January 18, 2012 | 0 Comments

A Love Story: An East Coast State of Mind

Photo courtesy

The love story of: Courtney Hyde and Anthony Del Broccolo

July 3, 2011 | York Harbor Inn, York Harbor, Maine

Story by David M. Fitzpatrick;
Photography by Patrick McNamara Photography

Not long after Courtney Hyde met Anthony Del Broccolo through an online dating site, they decided to really meet. “He was a normal, funny, smart, cute guy, and it’s very hard to find that combination in southern California,” she said, even though he did correct her spelling during their online chats.

She bade him meet her at The Chimneysweep Lounge in the L.A. suburb of Sherman Oaks. “It was a test of Anthony, really, to make him meet me at the Chimneysweep,” she said of the popular love dive bar. “If he was turned off by The Sweep, we were in for trouble.”

But Anthony was more interested in Courtney than the venue, and he was pleased from the moment he laid eyes on her as she waited for him outside The Sweep. First, she was beautiful. And second, she was checking the Patriots score when he pulled up — a woman who liked sports was a bonus for a sports fan like Anthony.

But he was from New York, so the Red Sox girl from Buxton, Maine got that most important question asked early: “Yankees or Mets?”

“Mets,” he replied.

“Good answer,” she said. “If you had said Yankees, I’d have walked out of the bar.”

It might have been an empty threat, because Courtney knew she’d met her best friend. Over the lengthy date, they discovered what they had in common — creative minds, oddball senses of humor, and love of sports, film, 80s music, reading, writing, and especially the TV show Mad Men, of which they’re both big fans. They began dating regularly and soon moved in together. Two years later, in February 2010, he planned The Big Question.

Courtney, who had a theatre degree, was finishing her degree in Graphic Design, and Anthony had just landed a job as a staff writer for the hit CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory. He’d planned to propose on Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, because he thought Valentine’s Day was too cliché. He knew Courtney, with a nerd’s interest in the presidents, would love it.

It was a sneaky setup. Anthony claimed he’d been practicing drawing, and wanted to show Courtney his sketches. One of them was a caricature of him on one knee saying “Courtney, will you marry me?” (He’d tried to get the L.A. County Museum of Art to hang it long enough for him to propose, but no luck; instead, he had to spring it in their apartment hallway.)

Photo by Patrick McNamara Photography. The framed version of the caricature Anthony drew was on display at their reception.

She thought the whole thing was a joke until he produced the ring; then she began hyperventilating. Anthony had worked with a jeweler to design it, which featured his great aunt’s diamond. It was over-whelming.

“Isn’t he something?” she said. “And he takes out the trash.”

While growing up, getting married wasn’t part of Courtney’s life plan. She didn’t want to, didn’t care to, and never thought about it. “When other girls were planning their pretend weddings, I was planning my presidential inauguration,” she said.

Fortunately, she happily accepted, and they decided on a July wedding in Maine — just five months away. Courtney flew to Maine for a week in March for some speed planning. The rest she planned from afar, but she had a blast doing so. From designing the invitations to the menu cards, it was all a giant art project for the graphic-design major.

They married in York Harbor on July 3. The wedding had a retro Mad Men theme — the show that bonded them from that first date. Guests loved it, especially the blank postcards in lieu of a guest book. The couple offered sample questions to answer, the most popular being “What should we name our kids?” Suggestions ranged from “Mookie and Yaz” (it’s a Mets/Sox thing) to “Batman and Robin” to “You should definitely name them after dinosaurs.”
The big day went off smoothly, even with Anthony once again correcting Courtney’s spelling — this time in her self-written wedding vows. “It’s a good thing he’s cute,” she said.

And, luckily, it even rained. Yes, luckily.

“Anthony and I are a bit odd, so we were delighted to have inclement weather,” Courtney said. Plus, tradition holds that rain on a wedding day is good luck. While it drizzled, they headed for the beach — in wedding gown and tuxedo, with red umbrellas.

Photograph by Patrick McNamara Photography

That sort of laid-back attitude is one reason they work so well together, even compromising on some stunning things, according to Anthony. “The good wife that she is, she bought a Mets shirt and wears it when the Mets are on TV,” he said. (No word on what happens when the Red Sox are on… or playing the Mets.)

And the couple always make each other laugh. “It’s ridiculous,” she said. “I pity our neighbors who have to listen to my cackling. But they have an infant, so I think we’re even.”

Anthony offered some advice to prospective grooms: “Support your wife and help her out where you can,” he said, “but when it comes to the final decisions, get out of the way and let her make them.

“And marry someone who’s a good designer,” he added. “She’s got a good aesthetic.”

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