessing. The couple called Dan's parents, Ann and Larry, then walked around South Philly to personally make the announcement to Amy's aunt and uncle, and some cousins.

By South Philadelphia tradition, the bride is serenaded before the wedding. Dan now works at Oxford Economics in New York, but Kathy, his former boss at Econsult, helped him out. Kathy's son plans to major in musical theater. After the rehearsal dinner, he and a friend sang an aria from an Italian opera. And then Kathy sang "Dream a Little Dream" in English.

The following day at 2 p.m., the couple had a traditional Catholic wedding. The Mass was dedicated to Amy's father, John, who passed away shortly after Amy and Dan met. The bride had a picture of her and her father sewn into her dress hem.

The reception wasn't until 6:30, and there was no way Millie was going to allow so much time to pass without feeding people. So the bride, groom, and more than 100 guests returned to the South Philadelphia house, which the couple and Millie now share, for a small, catered reception. The couple left early to have photos taken at some of their favorite city places, then met their guests at the Hyatt at the Bellevue for the cocktail hour, dinner, and lots of dancing.

Shoe girl Amy bought her ivory satin Christian Louboutin shoes with 4-inch heels even before she found a gown. "I didn't take my shoes off, and I didn't stop dancing the entire night."

"There's time, and then there's Amy time," Dan likes to say. He didn't blink when Amy didn't arrive right on time for the ceremony. But when 20 minutes had passed, he and the guests began to worry that something had happened.

Cinco de Mayo had happened! The bride's very-organized cousin Vera had done a great job keeping Amy on schedule. Then the limo driver turned the corner to take what is normally a two-minute trip between Amy's house and the church, and ran into a Cinco de Mayo party.

Amy was 25 minutes late.

Trying to get everything done before the wedding made for a very crazy workweek, Dan said, and he didn't have much time to think about the fact that he would soon be married.

"When [Amy] finally walked into the church, it was just amazing," Dan said. "She looked amazing, and it also made it real. I had not been able to process what was happening until there she was in this dress."

To Amy, the Hyatt at the Bellevue Grand Ballroom has always epitomized classic Philadelphia. She wasn't sure she'd ever marry, but she was positive if she did, the ballroom would be the reception site.

The couple got a glimpse before the reception started. Seeing the sparkling crystal chandeliers, and knowing that this time the celebration was for her wedding, was a wonderful feeling, Amy said.

A bargain: Booking the band early, within weeks of their engagement, earned the couple a 20 percent discount.

A splurge: The Hyatt at the Bellevue.

Two weeks in Greece and Italy, including time spent with Amy's Italian cousins in Sicily.