How They Met:
In 2010 Matt started a job with Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando, FL. Little did he know it would be more than just the start of a new career. During the first few weeks of his job he attended the hotel's orientation. At this orientation he met new employees, managers and one very special girl. The only problem was, during this orientation he some how got the impression that she was married. After time passed, Matt learned that she in fact was not married and so he began to make sure they purposely ran into each other. Whether it be in the halls, at a meeting or in the Human Resources office (where she worked), Matt made it a point to start to get to know her.
At this point months have gone by and Matt and Nicole have become good "work" friends. But that wasn't enough....Matt felt a connection, a feeling inside that he knew was more than just "work" friends. By now he had figured out her favorite dessert in the hotel (chocolate, go figure) and started delivering this dessert to her on a regular basis as she worked late hours (paid for of course!). Well, this one was going to take a LOT more than just a chocolate dessert, so he started pulling out all the tricks. Starting off with being an "MC" at the talent show that she was organizing, giving her rides home for work and finally setting up a "friendly happy hour" with another colleague (that's you Jon Couts!). Taking her to his favorite spot, Cariera's, where everyone knew him and he could look like a big shot, things were starting to take shape (...exception Nicole had no idea).
After a while it was time for Matt to drop the friend (sorry Jon), and he took Nicole to Agave Azul for some happy hour margaritas and white queso dip, this is where it all started to get good! As some of you (really ALL of you) know, Nicole is quite a stubborn person. She was a sweet girl with a quiet personality that liked to keep to herself and Matt was a wild child that liked to be out and about and in the spotlight. This frightened her a little bit so she put her guard up. And if you know Matt, he doesn't stop until he's successful. So the final tipping point was when Nicole won employee of the month, Matt was very proud and decided he was going to tell her just exactly how proud, but he was going to do it in his very own symbolic way. With a sweet (hand written) card, of course chocolate and last but not last a deck of cards. Why a deck of cards? well in this sweet and nicely hand written card, he ended it with "take a gamble on me".... and she did.
The Engagement:
After 5 years, Matt and Nicole have traveled together, laughed together, cried together, lived cities apart, bought a home together, joined 3 dogs together and even gotten a 4th dog together (yes they're that nuts). It was FINALLY time for Matt to really make Nicole a married woman, only this time HIS married woman.
Although all along, Matt knew she was his bride, in 2015 he finally came to the realization it's time to make that known to the world.
To begin the journey, Matt had conversations with his parents and sister. This came as no surprise to them as they had been waiting for this conversation for a while now. He then planned an inconspicuous breakfast with her father, mother, brother, sister and sister-in-law. The only problem was everyone at breakfast knew what Matt's intentions were, except of course Nicole, she was left in the dark (as she was 5 years earlier). Matt knew they all knew, so of course he dragged it on, they ordered, ate, joked and finally at the very end he started talking. Explained his feelings, plans and reasons why it took SO long and asked for the families permission and blessing to Marry their daughter (sister and sister-in-law). The response was as expected, Bob and Chris wanted to have a family meeting before they made their "decision", but in reality they were relieved this time had finally come. After a few words heartfelt words from Bob, they wiped their tears of happiness, hugged and went separate ways (so Nicole still wouldn't find out). There was 2 more people on the list that he wanted a blessing from. When Nicole and Matt first started dating, he noticed she had a dimple. Well, she banned him from that dimple and said it was her "Zadie's" dimple. So at this point, he knew he needed to ask for that dimple in marriage. The month leading up to the engagement Nicole and Matt had to experience something they hadn't yet done together. As the family gathered at Grandma and Zadie's house the day he was brought home from the hospital, little by little the room started to empty. When the window of opportunity presented itself, Matt walked into the room, held Grandma and Zadie's hand and told them he loved their grandaughter very much and wanted their blessing to marry her. With hugs and tears Grandma smiled and said of course, Matt gave Zadie a kiss on the cheek and said he promised to take care of her dimple.
On August 28 2015, the plans had been set, everything was in motion. Matt had been traveling for training for his new job and was arriving the day this was all supposed to "go down". After landing at Tampa Airport, he walked through the terminal calling everyone involved to make sure the plans were set. Although receiving confirmation everything was good to go and "not to worry" (his dad said, 100 times).... he was still VERY worried. As he sat at the pick up location waiting for Nicole to pick him up (in his brand new car) the phone rang and he answered...
On the other end of the phone was Nicole, in tears. When he asked what was wrong she wept that she was running late leaving work and was sitting in Friday rush hour traffic. Prior to calling him she received a call from her father asking if they wanted to join them for sushi. She told her dad that unfortunately she was driving to Orlando so she would not be able to make it. Nicole's dad sensed that she was not too happy and in fact sounded depressed over the phone so he asked her if everything was alright. She explained that she was running late to pick up Matt from the airport, it was raining, she is now sitting in traffic, missed an exit and needed to cross 5 lanes, and that she was in Matt's new car which he threatened her to not let anything happen to. So all in all that she wasn't having a great day. Her dad expressed that he was sorry and that since they could not do Sushi tonight, maybe they could meet up for Sushi on Sunday when Matt and Nicole got back from Orlando. He told her to talk to Matt and let him know.
While on the phone (still crying), she told Matt she had missed the exit and didn't know what to do. At this point he's freaking out thinking they wouldn't make it to Orlando in time, so he began to guide her to the next exit and finally to the airport, without forgetting to mention the accident happening in front of her and her having to cross 5 lanes (again, in his BRAND NEW car!). As Matt saw his baby pulling up (with Nicole driving her) a feeling of relief ran through his body knowing she got their safely and Nicole hadn't done anything to her. Just kidding, he was just happy Nicole finally picked him up. Nicole couldn't wait to get out of the driver's seat and into the passenger seat (little did she know, Matt couldn't wait for that either :) ). They began their short, yet very long road trip to Orlando.
The plan was to go back to where this Love Story all began, the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress. But what is a good story without hiccups and bumps along the way. Zooming off on to the highway they were quickly met with rain and more rush our traffic. At this point, Nicole is knocked out sleeping (5 minutes into the trip) and Matt is texting his Dad freaking out, which of course provided the normal response of 'don't worry son, it will be alright'. He had convinced Nicole that they were headed to Orlando for the weekend to celebrate his sister's birthday but going a day early just the 2 of them to celebrate their 5 year anniversary (again, she's oblivious to the real plan). After 2 hours, a few curse words, rain, traffic a couple of accidents passed by the finally got to the hotel.
When checking in, the agent almost blew it. Nicole had been dropped off to check in while Matt parked the car. Nicole told the agent she was checking in under Corsetti. The agent informed her there were 2 Corsettis and asked her what the first name was. When she responded with Nicole, the agent seemed confused and asked if their were any other names it would be under. Nicole responded with Cummings and the agent again had a dumbfounded look on her face. By this time Matt had arrived from the parking lot. Nicole explained that the agent was having trouble finding the reservation and Matt jumped in to get everything taken care of. As luck would have it, an employee that they had worked with in the past had gotten Nicole's attention and pulled her away. Matt explained the situation to the agent and every thing was cleared up, they were given keys and up they went to their room. With reservations at their favorite restaurant, Hemingway's, quickly approaching, there wasn't much time for them to spend getting "dolled up". When they arrived to the restaurant Matt excused himself to go to the restroom so he could make a secret call to set the plan in full motion. While enjoying a lovely dinner, the final details were being executed (...a reminder, Nicole is still, VERY, clueless). As the dinner had ended, and they started to leave, again Matt pays a visit to the restroom and makes one last phone call...
Because they had received a "unexpected" upgrade to a gorgeous bi-level suite including a ginormous walk out balcony, Matt made plans with Nicole, "spontaneously", to watch fireworks after dinner. When getting back to the room from dinner to watch these fireworks, Matt waves his key...and what do you know, IT DOESN'T WORK. Well Matt realized exactly WHY it wasn't working, so they went all the way back down, from the 16th floor to get a NEW key. Finally arriving back to the double doors, he waves the key, the door unlocks and (like the gentleman he is) he let's Nicole walk in first. To her surprise there was a lovely pathway of fresh red roses leading to the balcony (this was done because he knew she'd want to go right to the room and change to PJs). As they followed the path they stepped out to the balcony and she noticed there was a table set up with Champagne...and 15 glasses so she says "wait a second, what's going on here". So Matt (in an attempt to divert her attention from the obvious) pulls her closer to him and faces the direction where the fireworks would be. With a trembling body and a racing heart, he starts to say "This is where it all started, 5 years ago. We've built a wonderful life together, have wonderful 4-legged babies, a wonderful home and a wonderful family", as he turns her around, " who I couldn't do this without" and he unveils their entire family standing in an alcove. Matt pulls a box out of his pocket, opens it, drops down to one knee and says "Nicole Maria Corsetti WILL YOU MARRY ME". With tears in her eyes and smile on her face, she doesn't say anything. With a faint voice from the alcove questioning "did she say yes?" Nicole responded with "yes, ABSOLUTELY”.
Inside The Engagement Plan: The Lies and Deception
This all started when I knew it was time to pop that special, big, long awaited question. Yes I know it took me a while but hey better now then never right?
Well, hiding things from Nicole is damn near impossible... unless your me! :) I started by looking at rings, but I couldn't look at them normally because we share a tablet and home computer so I didn't want the history to pop up. Clearing history is just a pain so I opened an incognito tab from Chrome every time. The next challenge was that in order to ask questions about rings, diamonds or set up appointments I had to do thing's via email. Well the tablet we shared was linked to my email and so was the home computer so I couldn't risk her seeing an email pop up. Step 2, create a new email that no one knew about.
Now at this point, I'm still working at the Hyatt Sarasota so going to see rings while at work or on a lunch break was another impossible task. So step 3, start "working late" but really leaving early. I did this a few different times in order to go to a couple of local shops without Nicole questioning why it was taking me an extra hour to get home. "Lots of traffic" would only work once or twice. Once the ring was finally picked, I needed a place to keep it, since we share a beautiful home, I couldn't keep it there risking her finding it. Step 4, bring in accomplices, my Mom and Dad. The day the ring was ready, they both met me at the jewelry store to pick it up, the best part was as soon as we left the store, we met Nicole for dinner and she was none the wiser.
Now planning the big day/moment was no easy task either and it definitely took some incredible efforts of a few friends and family. First and foremost, Elaine Hoffer at the Grand Cypress hotel. She has watched out relationship blossom from the beginning and we have stayed in touch and I don't think there was a time when we talked she didn't ask "are you engaged yet". So, I knew right off the bat, she had to be involved. Well she definitely was. I made reservations with employee rates and she so graciously got us upgraded to the beautiful bi-level suite that everything took place in. She also helped make reservations for both of our families that came from St. Pete/Clearwater to stay the weekend. The big challenge came when I made a career move and left Hyatt. Elaine helped get the reservation moved into Nicole's name without any notification to her. Getting Nicole there was going to be an issue, so enter my wonderful sister. The day this all happened was actually her birthday and she selflessly shared it with us, but I needed my parents to drop the word that we would be going to Orlando to celebrate Yessenia's birthday. Boom, the plan was now set!
The next part was getting together with her family to get their blessing and I knew I would never ask to marry her without doing that. As luck would have it, she had a work breakfast on a Saturday. So I saw my window of opportunity. I texted the family and said something along the lines of "Nicole has a work breakfast on Saturday and she doesn't know I'm texting you all so don't tell her. I'd like to get everyone together for breakfast". Everyone agreed and kept quiet. Ok, part 1 done. Now part 2 was to somehow let Nicole know I was going to breakfast but not because it was my idea. So I text her sister-in-law Tina. I knew that my invite to breakfast was blatantly obvious, so I asked for help. I said "I need you to text Nicole and I tomorrow inviting us to breakfast". I knew that when we got the text Nicole would then know she couldn't go, but I would go. It worked like a charm! we got the text in the morning as Nicole got ready for her work thing and she said "well I can't go, but you can if you want." Just like that, she took the bait and this plan was in motion!
I had no intentions of traveling that week, I actually didn't find out I would have to go to training until 3 weeks before, so I had to convince Nicole to still go to Orlando Friday and to do this, I said we'd go a day earlier just the two of us to celebrate our anniversary. Success again, she's still in the dark and I'm jumping these hurdles like they're nothing. Well, the next hurdle was going to be the biggest, Nicole herself. As noted in the engagement portion of this story, she didn't have a great day that day. Coming to pick me up at the airport was a nightmare, it took her WAY longer than expected and she was just not very happy. Rain and traffic also put a damper on the road trip adding on almost 2 hours unexpectedly to the trip. This left very little time to get ready for dinner. Nicole will tell you she didn't have make up, her hair wasn't done right and she wasn't happy with not having time to get ready, but i think she looked gorgeous as usual, so don't listen to her.
The final hours of the night weren't smooth sailing by any means. When checking into the hotel, the front desk agent almost told Nicole that her dad had already checked into the hotel which she had no clue they were even there. She told her that there were 2 reservations under Corsetti, so of course I had to play it off as "wow what a coincidence.... let's go!". So if you read the story about the engagement, I'm going to explain some of the final pieces that took place while we're at dinner. When we got there I went to the bathroom and called a special friend, Shawna Surman. She was standing by to give Room Service the cue to take up the champagne, glasses, ice buckets etc. to the room. I then called my dad and told him they were clear to go finish setting up. I had arranged for him to get a key to our room so they could drop the flowers and rearrange the furniture. This was all happening while we were enjoying our dinner. When we finished I again, went to the bathroom and called them to say "we're on our way up". When we got to the room, the key really didn't work and as soon as I tried it, I knew exactly why. So when my dad went and got new keys, it cancelled the ones I had, so we went down and got new keys. The final hurdle I had was, if you remember, my parents had the ring. Well I was traveling so I never had a chance to go get it from them. There was a little table in the foyer that had another table inside it, luckily the ring box fit perfectly there, so when I let Nicole walk in in front of me, I quickly grabbed the box and stuffed it in my pocket. To my surprise, she didn't even notice. When we walked out to the balcony i didn't see anyone and immediately freaked out, I had no clue there was an alcove and didn't know they were all hiding in it. I finally saw them out of the corner of my eye and, it was SHOW TIME!
I have to say, I'm so glad it went the way it did, it's an experience and memory I'll cherish for my entire life... but I'm glad it's all over! I'm glad I don't have to lie anymore because keeping up with the lies, secret emails, secret jewelry store visits and praying she doesn't crash my new car was nerve wrecking.
Thank you to everyone that helped make it possible, I couldn't have done it without you!
Special thanks to: Mom, Dad, Bob, Cathy, Yessenia, Shane, Chris, Tina, Patricia, Elaine, Shawna, Eduard Propst, Dan Busillo and the entire PM IRD staff at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress.
The Relationship
Nicole and Matt love each other’s passion, drive, love for one another and family. Both are successful, goal oriented and share the same visions and values. They enjoy spending time with their dogs, traveling, football, going to the gym and watching TV shows.
The Wedding
St. Pete/Clearwater is home to family, and their hotel is centrally located for guests to enjoy time before and after wedding. Their wedding colors were inspired by fall season and exuded a classic, elegant style. The favorite parts of their wedding day were the First Look, exchanging vows, their First Dance, the Cake and the Photographers:) Nicole and Matt picked and planned the wedding together based on what they like together. The reception was fun and filled with dancing!
Photography by Limelight Photography
Photographers | Rebecca and Michael Zoumberos
DJ | Grant Hemond
Bridesmaids Dresses | Athena's Bridal
Cake | The Artistic Whisk
Ceremony | St. John Vianney Catholic Church
Florist | Lee James Floral
Hair and Make-up Artist | Michele Renee The Studio
Invitations | The Write Stuff
Reception | Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront
Videographer | Lexoria Films
Wedding Gown | Athena's Bridal
Photobooth | Tampa Event Photobooth
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