Real Wedding: Nena & Michael
Photographer(s): Melissa Coe Photography
Nena grew up in Brewster, and had attended several weddings at The Old Sea Pines Inn. Each time she attended a wedding there she knew it was a simple, yet perfect location for her to walk down the aisle as a bride someday. The only thing she needed was a groom to meet her at the altar, but she didn't have to wait long.
Nena met Michael Tobin working as a cocktail waitress at the Woodshed, a local bar in Brewster. Michael was a bartender at the Woodshed, and the two hit it off immediately. Unfortunately, though, their relationship was faced with a rocky road. After dating for several years, Nena and Michael stopped getting along. They broke up, and were estranged from each other for five years.
Both Nena and Michael had trouble moving on, though. After their five-year break, they decided to meet to decide if they could somehow get along again. When they finally spoke, they both recognized the connection that brought them together in the first place. The meeting rekindled their relationship, and according to Nena, it "made us realize we must have really loved each other all along!"
Nena describes her now-husband as "a simple person," and his proposal was fittingly straightforward. On the weekend of Nena's cousin's baby christening, Michael told her he did not want her to leave the island. She was annoyed, but the two planned to go to a friend's house to hang out for the day. When they arrived, he asked her to stay in the car for an extra moment so they could talk. Instead of breaching the subject of their previous disagreement, though, Michael revealed a ring and asked Nena to be his wife. It was simple, relaxed, and "typical for us," Nena describes.
Unfortunately, Nena's family faced an extreme setback when her father was diagnosed with Mesothelioma a year before her wedding to Michael. After having several rounds of unsuccessful chemotherapy and a lung removed, the cancer spread to his remaining lung three months before the wedding.
Desperately wanting her father to witness one of the most important days of her life, Nena stopped by her family home in Brewster to check on him every day. She told him she wanted to see if any replies for the wedding had been delivered. Luckily, the wedding day arrived, and Nena's father was frail and weak, but he was there. He was not able to walk her down the aisle, but her two brothers stepped in and walked her to meet Michael and her father at the altar. According to Nena, "the whole church was in tears and I could barely hold it together."
Typically the life of the party, her father was only able to attend the reception for a small amount of time. "My father worked his butt off to make it there," Nena says, and the whole church was happy to see him give her away.
The wedding ended up being everything Nena and Michael dreamed it would be- simple, quiet, intimate, and memorable. The day was sunny and warm, untypical for late November. They thank their DJ, Bob Cronin, for keeping everyone entertained and excited the whole evening. "Even I danced the whole time!" Nena exclaims. Keeping a positive attitude was the best thing she and Michael did on their wedding day. "In the end it's the marriage that is important," they say, "Don't sweat the small stuff."
Sadly Nena's father passed away ten days after the wedding. Her favorite part of the day was being able to share it with him. "I now know he stayed alive to see his only daughter get married," she says. His presence made Nena and Michael feel extremely blessed, and gave them even more reason to celebrate the happiest day of their lives.