Jen is Gina’s cousin by blood, but has always been a sister by heart. Ever since Jen graced the world seven months after Gina was born they did everything together- A majority of Gina’s memories include Jen. Growing up, Jen and Gina got to experience so many things together: trips with the Grandparents (The fish hatchery and Nathans was always a fan favorite), camping in the summer (while singing “In the Jungle” way too loud on our hikes), lots of pool time, boat time, beach time, absolute yoga with “Shiv”, kick-line dance team, house parties, holidays, sleepovers (even sometimes on a school day!), vacations (including Knoebel’s, Villa Roma, and Disney World), secret “Suga Booga” Clubs, and embarrassing questionable acts that the world doesn’t need to know about lol. Even 1200 miles apart, they remain sister-status close with daily phone calls and messages. Gina considers herself so blessed to have Jen through all walks of life, from going through childhood to adulthood together and now going through the huge milestone of marriage together- it makes her heart so happy that her sister/best-friend/cousin will be at her side on the special day.

Ally is the best friend (and best baker) in the world. Their friendship started in kindergarten so there are so many memories to recall of the two together, countless shopping sessions, an absurd amount of bagel boss food and late night Dunkin donut’s drinks, lunch dates, house parties, fun times on the boat and at the beach, taking college-leveled anatomy together and “butchering” the dissection of a cow’s eye. Gina couldn’t imagine life without Ally, although distance may weaken some relationships, the distance did not phase how close they are. Ally and Gina spend hours on the phone, talking about everything and nothing. Gina can always count on Ally to be there for her: from listening to Gina complain about the chronicles of the miserable life of a PhD, or sending homemade delicious cookies on Gina’s birthday (the secret ingredient is love- or olive oil depending on who you ask), or dressing Gina with elegant hand-me downs (we all know Gina would wear the same floral-printed summer dress and nothing else without Ally’s charity!)

Jeanna is Gina’s soul sister. Although Jeanna and Gina always joke that their undergraduate degree from the University of Tampa (UT) is not very useful, the degree truly has priceless value because UT is where they became best friends. Jeanna is the only person that can match Gina’s bubbly-ness, enthusiasm, and unwavering love for absurdly long walks near water and the beach. Jeanna and Gina have every interest in common (expect for TV, which is so sad because Jeanna doesn’t understand all of Gina’s Seinfeld, Office and HIMYM references). From Rock Climbing, Soap Opera-status drama at Lightening Games, apartment hunting on the fly when Gina learned her apartment was going to be bulldozed, it was always a fun adventure when the two were together. The duo spent everyday of their college summer at St Petersburg beach and walking bayshore blvd every night, sometimes observing homeless LED light parades. Gina still considers her “homeless, toothless, heartless” summer with Jeanna some of the best days of her life.

It is impossible for Gina to think about anything of her childhood without Kristin being in the memory. Kristin is truly like a sister, they basically grew up in the same household (between living next door to each other and the amount of sleepovers/hangouts they had). From boat/beach days, movie nights, weekends in the Hamptons, getting pre-diabetic with the amount of candy and ice cream they would get from Mark, blockbuster movie nights, good Charlotte concerts, high school shenanigans, and walking the full parameter of Hicksville (and walking around our neighborhood about a billion times), there is nothing the duo didn’t do together! In high school, they always had so much fun in class, it is no wonder that the only bad mark Gina ever got on a progress report was “Easily distracted” when she was in class with Kristin!! Gina is glad that when she got stuck in a rip tide and almost drowned, it would have been with Kristin drowning with her (luckily the boats that picks up fecal matter saved them, which seems appropriate). From kindergarten to supporting each other through their first heart breaks (and all the heartbreaks that came after), there are so many loving memories. Even though Kristin is a living her best life all the way in Alaska, when the two finally get to be together, it seems like there was never any time lapsed of them being apart.

Laur-Laur is Gina’s big cousin that she has always admired and looked up to as a big sister. Growing up, Gina knew that whenever she was with Lauren she was going to have a super fun time. Of course there were family vacations, the infamous Knoebel Groves being the highlight of every year! (Specifically going on the Phoenix, log flume, eating all the food, and doing the plays together)- but Lauren made every single Sunday so special. The two cousins would play for hours and hours at Nanni and Poppi’s together. They would spend the days in the pool, putting on plays for the family’s entertainment (or suffering depending on who you ask lol), and they would spend hours playing with their cabbage patch dolls Robbie and Sara. Gina loved watching Lauren at her dance recitals and going out to eat afterwards, she also loved always getting the hand-me down costumes and Lauren's clothes- it always made Gina feel cool to be wearing her older cousin’s stuff!

Gina has known Ruth since she moved to Miami but the Pandemic is when they became the best-est of friends! It all started during the Pandemic Lockdown when Ruth and Gina started to train together-they realized not only do they LOOK like twins they ACT like twins! Although Ruth is the only local friendship of the Bridal Party- Ruth and Gina still spend HOURS on the phone together everyday because they cannot get enough of each other. Words can’t express how lucky Gina considers herself to have Ruth as a Best Friend, Ruth is the most kind and loving person Gina has ever meet. She is constantly doing a million self-less deeds (including for Gina) and has been a huge help to Gina with this wedding- it was with Ruth’s help that Gina found the perfect dress! Whenever Gina is freaking out about something, and needs advice, she knows Ruth will be there for support, and to provide both very honest advice (if you know Ruth, you know she is not capable of lying for better or for worse) and humor. Whenever they hangout it is the best “abdominal training” because they can never stop laughing and having fun! From four hour training sessions, Wedding-related errands, or a Rick Ross music video shoot- its always a wild time when they are together!

“Izzy” is such an incredible young lady and Gina’s favorite ‘niece.’ Although Izzy has maturity way beyond her years- it is still crazy to think she will be turning ten just a day after the wedding! Izzy is gifted in so many ways, she is incredibly intelligent, loving, and talented. Gina loves to watch Izzy dance in person and watch her kick-butt at her dance competitions in videos. Every time Gina gets to visit New York, she looks the most forward to getting to hangout with Izzy- together they always make up crazy dance choreography, do fun acrobatic stunts, and make friendship jewelry. When planning the wedding it was a no-brainer that no one else could throw petals with more grace and flare than Izzy. Although Aunt Gina is very aware that Izzy is going to steal the show at the wedding with her cuteness and sass, she couldn’t be more excited to watch Izzy shine as the most beautiful flower girl ever!

“Nicky” is the most amazing brother a sister can ask for. Gina’s mom has always told her stories about how caring and protective Nicky has been towards Gina and that has never changed! Gina has always adored Nicky ever since she was a little baby. Gina swears that if it wasn’t for her brother, she would have been a totally different person- Gina is naturally a shy introvert (believe it or not!), but Nicky has always been super cool and outgoing, and everybody in Nassau County knew him- so when Gina got to middle school and high school- she was known as Zito’s sister- this led socially awkward and nerdy Gina to became a little bit of a less socially awkward nerdy Gina. Gina came out of her shell in school by talking to all of her bother fan’s and join the Starlet’s dance team to be associated with her brother’s friends (which is how Gina started her dancing!). When Gina started dating Brandon she knew Brandon and Nicky would get along great as they both were such fun extroverts with a great sense of humor- and sure enough they did hit it off! Brandon is super grateful to be getting a brother-in-law that loves Dave Chapelle and Seinfeld as much as he does!