VERONICA COSTANTINI + FRANK ALOISE

Photographer: Pinehurst Photography Wedding Planner: Kate Rowe, Wedding Day Rescue

Veronica and Frank’s love story starts in a kitchen. The two chefs met while working at Villaggio Ristorante, a local Pinehurst favorite. Then on Christmas Eve in 2021, the pair got engaged during dessert after a traditional Italian dinner surrounded by Veronica’s family. The newly engaged couple’s first call was to Frank’s mother, Catherine.

Veronica and Frank were excited to display a wedding message on the marquee sign outside of the Sunrise Theater in downtown Southern Pines, but the pair took it a step further and decided to tie the knot on the theater’s stage. Veronica’s aunts — just two of the more than 70 guests who traveled from out of state for the wedding — decorated the space.

For the two chefs, music was the highlight of the day. The Carolina Philharmonic Junior Orchestra welcomed guests to the reception at Trackside, just across the street from the Sunrise Theater.

“The young ensemble did an outstanding job and lent an air of romance and small-town sweetness to set the mood,” Veronica said.