They met when he hollered at her from a garbage truck
THE FIRST MEETING: Amy Ambrosino and Chris Miko met in late summer 2007. She was 18, a recent high school graduate working retail and living at home in the Breckenridge subdivision of Wilmington. He was 20 and working at the waste disposal company that served her neighborhood. She had just run out to her car when she heard someone yell “hey” at her from the back of the garbage truck. Chris may or may not have added “hot stuff.” She wheeled around to see who it was and thought, "Eww, what a jerk!"
THE INTRODUCTION: Fast forward to early 2009. By then Amy was 20 and working at a clothing shop. He was 22. Both of them still lived at home. She and her friend, Lily Iada, were going out for a casual evening. Amy was wearing jeans, a hoodie and her Uggs. Their first stop was Walmart, where Lily received a panicked call from their friend Jason Rash. He had locked his keys in his car at 7-11 and they were threatening to tow it. Lily and Amy went to his apartment to see if they could get in and retrieve a spare set of keys, but had no luck. They decided to head to the party Jason was supposed to attend and see if anyone had a bat, so they could smash in a car window. But when they arrived, only one person was there: Chris, asleep on the couch, under a newspaper. Jason woke Chris up to ask for help. Chris started chatting with Lily and then he turned to Amy and demanded to know, “Why does every girl wear those Ugg boots? They're hideous." Then he started harassing her about everything she was wearing, even following her into another room and banging on drums while she was trying to make a call. Lily and Amy left, and Chris headed out with Jason to see if they could get into the car. Within moments, Chris texted Lily begging for Amy's number. He had been impressed that she handled his harassment. “No way,” Amy told Lily. But Chris persisted and Lily finally gave him the number. He started texting Amy, turning on the charm. It took hours of endless texting but Amy finally agreed to a date.
THE FIRST DATE: A few days later, Chris showed up at Amy's doorstep with roses and took her to see “Fired Up” at Movies 10 in Stanton. During the previews Chris went to get popcorn, and a scary movie preview came on that terrified Amy. She has still not forgiven him for that. But they had a good time, and Lily talked highly about Chris, so Amy agreed to another date.
THE FIRST KISS: They went to the Riverview Inn in Pennsville, New Jersey, for dinner and then drove around listening to music in Chris’s car. They ended up at Jason’s house playing some drinking games. As they were leaving about 1 a.m., Chris opened the car door for her, stepped in and pressed her against the car and kissed her in the softly falling snow. They dated steadily from then on. He is the funniest person she’s ever met, she says. He says that even though he was a goofball, she laughed at all of his jokes, and there was just something about her. When Amy took Chris to meet her father, Chris realized where she lived and even described her first car. Both of them remembered him hollering at her as she crossed the street. They started talking about marriage their first Christmas as a couple. She said then that she was too young to think seriously about it, but she could see it happening down the road.
Wish granted: Donor sees recipient walk daughter down aisle
THE PROPOSAL: By January of 2014, it had been obvious for a while that they were going to get married, but no specific plans had been made. They were supposed to go to dinner with friends, but the friends had to cancel. Amy and Chris decided to go anyway and picked their favorite seafood spot in North East, Maryland, Woody's Crab house. When Amy drove to his house after work, Chris was dressed nicely, which she later realized should have been her first clue something was up. The restaurant was nearly empty that cold night. Dinner was awkward. He kept staring at her, but barely spoke to her and didn’t finish his beer. She had several glasses of wine. She did not know he had planned to propose in a few days on her birthday, and that just a few hours before, he had asked her father for his blessing to marry Amy. Her father had happily given it, but warned Chris that he couldn’t keep secrets, so Chris needed to ask her soon before he blabbed. They were all scheduled to have pizza the next night and Chris was worrying that beer might loosen her dad’s tongue and spoil the surprise. Chris couldn’t decide what to do, but eventually decided to just go for it. After dinner, they drove around listening to songs from when they first started dating. Chris took Amy to go to Crystal Beach, Maryland. When he suggested they get out, she argued. "Babe, it's freezing and there's a foot of snow on the ground!" she told him. "Don't worry; this won't take long," Chris said. She got out, hesitantly. They stood on a dark, snowy cliff overlooking the river, and after a couple of minutes, Chris got down on one knee and asked the question Amy, their friends and their families had waited years for: "Amy Ambrosino, Will you marry me?!" She happily said yes.
THE CEREMONY: They married at sunset Sept. 19, 2015, on the terrace at the Sheraton Wilmington South Hotel in New Castle. They wanted to get married outside, but hadn’t been happy with other venues because of size, costs – or an outdoor site in the middle of a parking lot. It was a beautiful but windy day. Their friend Andrew Dougherty was ordained to perform the ceremony. Chris' cousin Brian Foskey and Amy’s godmother Darlene Ambrosino did the readings. Amy and Chris wrote their own vows. He talked about his love for the Pittsburgh Steelers and quoted One Direction lyrics. She talked about how she’s the #luckyone who got to marry the guy singing The Little Mermaid's “Under the Sea” at karaoke and how her sister thought they were the most perfect dorks for each other. They were particularly happy that their flower girl and ring bearer walked down the aisle peacefully. During rehearsals, flower girl Caroline Cascarina, 5, the daughter of bridesmaid Billie Cascarina, had not been thrilled with the concept. But at the wedding, she happily held the hand of ring bearer Brady Campbell, 8.
THE DRESS: Amy wore a simple lace mermaid gown with corset back and beaded belt, from David’s Bridal.
SOMETHING OLD: Amy’s mom and her grandmother Doris Cornish arranged to have a doily handmade by Amy’s great-grandmother placed in her bouquet.
SOMETHING NEW: Her dress, veil, sandals, earrings and bracelet. As it turned out, two of her friends wore the same bracelet that day.
SOMETHING BORROWED: Her simple blue and white garter had two metal hearts attached. It was a gift from her step-sister, Kristen Zimmerman, who had bought it for her own wedding, but then didn’t use it.
SOMETHING BLUE: The delphiniums in her bouquet.
THE RECEPTION: Their reception turned in to MikoMania, with the bridal party coming out to different WWE wrestling themes. Each couple did an homage to the wrestler of their choosing, including Erik Klapcuniak and Christine Marks, who wore Hulk Hogan apparel and performed his shirt ripping routine. Erik also provided the groom and groomsmen with different WWE championship belts. With the help of their friend Anthony Lewicki, the newlyweds handed out Pittsburgh Steelers style terrible towels as favors, calling them wedding towels, so that everyone could rally them into the reception. Instead of place cards, guests received tickets welcoming everyone to #MikoMania2015. The first dance was to "Somewhere over the Rainbow" by Israel Kamakawiwol'ole., which Chris played for Amy the night they got engaged. Amy and her father danced to Van Morrison's “Tupelo Honey” and he decided halfway through that she should finish the dance with the only grandfather she’s known, Gabriel Ambrosino. Chris and his mom danced to the Backstreet Boys "The Perfect Fan." The crowd ended up in a Conga line and Jason showed up in his taco costume. Amy’s family drank their traditional sambuca shot toast and topped the night off with her grandfather and family singing "My Way" by Frank Sinatra. Later, the newlyweds discovered their friend John Tussey had run around with a selfie stick, and one set of photos shows four members of the kitchen staff “escorting” him out of the kitchen.
THE MOST SENTIMENTAL GIFT: Amy’s bridesmaids asked everyone close to Amy write letters of well wishes for her wedding day and put them in a book entitled "Letters to the bride." The notes started with her dad and ended with her groom to be. She cried when she read it.
THE HONEYMOON: Amy and Chris went to Austin and San Antonio, Texas. In Austin, they found a Steelers karaoke bar. In San Antonio, they went to the Alamo, on a ghost tour, to the zoo and to the Riverwalk. They particularly enjoyed the Tower of the America's Chart House restaurant, which rotates and overlooks the city, the drive-thru safari at the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch and the omnipresent Tex Mex cuisine.
THE FAMILY TREE: The bride is the daughter of Dorothy Ambrosino of Prospect Park, Pennsylvania, and John Ambrosino of Wilmington. The groom is the son of Beverly Miko and David Birchard of Newport and Valerie and John Miko of Monroe, Michigan.
WHAT’S NEXT: They live in a Wilmington duplex that they share with a recently rescued beagle mix puppy named Marla Hooch. She had been called Marla by her previous owners, but they added the Hooch as a nod to the character in “A League of Their Own.” Chris works as a manager at True Value hardware and Amy is an invoicing/quoting specialist for Door and Gate USA in Claymont. Chris is a huge Sixers, Steelers and Phillies fan. Amy likes Disney, wine and Netflix. They spend most nights watching TV shows such as “The Leftovers,” “The Walking Dead” and “South Park.” They both love karaoke ( “It's a way of life,” Amy says), WWE, traveling and throwing parties. They hope to eventually buy a house in New Castle County and plan to fill it with dogs before they fill it with kids.
To have your ceremony considered for this feature, you must fill out a questionnaire and send us a photo. Please email Sundaylife@delaware online.com or call (302) 324-2884 for a form. This is a free service, and we cannot guarantee a specific ceremony will be chosen. Couples also may have their ceremonies appear in Celebrations, (302) 324-2781.