Bria Schirripa can easily rattle off many of Michael Buccarelli’s admirable qualities.
“He’s extremely loyal, very family-oriented and has a really fun side to him,” said Ms. Schirripa, 29, who met Mr. Buccarelli, 32, in March 2016, when they began working in side-by-side cubicles at First Data Corporation, a financial services firm in Jersey City, N.J.
Seven months later, Ms. Schirripa, a program analyst for the military, could have added “unpredictable” to her list. After settling into what she thought was a platonic relationship with Mr. Buccarelli, a manager of business continuity, he had her thinking again one day in October 2016 when he asked if she wanted to go out after work for drinks.
Ms. Schirripa replied that she would be busy the night Mr. Buccarelli had initially suggested celebrating a milestone birthday of a longtime companion named Bob, an aging dachshund.
Instead, they went for a drink on another night at a bar in Manhattan’s West Village, and then out to dinner. Somewhere in between they shared a first kiss.
“It was a very sweet moment,” Ms. Schirripa said, “one that for a long time, did not seem possible with Michael.”
Though it was their first date, Mr. Buccarelli and Ms. Schirripa had spent plenty of time together over the last few months. This included many shared lunches and long walks. He said he knew she possessed the kind of qualities he admired.
“Bria is so many things, but one thing that stands out about her is her sense of humor,” Mr. Buccarelli said. “She is witty and vibrant and she can have a conversation with just about anyone. She is thoughtful and is always thinking of how to make others feel special.”
They were soon dating exclusively. And although they are self-described “homebodies,” they traveled together to many places around the world, including Italy and Ireland. (Mr. Buccarelli’s mother, Mary Buccarelli, is Irish, and his father, Richard Buccarelli, is Italian.)
They became engaged in July 2019. Mr. Buccarelli proposed at Christopher Street Pier, directly across the Hudson River toward the building where they first met.
By then they had already been living together in a West Village apartment, where Ms. Schirripa, a blogger and now a program manager at Fiserv, a payments and financial services, said that she and Mr. Buccarelli and his family celebrated the engagement. Mr. Buccarelli, now a manager of business continuity at Nuveen, had already been acquainted with Ms. Schirripa’s parents, Laura Schirripa and Steve Schirripa, an actor who rose to fame as a cast member of the HBO series, “The Sopranos.” Mr. Schirripa is now a member of the cast of “Blue Bloods,” a television series on CBS.
“I guess you could say that Michael, who plays guitar, and my dad were both born with an entertainment gene,” Ms. Schirripa said. “They are both just so much fun to be around.”
The couple were married April 30 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Brooklyn before the Rev. Dominick Dellaporte, a Roman Catholic priest, and 14 guests. (They had initially planned to marry in November 2020 at a wedding venue in New Jersey with more than 200 guests.)
After the ceremony, the couple hosted a dinner in the rear courtyard of Da Nico Ristorante on Mulberry Street in Manhattan’s Little Italy, complete with a small band, wine and the bride’s favorite dish, rigatoni vodka.
