Beach wedding puts all the pieces together

Their first meeting was brief and a bit blurry. When Jamie Giuffre, now 39, and Julie Spinelli, now 32, happened to meet at the beach in Avalon in July 2010 where Julie was visiting her sister, the exchange was friendly but short. After a long ride down in summer traffic, Jamie wanted to get in a swim.

The next time was a lot more leisurely. It was at a gathering with mutual friends on Labor Day weekend that same summer.

“I happened to sit next to Jamie at an Italian restaurant and we spent the night laughing and flirting,” said Julie, whose family has lived in Delran, Moorestown and now Riverton.

Jamie remembers that night, too. “I thought Julie was attractive and a little feisty. It was a great combination.”

But it was later that year, at a Phillies game, that Jamie, a North Jersey native but diehard fan, actually didn’t watch the game at all, but instead talked the whole time to Julie. It was then that the relationship really took off.

“One of the reasons I was so drawn to Julie was that she was a first-grade teacher, and was great with kids,” said Jamie, who has a son from an earlier marriage who was 2 years old when the couple met. “I knew that their interaction and connection would be a determining factor in our relationship.”

As it turned out, it was an instant click, with little Bryce starting to claim Julie as “my Julie.”

“We dated for three and a half years before we became engaged,” said Julie. “We were always very happy but not in a hurry to get married.”

One reason was rooted in a profound emotional loss Julie had suffered when her twin bother died of cancer in 2007. She, her sister and other brother had drawn very close and felt that they needed to take extra care of one another.

But by Valentine’s Day 2014, after the couple had moved in together and both knew that a commitment was close at hand, Jamie totally disarmed Julie with an arrangement of candles shaped into a heart, the John Legend song “All Of Me” playing in the background, and dinner — and a proposal — at the ready.

“I started crying and shaking and ran to call all my friends and family,” said the bride-to-be.

The couple, longtime fans of the Jersey Shore, had already determined that they wanted a beach wedding. With the help of Julie’s mother, Cathy, they learned of The Corinthian Yacht Club in Cape May, which had the cozy, casual feel they sought.

While they’d hoped for a summer date, the best they could do was Oct. 11. And as they made wedding plans, they also moved to a home in Haddonfield, making for a very hectic summer.

Unlike many grooms, Jamie, who loves planning and organizing, undertook many of the details. He took over the reins on identifying the photographer, the string musicians for the cocktail hour and disc jockey for the reception, and the trolleys that would transport guests to the venue from local hotels.

It would be wonderful to report that the day of the seashore wedding dawned sunny and warm, but it did not. Julie shed a few tears over a day of periodic downpours, but also acknowledges that Mother Nature did smile on them at 3 p.m., when the rain stopped long enough to allow for scheduled photos on the beach.

“I immediately felt like it was my late twin brother Drew’s presence, his letting us know he was there. ...We miss him every single day, but these special occasions are always difficult,” she said.

For everyone assembled, one of the high points of the wedding was the participation of Bryce in every aspect of the brief but meaningful ceremony, transplanted to a covered patio at the yacht club, and the reception, at which he danced with great joy.

A honeymoon on the island of St. John gave Julie and Jamie seven days of relaxing, hiking, snorkeling and eating lots of wonderful food.