I Do!: Lou Bernardi and Alyssa Iacona of Glen Cove

Lou Bernardi and Alyssa Iacona grew up not far from one another and traveled the same halls as teens in high school, but adulthood is what finally brought them face-to-face.

They had mutual friends, shared similar interests and graduated from Herricks High School in New Hyde Park, Bernardi in 2006 and Iacona in 2009. Yet it was an Instagram page view that set their romance in motion.

In June 2021, Bernardi saw Iacona’s Instagram page and noticed that they were “mutuals,” meaning they followed each other on the social media platform. “There was something intriguing and alluring” about Iacona that motivated him to message her, Bernardi recalled.

Iacona, now 33 and a funeral director, said her future husband was very persistent about taking her on a date and getting to know her.

“So he goes, ‘You look really familiar,’ ” Iacona recalled. She remembers recognizing him right away. He asked her out and they dined at a local restaurant and immediately hit it off.

“He was a complete gentleman from the beginning,” she said.

They went to baseball games, the beach, Broadway shows and traveled. After about a year of dating they moved in together.

On Sept. 15, 2022, Bernardi, a former baseball coach, proposed on a yacht off the coast of Connecticut, with a sunset view of the Manhattan skyline.

“We had the captain greet us with champagne and the people that work on the boat had drinks and food ready for us,” Bernardi, now 36, recalled. “On the roof of the boat are six of our closest friends throwing down roses at her while I proposed.”

They tied the knot on Nov. 24, 2023, at The Mariners Memorial Chapel in Kings Point before 175 guests.

Christopher Iacona, the bride’s brother and owner of Fiore Designs in Farmingdale, draped the reception venue top to bottom with an elaborate display of flowers. 

“When I entered the room, it was so overwhelmingly beautiful how he went above and beyond as a gift,” Iacona said.