PHOTO BY ARAUJO PHOTOGRAPHY

PHOTO BY ARAUJO PHOTOGRAPHY

When Aldo Met Jenna

When Aldo Pomposini went to let the new hire in at Northwestern Mutual’s Monroeville office in 2017, he didn’t know he’d find his future wife. Jenna Hasson, with her dark hair and Italian features, immediately intrigued Aldo. 

The feeling was mutual. 

“Right when the door opened and I saw him, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s something different here,’” Jenna says.

The two subtly asked their coworkers about one another throughout the day, and that afternoon Aldo approached Jenna and another co-worker to invite them to happy hour. 

Though his intention was to play it casual, his pickup line lives in infamy. 

Jenna — even years later — can barely recount the tale through her laughter: “He was like, ‘Yeah, do you want to go get a chicken wing or something?’” she says. “And I was like, ‘just one chicken wing?’”

PHOTO BY ARAUJO PHOTOGRAPHY

She Said Yes

Seven years after they met, while Jenna attended a Pittsburgh Young Professionals networking event in Lawrenceville, Aldo began staging their apartment for the proposal. He had created a visual timeline of the couple’s relationship: the happy hour outing, their first official date, the first time they said “I love you” to one another.

Everything was down to the detail — Aldo even had chicken wings alongside their timeline — yet, the wild card was Jenna herself. The networking event ran late, then, having no idea what was coming, Jenna spent 30 minutes in the car chatting with her mom before making her way upstairs.

Aldo was waiting in a suit and the room was illuminated in the soft glow of candles and string lights. A big question mark balloon loomed in the background and Aldo would soon have the answer he’d been waiting for.

“I just dropped my stuff at the door and started crying,” Jenna says. 

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The Big Day

The night before their wedding, Jenna tossed and turned, worried that the storm keeping her awake would ruin their special day. 

The next morning, she found herself significantly more calm than she’d expected to be and was able to relax, savoring her favorite part of any wedding: getting ready. Surrounded by a gaggle of her loved ones, Jenna prepared to marry the love of her life with occasional interruptions for pictures to memorialize the occasion.  

Jenna Hasson and Aldo Pomposini were married on August 12, 2023 at the United Church of Christ on Smithfield Street, Downtown. Their reception was held at The Pennsylvanian. And, luckily, the showers began after they took their pictures and ended before their cocktail hour began —  “I heard that’s good luck, right?,” Jenna says.

The couple was committed to providing their guests a feast for the ages. “My family’s Italian and Syrian, his is Italian too,” Jenna says, “and we were like, we have to knock it out of the park with the food.” From memory, the couple rattles off the highlights, including penne alla vodka, eggplant rollatini, beef tips, chicken, potatoes, green beans and grape leaves. 

“To this day, people that came to the wedding, our family and friends, still say how amazing the food was,” says Aldo. 

However, their commitment to dessert somehow rivaled the main course. Murrysville’s Tasty Bakery created the couple’s stunning four-tier wedding cake — Jenna loved it so much she even had a replica made afterward.

And, of course, there was the cookie table. Jenna’s mother took the lead, making the cookie table “her baby,” and amassed 480 dozen — over 5,000 cookies. Luckily Jenna’s mother set some aside for the couple because at the end of the night, they were all gone. 

“We have no regrets about anything throughout the wedding — our vendors, the day, everybody we invited,” Jenna says. “I can look back and I just don’t have one regret about anything.”

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Happily Ever After

Two days after their wedding, Aldo and Jenna took a quick road trip to Kentucky to move Jenna’s younger sister into college. A week and a half later, they left for a mini-moon in Fort Lauderdale and had a relaxing stay at the Ritz-Carlton, a welcome chance for decompression after an exciting fortnight.

Then, in December, they departed for their full-blown, 10-day honeymoon in Anguilla. On their last night, Aldo planned a surprise for Jenna.

“We had a dinner under the stars,” she says. “He had a little canopy set up with twinkle lights and they actually served [us] right on the beach.” A live band from their hotel made their romantic evening complete — they finished their honeymoon by dancing to their first dance song under the moonlight.

Aldo and Jenna are expecting their first child — a girl they plan to name after Aldo’s grandmother, Jovine, who passed away almost a year to the day of their baby’s due date.

PHOTO BY ARAUJO PHOTOGRAPHY

Vendors
Ceremony United Church of Christ on Smithfield Street, Downtown
Reception The Pennsylvanian, Downtown
Caterer Medure’s Catering
Cake Tasty Bakery
Dress Allure Bridal; MB Bride
Headpiece Clarissa’s Boutique
Rings Joyce’s Jewelry
Hair Rebecca’s Salon
Makeup Antonette Medved
Flowers The Farmer’s Daughter Florist
DJ Modern Era Weddings – DJ Mad Mike
Invitations, Monogram & Signage Loree Mayer Design
Videography ShoFilms Cinema
String Quintet Steven Vance Entertainment & Radiant Strings Music
Rentals All Occasions Party Rental & Marbella Rental
Lighting EF Lighting
Linens Lendable Linens
Limo Elite Coach Transportation
Wedding Planner Exhale Events
Photography Cyndi Araujo