Tradition With A Twist
Two families’ histories were powerfully felt when a couple tied the knot in Spring Lake last October. But the bride and groom also added touches of their own.
It wasn’t an exotic wedding venue that tugged at the heartstrings of a Monmouth County couple, but the allure of home turf, where their love story had unfolded during sun-kissed beach days and fun with family and friends at the roughly 150-year-old Parker House in Sea Girt.
Although Army life would transplant PJ and Allie (Guerra) Kineavy to Savannah, Georgia, for a spell, they knew their special moments—riding the wave of romance to proposal and nuptials—were best celebrated where it all began. PJ grew up in Sea Girt, where his parents owned Rod’s Olde Irish Tavern (as well as Frankie’s Bar & Grill in Point Pleasant Beach), and the Jersey Shore figured prominently in his courtship of Allie.
PJ can still remember their first encounter—when Allie came “barging through the door” of the dorm room he was to share with her brother at Villanova University near Philadelphia. PJ and her brother became great friends and would often hang out down the Shore, but Allie (who attended Saint Joseph’s University) had to wait until she turned 21 to join the company.
For one year, it was a long-distance relationship for Allie and PJ, a special operations soldier then stationed in Savannah—until they settled there together and then moved to NYC’s Upper West Side.
Through it all, Monmouth County remained what PJ called their “meaningful place.” So he popped the question at the Spring Lake boardwalk on Sept. 21, 2024, surprising Allie. He had to feign a dolphin sighting to get her into the gazebo for the proposal and photos. “I was in absolute shock,” admits the now 28-year-old Allie. “I didn’t hear anything he said to me. I made him repeat it all after.” (Even the engagement party following the proposal—at the Kineavy house in Sea Girt—was a surprise.)
“Given the fact that our relationship blossomed at the Jersey Shore, and that’s where it all started, that’s where we wanted to have the wedding,” says PJ, now 31.
As meaningful as the beach vibes that fanned their flame are the traditions that were honored at their wedding on Oct. 17, 2025. The ceremony at the neoclassical-styled St. Catharine Church in Spring Lake followed the lead of PJ’s parents Frank and Madeleine Kineavy, his aunts and uncles and many cousins, who were all married there. But PJ and Allie added their own musical approach, using three trumpets, a violin and an organ.
In another show of individuality, Allie was so smitten by the church setting that she highlighted the beauty of its golden ceiling in the invitations she designed with Alabama’s Swagcreative. The gold foil and burgundy velvet are nods to the wedding palette, which also includes dark green, creams and blush pink in arrangements by Narcissus Florals.
As the couple planned, PJ, in his black tux and Christian Louboutin velvet slide-ons, would wait for his first look as Allie strolled down the aisle in her corset-top Kelly Faetanini silk gown with a voluminous train, a Toni Federici lace-trimmed veil and Jimmy Choo pumps. “I found the dress in one day,” she recalls, at Bridal Atelier in Montclair—and what a relief it was to have a major potential stressor so quickly tamed! The bride also wore crystal earrings selected with her grandma and her aunt’s diamond tennis bracelet.
The couple kept the ceremony intimate, with Allie’s sister as maid of honor and PJ’s sister as the only bridesmaid, both in black, while the best man was the groom’s brother Frankie Kineavy, well known in Sea Girt for raising awareness about living with cerebral palsy. In a modern twist, close friends and family were chosen to reflect “something blue” with gowns in that color family.
The reception was just minutes away at The Mill Lakeside Manor, which also has a long history for PJ’s family. It wowed the couple with what Allie calls an “unbelievable” cocktail hour and an “exceptional” offering of food. In this ornate setting, the couple honored “all the love stories before ours,” Allie says, with a table full of gold-framed wedding photos.
This fun-loving couple wanted to see the dance floor hopping all night—a goal achieved by MTM Events’ DJ Phil & live music hybrid—and they had their first wedded dance to The New Basement Tapes’ “When I Get My Hands on You.”
Another highlight, the chocolate-fudge, red velvet cake designed by Palermo Bakery, was topped with a Lladró porcelain bride and groom that had been passed down by generations of brides in Allie’s family, carrying on tradition once more.
While the wedding drew from the love and familiarity of home turf, the honeymoon swept them away to exotic Thailand, and now the couple are living in South Carolina. PJ is serving as team leader for the U.S. Army 75th Ranger Regiment, and Allie manages a wholesale consulting agency.
Although the future is uncertain, it just may be Monmouth County that draws them permanently. After all, it is their “meaningful place.”
