Love: Bridget Hanahan & Billy Horne

It was September 2005, the night before classes started at Loyola University. Bridget, back in Baltimore from her home in Drexel Hill, was about to begin her junior year. She and some friends hit a bar, and it was there that she literally bumped into Billy, a senior. They talked all night. They had a great time. But hey, it was the beginning of a new year! Nobody wanted to dive right into anything. "We left it as an 'I'll see you if I see you' kind of thing," she said.

That wouldn't take very long.

The next morning, Bridget, a journalism major, was hurrying to her first class, literary journalism. Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down, was her professor, and she was psyched. She was thinking about this when she turned to walk through the classroom door. "Again, I almost collide with Billy," she said.

In those early, getting-to-know-you days, "we bonded over Truman Capote and Hiroshima, and all the literary journalism classics," Bridget said. Within days of knowing each other, they were hanging out all the time. But dating didn't seem like a good idea to either of them. Bridget was going to New Zealand the next semester. And then Billy would graduate. Knowing these realities, Bridget thought she'd have to get over the crush she had developed. Then one day Billy told her he'd been fighting his feelings, too. Their first date, in late October, included seeing the movie Capote.

Bridget went to the University of Auckland in February. By the time she returned to the States, Billy, who is from Scituate, Mass., had found a job in Philadelphia. "He came down every weekend my senior year," she said. "Once I graduated, we moved in together in Ardmore."

It was the fall of 2008, and Bridget, who is now 25, knew that Billy, also 25, was planning to pop the question. But when he woke her one Sunday morning in October with a tray of pancakes, she thought he was just being sweet, bringing her breakfast in bed for her birthday, which was the next day. "Then he pulled out a ring from his pocket," Bridget said. "I don't think [the pancakes] ever actually got eaten, and I forgot all about the birthday after that, too."

Before Bridget called her parents, Billy told her that he had previously received the blessing of her father, Tim. Bridget's mother, Jane, however, was not in the know. Billy thought keeping that big a secret would have been way too hard for her.

The couple were married at St. Dorothy's in Drexel Hill, then they and their 180 guests headed to the Hyatt Regency at Penn's Landing in Philadelphia.

Bridget wore a Great Gatsby-inspired form-fitting lace dress. Billy's grandmother, Cindy, gave her a special handkerchief to carry down the aisle. It had belonged to Cindy's grandmother. "All of the women in [Billy's] family have carried it with them on their wedding day," Bridget said. "It made me feel like part of the family."

Bridget and Billy saw their reception as a chance to be the ultimate party hosts. "We had a lot of younger people there, college friends. And our families are all big partiers who love weddings and dancing," Bridget said. "We knew it was going to be crazy, so we got the best band that we could to keep them moving all night."

Bridget was a bit nervous about the first dance. "Billy is a fantastic dancer. I'm not," she said. And she knew all eyes would be on them. But when Ray LaMontagne's "You Are the Best Thing" started to play, "it just felt so natural and so good," Bridget said. "That's when it hit me, 'Oh my God, I'm married right now.' And I thought I would seem klutzy, but I just felt beautiful."

During some parts of the Catholic ceremony, Bridget and Billy sat on chairs to the side of the altar. As the cantors began singing a religious song in Italian and English, Bridget looked at Billy's sisters. All three were crying hard, and their normally beautiful faces were twisted and red. "I nudged Billy and whispered, 'Look at your sisters!' " Bridget said. "We couldn't stop laughing. And every time we tried to stop, we would just laugh harder. At that point, we were just trying not to snort."

A bargain: The couple saved a lot on stationery, because Bridget's uncle Mark is a printer. "He gave us a huge discount on the invitations, and ended up giving us the church programs as a gift." Bridget estimates the family discount saved them 75 percent on invitations alone.

The splurge: The band. "We knew people would be up all night if we got a good band," she said. Going with a DJ would have saved about $8,000, Bridget said.

Soon after the wedding, the couple moved to Scituate, where Billy is a tennis pro and Bridget a freelance writer.

The couple spent a week in Aruba, a gift from Billy's parents, Chris and Barbara.

Officiant
The Rev. Michael Murphy of St. Dorothy Church, Drexel Hill

Venue
St. Dorothy Church and the Hyatt Regency at Penn's Landing

Catering
The Hyatt

Photography
Russ Hickman Photography, Philadelphia

Music
Rich Posmontier Ensemble, Philadelphia

Dress
Designed by Monique Lhuillier; purchased from the Wedding Shoppe, Strafford

Invitations
Quick Print Center, Wayne

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Top 10 finalists revealed

Only one more round left until you tell us who should win the Love of a Lifetime Wedding Giveaway! Polls are open at philly.com/winawedding until 11:59 p.m. February 10 for you to vote for your favorite couple. The wedding, at the Independence Seaport Museum, will include a custom bridal dress, floral arrangements, wedding bands, a custom song, wedding cake, catering and fireworks - a package worth more than $90,000.

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