Angie Pontani

Photo: Clifton Dunbar
Photo: Clinton Dunbar

New York’s Italian Stallionette Angie Pontani, Queen of Burlesque Miss Exotic World 2008, talks wedding planning like a boss, Coney Island, droids, Burlesque-A-Pades, beach parties, Go-Go-Robics, sequin cowgirl costumes and memory lane.

For the complete interview and more beautiful exclusive images of Angie, pick up your Spring 2013 Best of Pin Curl print edition, available mid-May here!

Interview: Divertida Devotchka

Q: Our last interview together was in June 2011 and my, so much has happened for you since then! Perhaps most notable is your marriage in February to jazz musician Brian Newman! Congratulations! The wedding images we’ve seen are breathtaking, but we’d love to hear all about your big day! I’ve read that since you’re both in show biz, you approached wedding planning much like planning a show. Did you find it difficult to stay on top of everything in addition to your careers or was the process second nature to you due to your experience as a producer? Were there frustrating moments along the way and if so how did the two of you handle them? Is there anything you would have done differently if you could do it over? What was your favorite part? (Or parts?)

A: The wedding was fabulous and planning it was just as fun.  I think coming from my production background, it was inevitable that I approached the wedding with the production/showbiz side of my brain. The only difference with this was that I didn’t have to worry about press and promotion and that I was co-producing with my mom!  That had its challenging moments, like when I banned flower centerpieces and she sneakily called the florist and ordered them. I come from a big Italian-American family and there is this kind of standard that our weddings are held to – you need a church, a big wedding hall, Italian Wedding Soup, tons of wine, a good DJ and a nice bursa to walk around and collect envelopes in. Brian and I love a lot of these elements, but we also really wanted to make the wedding our own, something that our families would love but that represented us too. Our location was amazing – The Grand Prospect Hall. It’s a historic hall in our neighborhood that was built in late 1892 as a “temple of music and amusement” by John Kolle, over the years it’s been an opera house, a theater, a Masonic lounge, a speakeasy, a film set (Cotton Club), and so much more! It is gorgeous and unique, exactly what we wanted, less than ten blocks from our house. Since the hall was so huge, we were able to incorporate everything we wanted, we had an on-site ceremony officiated by Pastor Paul Milholland of Trinity Lutheran Church. The amazing Steven Hammel was our artistic designer and basically turned the ceremony room into a stage/church. We had a 16 piece big band made up of a lot of Brian’s musician pals, and then segued into my cousin Bruce Mancia DJ’ing. It was a fantastic colorful crowd of family, friends and colleagues. I think my favorite moments aside from saying “I do” were just being on the dance floor and looking around, watching my crazy cousin Larry dancing with all my friends and seeing our parents having so much fun.  There was so much love in the air and on the dance floor, it was magical. I keep going back and looking at the pictures and pinching myself for being so lucky to have so many amazing diverse people in my life, family and world.  Balancing the wedding and normal work was a challenge; I had my costume designer Garo Sparo working on my gown and a new costume in tandem!  My printer was printing invites and show posters, and Brian and I were practicing our first dance and some new acts.  It was a real multi-tasking few months.  We even had a show the night before our wedding in Virginia; that was a little crazy, but honestly, I really wouldn’t do anything differently, except I would have eaten more night of.  We had a 2-foot cannoli in the dessert room and I didn’t even get to see it!

Enjoy Angie’s wedding photo gallery below! (Click images to enlarge.)

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