Michelle and Paul DiCicco made the trip down from their home in Orlando to celebrate their very special day amid the beauty of Sarasota. The wedding ceremony was held outside, in the elegant Ringling Museum courtyard, while the reception took place in the warm, glowing atmosphere of the Ritz-Carlton ballroom.

When and how did you and Paul meet? 

Paul and I met in kindergarten. He was actually my first kiss in the first grade. He ran up to me on the playground, popped a kiss on my lips, and ran away. I ran to the bathroom to wash my face!

What is your favorite thing about Paul?

His sense of humor. He is the person that makes everyone laugh and feel comfortable. He is always so lighthearted and knows exactly what to say to cheer someone up.

What went into the process of choosing The Ringling and the Ritz-Carlton as your venues?

Paul and I liked the idea of getting married in a museum, and being from Orlando, we didn't really have a lot of options. When we went to the Ringling Museum of Art, we instantly feel in love. The art galleries are so breathtaking and the courtyard is stunning. The museum was really my favorite thing about our wedding. But we also knew we wanted the reception to be indoors and the Ritz was the most beautiful place to host it.

What was your favorite part of planning a wedding? 

My favorite part about planning the wedding was the time I got to spend with my mom while doing it. I have always enjoyed planning parties and am a very detail-oriented person, but it was so great to go through all of this with my mom. We would talk daily about the plans and run errands every weekend together. It was so special to have her be such an important part of the wedding process.

The photos of you giving your father the embroidered handkerchief almost made us tear up! 

I have always been a "daddy's girl" so the idea of him giving me away was something I struggled with throughout the engagement. It was a very sad yet sweet thing. Giving him the embroidered handkerchief was definitely one of the more emotional moments of the day, but the other moment was the car ride that we took over to the museum. We had rented a vintage Packard car for my dad and me to ride over to the ceremony, and it was so nice to have the intimate and personal time with him before he gave me away to be married.

In one photo, you can see that all of the groomsmen have fun, colorful socks on. Is there a story behind this? 

As I said earlier, Paul has a great sense of humor, and so do his friends. And while we had decided they would all be wearing tuxedos, we wanted to be sure their personalities showed. We decided to get all the guys colorful socks and suspenders to add a little playfulness to a formal occasion.

All photos by Abby Liga of Liga Photography.

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