didn't have a prolonged quest for the author of a message in a bottle that had apparently washed up near a rocky pile on the beach. "I said, 'Someone must have had a romantic evening here,' " she recalls.
Her boyfriend, Michael Nigro, had gingerly picked up the bottle, extricated a piece of weathered-looking parchment and handed it to her. The enclosed note was a chronicle of milestones in the couple's relationship, saying at the end: ". . . long walks on the beach, plus this long walk . . . equals a lifetime to look forward to." Then Mr. Nigro dropped to one knee.
"I'd written it about a week before and burned the edges," chuckles Mr. Nigro, who confessed to his new fiancée that his cousin and fellow conspirator, Rawl Furman, was clandestinely filming the theatrics, having earlier planted the bottle in its designated place.
"I don't enjoy being on video and wanted them to turn off the camera, but they kept going," she remembers. She was initially perturbed by the intrusion on their intimate moment, but she now confesses, "Michael is extremely funny, and always making me laugh. Now, I'm happy because I have it, [the proposal on video]and it will last."
Blissfully, the couple spent much of their leisure time at Mr. Nigro's family cottage on Bluewater Beach north of Wasaga, where beach walks were routine and they kicked things up with friends and family playing volleyball, soccer and football.
On this particular Sept. 28, 2003, weekend, a family group of about 30 had gathered for their annual homemade pasta day.
"I could think of no more appropriate place," Mr. Nigro says. "Of course, the first thing I did was ask Sandra's parents' permission, but my cousin Rawl and father were the only ones [in my family]who knew I was going to propose," he laughs.
The hardest part was for Ms. Corelli's younger sister, Jennifer. Caught up in the romance of giving her input to help him design the ring, she managed to keep the marriage proposal a secret.
It was on a boat cruise during frosh week in September of 1996 that Ms. Corelli, in her first year at the University of Toronto, met Mr. Nigro, a York University student who was on board with his friends. The two had chummed with their individual groups of pals since their early teens. After the cruise, the groups combined to form a nucleus of about a dozen who kept regular company, with Ms. Corelli and Mr. Nigro charged with event planning.
"Sandra and I were the main contacts and would arrange everything. We went for dinner, dessert, drinks, to nightclubs, skating at Nathan Phillips Square, and around Oscar time we'd see all the nominated movies," he says.
Time and proximity soon had a magnetic effect. "Out of the entire group we became the tightest, and got along well on all levels," Mr. Nigro says.
In February, 1998, while Ms. Corelli vacationed in Mexico with her friends, Mr. Nigro felt an emotional void. On her return, she surprised him with what he deemed more than a friendly effort for his birthday, a handmade card and truffle. A beguiled Mr. Nigro notes, "We figured out we were crazy about each other around the same time." By March, they were a couple.
Each from traditional Italian families, they accepted a long courtship as the norm. "We didn't want to get married while we were in school and wanted to be at a certain point in our careers and lives," he asserts.
After graduating from U of T in employment relations, Ms. Corelli launched a corporate career in human resources and Mr. Nigro, a graduate from York's Schulich School of Business, found his niche in provincial public service.
On June 4, Rev. Eugene Felice, who had baptized Mr. Nigro, and wed his parents, officiated as 400 guests observed from the pews of St. Margaret Mary Roman Catholic Church in Woodbridge. A reception followed at the Terrace Banquet and Convention Centre. There, Mr. Nigro's best man, best friend and confidant -- his father -- delivered an impassioned speech about his late wife, who had died when their son was a child, and then presented a treasured heirloom, her ring, to the astonished bride.
The couple, both 28, "are at our best when we have friends and family around us. The foundation of our relationship is built on a strong friendship," Ms. Corelli observes, "and I think that's what makes it great."
To send us details of your wedding, please e-mail jtenenbaum@globeandmail.ca