Michael Gugliada and Jenny Smith wed on June 20, the...

Michael Gugliada and Jenny Smith wed on June 20, the summer solstice. Credit: Michael Cassara Photography

Jenny Smith was studying vineyard management in Manhattan — and frustrated that she wasn’t meeting any quality men — when her neighbor grabbed her phone, installed Tinder and swiped right on several people before she could take it back.

“Later that night after I got my phone back, I was looking at the profiles and I could not leave Mike’s profile page,” said Smith, 31.

“Mike” was Michael Gugliada, a film major from Somers in Westchester County. The two arranged to meet at a bar on St. Mark’s Place and, recalled Smith, there was an immediate connection. “I knew it from the second we met,” she recalled. “It’s been 10 years now.”

Gugliada, 32, worked for a time in the fabrication industry and was a large-format printer. But in 2018, he joined Smith out east to help run her family’s 5-acre farm, Lily Pad Acres in Cutchogue.

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The land is what remains of Smith’s grandparents’ potato farm, which she said has been in the family for 250 years and where her parents also reside. The couple started an heirloom tomato farm business and still sell tomatoes at their farm stand but three years in, Gugliada persuaded Smith to make room for a row of zinnias among the tomatoes. “I fell in love with that row,” she said. “Now over the years there are more flowers and fewer tomatoes.”

Gugliada proposed Sept. 2, 2022, during a getaway weekend in Woodstock. “We pulled over when we found a little waterfall with a swimming hole on the edge of town and afterward, I was getting changed and ... I turned, and there he was, down on one knee. My heart stopped. I screamed yes. It was the intimate moment I wanted it to be,” Smith said.

Gugliada, who gave Smith a family diamond ring from his grandmother, said he waited until they had returned to their car to propose. “It was so memorable,” he said. “Cars going by were honking.”

Smith and Gugliada celebrate with pizza from Rolling in Dough...

Smith and Gugliada celebrate with pizza from Rolling in Dough in Greenport. Credit: Michael Cassara Photography

The couple married at Smith’s family farm on June 20, the summer solstice — a special date for them as farmers. “It’s the longest day of the year, it symbolizes new energy and it’s the beginning of our lives together,” Smith said. During the ceremony, a white egret from the pond flew overhead. “It sent chills down my spine,” she said.

Their informal wedding was small, with 50 guests. The ceremony was held in a horse pasture-turned-event space with trimmed paths that Smith said she worked on for months to get to the desired shape.

“I’m so thankful her passion for plants and nature rubbed off on me,” Gugliada said.

WEDDING VENUE

The couple wed at Lily Pad Acres farm in Cutchogue.

WINE AND DINE

Rolling In Dough Pizza provided pizzas. They drank their favorite local wines and dessert was a floral-themed cupcake display from The Treatery, made with eggs from the farm's 40 chickens. Charcuterie board appetizers came from Carroll's Catering.

HONEYMOON

The couple hope to take a midwinter getaway, after their farm season ends.

LET’S DANCE

The couple did not have a "first dance." 

FAVE RAVES

Five things Smith loves about her husband: His appreciation for women and all living beings; his love for animals; his humor; his beautiful eyes; and his kind soul.

Five things Gugliada loves about his wife: Her care for living things; her passion for plants and nature; her dedication to making a new project work; her ability to speak passionately about her interests; and her smile.

HOME BASE

Cutchogue

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