Jennifer & John Magazine created by Wedzines
April 23, 2011
Inside:
ALL ABOUT US
20
of our favorite photos
MEET the bridal party
10 THINGS of our favorite
BIOS
of the
BRIDE & GROOM
How we met How John proposed
&
PLUS:
John and Jenn trivia
Jennifer and John
Thank You! To our dearest friends and family, Your attendance and presence today brings us so much happiness; that we could spend this most special of days with you is something we will never forget. You have all touched our lives in some way and our love is a product of your influence. Thank you, not only for being here, but for being part of who we are and who we will be. We love you all and look forward to celebrating with you – not only our marriage, but all of the milestones and great times ahead in your lives as well. Love,
Good Fortunes About 3 years ago, when getting Chinese food, Jennifer opened her fortune, which is the one at left above, and read it out loud jokingly to John. He then opened his, seen at right above, and took it as a sign of sorts. They saved them because they were so perfect.
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Jennifer and John
Table of Contents Thank You Letter ... Inside Front Cover The Bride: Jennifer ... Page 2 The Groom: John ... Page 3 How We Met ... Page 4 The Proposal ... Page 5
Our Favorite Things ... Page 6
Our Favorite Photos ... Page 7 The Bridesmaids ... Page 8 The Groomsmen ... Page 9
Which One of Us? ... Page 10 April 23, 2011
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Jennifer and John
The Bride: Jennifer
By Jenn Jennifer Leigh Rapps was born on January 13, 1986 to parents Paul and Rhonda. She grew up in Warren, NJ as an only child who loved American Girl dolls, reading Nancy Drew books, and watching QVC, particularly the Cooking, Jewelry, and Facial Care segments (to this day, all three of the televised topics are still of particular interest to her!) She went to Rutgers Preparatory School for 14 years, from Pre-Kindergarten through Twelfth Grade. During this time, Jennifer played the violin both in school orchestras as well as outside programs and even played the violin at Whitney Houston’s wedding at the age of 6! Besides playing the violin, Jennifer enjoyed success as a choral singer, singing in the choirs at Rutgers Prep and numerous other ensembles that provided her with the opportunity to travel and sing both domestically and internationally, including tours to France, Spain, Italy, and Brazil. Upon graduating in 2004, Jennifer went on to study Music Education at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, where she was the Tour Manager and later the Vice President of the Kirkpatrick Choir. After her 2008 graduation, she became the music teacher at the Elizabeth Avenue School in Franklin Township (Somerset) where she taught elementary school general music and string instruments for two years. Last year Jennifer used her experience as an Assistant Restaurant Manager for Carrabba’s Italian Grill to land a full-time position as a Catering Sales Coordinator at Forsgate Country Club in Monroe, NJ. During her free time Jennifer loves to watch football. She and her parents are avid New York Jets fans. They have season tickets to all of the Jets’ home games and rarely miss a game, regardless of weather. The Rapps family even flew to San Diego for ONE day in order to attend a Jets vs. Chargers playoff
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game. They did the same thing, this time with John, when they headed to Phoenix, Arizona for one night to support the Rutgers football team in their first bowl appearance since 1968. Both Jennifer and her parents have season tickets for Rutgers Football and often attend away games as well. Jennifer and John, along with their friends, have attended 12 away games, including all 5 bowl games in Arizona, Texas, Florida, Alabama, and Toronto, Canada. Because of her love of football, all things that are made of pumpkin, cool weather, and the smell of fallen leaves, Jennifer’s favorite time of year is Fall and the Holiday Season, when she and her family celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas traditions, as her father’s side of the family is Jewish and her mother’s is Christian. She loves all animals and has a particular affinity for cats. She and John currently live in Neshanic Station, NJ with their cats Captain Hook and Nellie. She prefers TV shows to movies and has a massive TV on DVD collection consisting mostly of shows from the 90s, such as Friends and Melrose Place. The couple plan to visit the 50 United States and all seven continents, hitting as many countries and states as possible.
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Jennifer and John
The Groom: John By John John Michael Schiller Cifelli was born on July 3, 1984, at Hunterdon Medical Center in Hopewell, NJ. Growing up in Ewing, NJ, he was an avid baseball card collector and a lover of bugs, weather, and the outdoors. Summer days were spent racing his sister around the block on their bicycles, fishing for minnows, building tree houses, and going to the Poconos and Seaside Park. Winters were a time for entrepreneurship, as John teamed up with neighborhood friends to create a snow-shoveling business. From this love of snow and winter came John’s desire to unravel the mysteries of the weather, pushing him to earn a Bachelor’s Degree in Meteorology at Cook College in 2009. Before that John spent four years at Notre Dame High School in Lawrenceville, NJ, where he met half of his groomsmen, including his best man, Nick Hoover. John’s time at Notre Dame was spent on a variety of activities, including playing trumpet, singing in choirs, acting in plays and musicals, wrestling, playing tennis, and running track. He even gave pole vaulting a try. College brought innumerable opportunities, and it took John seven years to sort through them all. He crewed on a nationally-ranked squad for one year and was a founding member of the Surf Club, a member of the Cook College Council for three years, the cofounder of the Rutgers University Historical Society, a weather forecaster for six years on RUTV, and, of course, a seven-year member of the Rutgers University Glee Club, three of which were spent as El Supremo. Membership in the Glee Club gave John many unforgettable experiences. John sang the National Anthem at Rutgers football games over a dozen times. He toured throughout Europe twice, once for a performance during Pentacost at Notre Dame in Paris as part of the first American choir to be invited to do so.
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As El Supremo, he enjoyed leading Glee Club at restaurants, football games, trips to Princeton (hiss!), and, on occasion, in venues of more importance. His best memory is from a centuries-old beer cavern in Germany, where he conducted both the Rutgers Glee Club and a world-renowned German ensemble together while a never-ending river of beer flowed throughout the room. It was participation in choirs that brought John and Jenn together, and it was the annual Christmas Series concerts that made their place of marriage – Kirkpatrick Chapel – an obvious choice. The building holds additional significance for John as a history buff – the chapel sits on Old Queens, the oldest part of Rutgers University. In his fourth and final senior year, John and Jenn together filmed parts of Old Queens for a walking tour of Rutgers University for a time-capsule project that will be viewed in 99 years. While John has ambitions of acquiring a position as a TV weatherman, he is currently very happy as the General Manager of the Stockton Inn in Stockton, NJ. John has worked in restaurants for over a decade, and with Jenn he hopes to own a restaurant of his own, possibly in New Brunswick, sooner than later!
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Jennifer and John
Above: Our first photo together, taken on July 3, 2005. At left and right: Our dating days at Rutgers.
How We Met
By Jenn n April 21, 2005, my college friend Rob Alesiani invited me over to his house, as he was having about 15 of our mutual friends over to hang out. Upon arriving, a few of us ordered Chinese food and began to eat in the dining room of 22 Jones Avenue in New Brunswick. All of a sudden, a new face walked in. (I knew everyone who was there from college – we all sang together in Kirkpatrick Choir. But it was my freshman year and, apparently, I hadn’t met everyone in our circle of friends.) I asked this new guy who he was since I had never seen him before. His name was John, and he knew everyone there since he was a member of the Rutgers University Glee Club and very often the Glee Club and Kirkpatrick Choir would get together, both musically and socially. The introductions were pretty much the only words we spoke to each other before someone suggested we all play Trivial Pursuit. John and I weren’t on the same team, so we didn’t really interact. At the end of the night, we said a brief good-bye. When I got back to my dorm, I told my roommate that I’d met a guy I was going to be in a relationship with, after which she said, “Yeah, right. You barely talked.” I said I knew, but something inside me knew I was right. It seemed ridiculous, but it was how I felt.
O
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The next day, I asked our friends about John. Everyone said he was a great guy, so I looked him up on the then relatively new Facebook and couldn’t find him. I figured he just didn’t have a profile – not everyone did back then! The following day, John found me on Facebook – when looking him up, I spelled Cifelli with an S instead of a C. I was excited – I had registered in his mind as well! The next night, my roommate wanted to go to a random house party in New Brunswick. I didn’t want to go, but wanted to make sure she was safe, so I offered to drive her. After getting in the car, I asked for the address of the party. “84 Central Avenue,” she said. It sounded so familiar. Then a lightbulb went off. I ran back to my dorm room and checked his Facebook profile – sure enough, 84 Central Avenue was John’s address! I took his phone number from his page and sent him a text message saying who I was, that I was going to a party at his house that night, and that I hoped to see him there. Good thing I sent it – he was leaving work in Princeton and planned to sleep at his parents’ house in nearby Ewing because he had work early the next morning as well. Upon receiving my text, he turned the car around and came to New Brunswick to hang out, which we did for the very first time. And the rest is history. That was April 23, 2005 – exactly 6 years ago today.
April 23, 2011
Jennifer and John
Above and at far right: These photos were taken on Dec. 12, 2009, the actual night of our proposal.
The Proposal
By John remember the day as vividly as yesterday – where the traffic jams were as I drove to the jewelry store to pick up the ring, where I parked, and how I felt when I walked through the door. The anticipation, hours in advance, was palpable. I remember how the ring looked when I first saw it in its completed state at Hamilton Jewelers in Princeton, and how I actually believed the women behind the counter when they saw it and swooned. “It is classic. It is timeless. She is very lucky. She will love it,” they assured. Although it was different than any other ring we had looked at together, I knew they were right. Jenn would love it. Before the concert where I was going to propose, we had dinner with several of our close friends at Panico’s Pizza on Church Street. I started sharing my bigger plans with them one by one both at the table whenever she stepped away and on the walk to Kirkpatrick. By the time we reached the chapel, everyone knew but Jenn! We made our way to our seats; our revelry beforehand had relegated us to the folding chairs in the front. I remember the way the Kirkpatrick Chapel looked. Always the jewel of Rutgers University, it truly becomes magical when it is decorated for the Christmas Series. I knew I wanted to be married there before I even proposed to Jenn. I remember my confidence, my sureness of what I was doing that evening, and how slowly the concert went! It may have been the 20-minute song the choirs performed to begin the show, but even afterward,
I
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it was as if every note of the concert paused to whisper in my ear a word of joy and happiness. The song to which I would propose arrived in the program. I remember the opening notes of the organ, the words of the preacher, the soprano citing the oratory of King David. I heard the Glee Club enter and the key change as the song began to peak. The song had always meant a lot to both me and Jenn, as it somewhat signaled the end of our respective college choir careers. I rose from my chair, moved it into the aisle, and took a deep breath. Several concertgoers took theirs in a shallow gasp. The Glee Club cried “Hallelujah!” as I slipped the ring onto Jenn’s finger. We were to be married. Praise, indeed. I sang the finale from King David 26 times in my years at Rutgers. This, the 27th time I’d heard it during the Christmas Series, was the first time I heard applause at the end. I would later be told by Dr. Gardner and Dr. Boyle that they thought they had just delivered a magnificent performance, and the crowd was particularly roused! Jenn’s sobs accompanied “Silent Night,” and after the show ended, everyone turned to the back to applaud the choirs. The Glee Club, in which we still had many close friends, responded by stomping, pointing, and clapping for us! As everyone realized what had happened, the entire audience turned to applaud us! As our friend Rob hoisted our clutched hands into the air, Jenn’s new jewelry glistened in the lights. It was a surreal moment that I will never forget.
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Jennifer and John
Jennifer
Our favorite things
John
Lost, Tom Goes
Sex and the City
Favorite TV Shows
Cake or Ketchup
Favorite Food
Chicken Caesar Salad with Light Dressing
Late 90s - Early 2000s Pop
Favorite Style of Music
Acoustic Rock and Singer/Songwriter
J-E-T-S JETS! JETS!! JETS!!!
Favorite Pro
Eagles and Yankees
Sports Team
Any Spanish-speaking Tropical Country
Favorite Vacation Destination
Seaside Park, NJ
African Safari
The Place I Want to Go
Italy and Its Vineyards
Lost, Friends,
His Strong Sense of Character
to the Mayor
Favorite Thing She Keeps Me About Each Other Smiling and Laughing
Fall
Favorite Season
Summer
Trivial Pursuit
Favorite Game
Chess
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Favorite Historic Person
Thomas Jefferson
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Jennifer and John
Our Favorite Photos
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Jennifer and John
The Bridesmaids Vienna Pharaon, Maid of Honor
Jenn met Vienna when she was in first grade and Vienna in second. They spent summers in Ithaca, NY, where they engaged in many mischievous behaviors, such as taking coins from fountains and spending them at the candy store. They also once dressed as Aladdin and Jasmine and rode a Magic Carpet (which was really a Jets blanket). They are, and always have been, sisters in their minds.
Alison Caravano, Bridesmaid Ali and Jenn met in 2001, when the two sang together in Region Choir. They reconnected at Rutgers and even dated (and then married!) roommates – John and his groomsman Vinny. They lived together during their senior year, spent a month in Nicaragua together, and share a love of cavatelli with broccoli and TV shows like Dawson’s Creek.
Amanda Ryan, Bridesmaid Jenn and Amanda met when Amanda, as an upcoming freshman, was assigned Jenn as an upperclassman “buddy” in college. The two, both tall altos, sat next to each other in Kirkpatrick Choir. They share a love of unique fashion, such as “dress/sweat pants,” and the motto “always be prepared” when it comes to contents of their purses.
Leigh Hofstetter, Bridesmaid Leigh is Jenn’s oldest friend, as the two met in kindergarten. They wrote a book called The Dancing Dove and acted it out whenever they went to each other’s houses. They would also repeatedly watch “So Long, Farewell” from The Sound of Music. They share a love of both high-quality food and gossip, which they call “dirt.”
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Caitlin Galardi, Bridesmaid Jenn and Caitie became friends their sophomore year of college. Along with Ali, they lived at 22 Jones Avenue during their senior year. Caitie and Jenn stayed up late, talking and/or watching Friends, Felicity, or Sex and the City. They spent the last month of college going out for every meal and visiting baby piglets on Cook Campus.
Cori Jensen, Bridesmaid Jenn and Cori met while taking Music Technology at Rutgers and bonded over a shared hate of the final project. They both believe in proper personal conduct, after having been victims of random shoulder biters and pinky holders. They can expertly quote Saved by the Bell, and share a love of desserts and dental floss.
Danielle Cifelli, Bridesmaid Jenn met Danielle in 2005, when John and Jenn began dating. The first night they talked was on John’s 21st birthday, when they stayed up all night taking care of him. They immediately bonded over their mutual love of cats and, later, over putting John in his place when need be. They both look forward to having a sister for the first time!
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Jennifer and John
The Groomsmen Nick Hoover, Best Man
John met Nick in their freshman year of high school. Although John originally found Nick to be rather annoying, they soon became best friends, and terrors to local snowmen and lawn ornaments. Two of the original Turkey Bowl athletes, Nick and John have been cheerleaders, poker buddies, Eagles fans, high school musical stars, and gym class heroes together for 10 years.
Kevin Foley, Groomsman
In 2003, Cifoley was born. The rest is history. Their time in Glee Club included 5 years of Soup Bowl, the stuff of beer pong legends, two Eurotrips, hours of Fifa and Halo battles, and the occasional good-natured fistfight. To this day, you can find matching heart pendants on their keychains.
Kenny Ellsworth, Groomsman
Kenny and John met in high school, where they were Notre Dame High School’s Varsity 1st Doubles Tennis Team (at least Kenny was). John and Kenny were original members of the ND beach house crew, and have spent countless days on the Turkey Bowl gridiron, at Ewing backyard parties and pools, and at New Year’s celebrations in Montreal, New York City, and Philadelphia.
Giuseppe Fusco, Groomsman
Giuseppe is one of John’s two “rookies” amongst his bridal party. Giuseppe and John share two common passions – great music and great beer. Giuseppe was integral in bringing John and Jenn together (see “How We Met”), and that is just one of the many reasons he is considered to be a brother to John.
Michael Faherty, Groomsman
John and Mike met in high school, where they shared many classes since they are both brilliant. They were cinematic visionaries, producing English and History video productions thought to be ahead of their time. John and Mike were both oarsmen in college, who recognize in each other the dedication to “marching to the beat of his own drum.”
Vinny Caravano, Groomsman
John met Vinny their sophomore year in college, and immediately found a disliking for Vinny’s penchant for bandanas and kissyfaces. A year later, they were housemates; after another year, roommates. A close friendship formed in the icy confines of drafty 84 Central Avenue. In 2005, John and Vinny created the Glee Club beer pong table, which is still currently used.
Daniel Baciuska, Groomsman
Dan has the uncanny ability to be anywhere on Earth at any time, while texting about it. No time is spent between Dan and John without a Springsteen track in the background. And although they find each other violently hilarious, Dan still has not forgiven John to this day for stealing the master bedroom of the beach house.
Patrick Murphy, Groomsman
Pat is John’s other rookie. One of John’s fondest memories of college was being quarterback of the Soup Bowl team and having Giuseppe and Patrick as his right and left guards. For John, a pass rush from the Marching Band (who are bad) was an attack on his friendship with Giuse and Pat. John knew very early on that Pat had the special traits to be an incredible friend and the next El Supremo of Glee Club.
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Jennifer and John
Which one of us ... ?
How well do you know the bride & groom? Decide if the following clues relate to Jenn (A) or John (B). *Answers found at bottom of the page. 1) Has a fear of heights?
14) Was wait-listed at Yale?
2) Is better at Jeopardy?
15) Speaks Spanish fluently?
3) Is better at Wheel of Fortune?
16) Hates ink on their skin?
4) Doesn’t eat red meat?
17) Doesn’t think people know “who they’re dealing with”?
5) Can name all state capitals? 6) Is a history buff? 7) Can play the guitar?
18) Has done a back flip on the field at Rutgers Stadium? 19) Has kissed the field at Rutgers Stadium?
8) Went to Whitney Houston’s wedding? 9) Has all of nsync’s albums? 10) Hates eggplant?
20) Cares what their signature looks like? 21) Has their mother’s maiden name as one of their middle names?
11) Hates celery? 12) Has a green thumb? 13) Has met Yogi Berra and Phil Rizzuto?
22) Loved biology and geometry in high school? 23) Can crack their ears?
ANSWERS: 1) B – John 2) A – Jenn 3) B – John 4) B – John 5) A – Jenn 6) B – John 7) B – John 8) A – Jenn 9) B – John 10) B – John 11) A – Jenn 12) B – John 13) A – Jenn 14) B – John 15) A – Jenn 16) A – Jenn 17) A – Jenn 18) A – Jenn 19) B – John 20) B – John 21) B – John 22) A – Jenn 23) A – Jenn
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