By the time Christine Castrogiovanni and Raymond Riha tied the knot in December, they felt as if they had known one another forever.
Know this: They had dated, on and off for 25 years.
But finally on a crisp winter evening, the couple -- both 52 -- had a traditional wedding at Flowerfield, a pastoral spot of orchards and vineyards in upscale St. James, on Suffolk County's North Shore. The cost: $100,000.
"I didn't want a big wedding," Christine said. "I'd been married before."
But Raymond had other ideas. "I wasn't married before, and I wanted to have a nice party," he said.
And so, they say, it was. He wore a tux. She was in a strapless ivory gown designed by Platinum for Priscilla of Boston. They wed in a ceremony at St. Philip Neri Church in Northport conducted by Peter J. Garry, the church's pastor. Erika Myers, Christine's daughter, was maid of honor. Bob Heal of Bohemia, Raymond's brother-in-law, was best man.
At the reception, the couple boogied with their 200 guests to the tunes of the Faze 4 Orchestras of Great Neck and cut their chocolate and raspberry cake decorated with fondant snowflakes under the discerning gaze of Christine's granddaughters, who also were her flower girls.
Nice touches: The couple hired a lighting company that put up spotlights that could change colors, and often did, to pink, and red. At the reception, large red bows decorated every chair and an ice sculpture of a fish adorned the seafood station.
The couple's story begins in 1983, in the lobby of an office building at the Huntington Quadrangle, where Christine was a bookkeeper and Raymond a construction supervisor, for different companies. At the end of the day, employees in the building would often stop for a soda or coffee at a cafe in the lobby.
One day, Christine said, "I went down there with the girls from work and he came down with some of the guys from his work. He came over and talked to me. I thought he was a nice guy, but I wasn't attracted to him." But after meeting several more times, she gave him her phone number and they began dating.
It lasted only a few months.
"I didn't think he was for me," Christine said.
Almost a decade went by before they met up again, in 1992, this time in Huntington, where Christine was working at a clothing shop. Leaving work one day, she spotted Raymond's construction truck, but not Raymond.
So, she said, "I called him. We started talking and we went out again."
But again, they broke up, in 1994.
This time, a reconciliation was achieved only four months later. Christine was again leaving work and spotted Raymond on the street nearby. They talked again, and again agreed to date.
This time, the magic held.
Christine was "a little on the wild and crazy side" said Raymond when he first met her. But "she's calmed down," he added.
The couple lived together for more than a decade, before finally deciding to marry.
"He must have been my soul mate," Christine said.
As for the wedding: "Everybody was happy," she said.
