Sharon & Rob's Poughkeepsie Grand Wedding

Sharon Fernandes & Rob Faber were married this past June in a beautiful ceremony at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Poughkeepsie, NY, and their reception at the Poughkeepsie Grand's Starlight Room turned into a dance party for the ages. After a lot of research, they chose the Poughkeepsie Grand; it's a great alternative to the high-priced venues they had considered in Westchester - and the staff at the Grand was more than happy to tailor the reception to suit them perfectly.

Click here for 10 tips from Sharon & Rob for planning a spectacular wedding on a budget. Click here for the details of the wedding menu. Go here to download a playlist of the most memorable songs they played that night. And finally, look here for  a photo gallery - their wedding story in 20 pictures.

But first, let's get to know Sharon & Rob and the story of how they - finally - got together.

Sharon went to college with a friend of Rob's from high school - even though they met in 1999, they only hung out a few times over the next decade, whenever Rob happened to be in town visiting his friend. It wasn't until December of 2008, when Sharon met up with Rob and a crew of his friends for birthday drinks in Manhattan that something clicked into place. "Something changed," he tells me, "I saw something different in her." Sharon chimes in saying, "We grew up, I guess!" Rob jokes, "Maybe it was the smell of desperation on both of us."

They tell me that back in 2001 they had made a marriage pact - for age 50. Rob says, "Basically, we moved it up from 50 to 34." But it wasn't quite that simple. Rob tells me he is madly in love with Sharon - but if someone had told him back in 2006 that one day they'd be walking down the aisle, he would have thought them insane. 2006 was the year that Rob and a bunch of friends crashed on couches at Sharon's parents house . . . and at some point in the middle of the night Rob managed to rip the bathroom sink off the wall. He laughs, "I wasn't conscious of doing it! . . . I somehow lifted the basin off the pipe. Water was going everywhere! . . . It was kind of like the end of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." For the next few years, Rob was known to Sharon's family as the guy who totaled their bathroom. Sharon laughs, "I wouldn't marry THAT guy."



The picture that started it all . . .

 I ask how they finally got things off the ground and started dating. Rob tells me that even though he developed feelings for Sharon on that fateful night of birthday drinks, it took a full five months before he finagled a way for them to see each other again. They met up with mutual friends to hang out in Coney Island. Then he said that he tricked her into taking a picture of him in front of Faber's Fascination - knowing that she'd have to email it to him, and they could finally cut out the middle man. But Sharon might have guessed that he had a crush on her; when the bar they were hanging out at stopped serving food and she mentioned she was hungry, without a word Rob ran out to the Nathan's down the block and brought her back a hot dog. Rob's a dedicated vegan, which makes this already sweet gesture kind of a big deal.



Coming up next . . . the Main Event!


They started dating shortly thereafter. I ask Sharon when she knew it was serious. She tells me that a few months in, Rob invited her to join him and his friends on a trip to Europe for Oktoberfest. She said no, thinking it was way too soon to travel to a foreign country together. But, "That time apart made us realize - we don't like being apart." Rob says, "I fell in love with her in a bar in Prague!" - even though she was thousands of miles away. Of course, he tells me, he had been drinking Absinthe all night, which is known for creating mental epiphanies. Sharon, mock horrified, says, "This whole marriage has been a hallucination?" Rob laughs and tells me, "I proposed to her six times before she finally said yes." Each time Sharon said, "No, I will not accept a proposal from a drunk man."



So Rob set out to plan the perfect proposal. They took a trip to Boston - Sharon thought it would just be a weekend of bar hopping, and seeing the band James play a gig. But Rob had done his homework - he casually proposed taking a little walk to Acorn Street in Beacon Hill - which just so happens to be one of the most photographed spots in North America. He describes it as practically an alley, paved with cobblestones, gas-lit streetlamps, lined with upscale, centuries-old townhouses. He led them there as the sun was setting and the lamps were lit. While Sharon was gazing up at the street lamps, Rob got down on one knee. She turned around and there he was, ring in hand.

"She asked me to take a breathalizer to make sure I was sober!" Rob laughs. Sharon says, "No, but maybe I should have!"