We’ve all heard the old adage of how true love is blind . But for the newlywed couple Anthony and Kelly Anne Ferraro, the sentiment couldn’t be more literal .
Anthony is a musician, a motivational speaker, as well as a blind Paralympic athlete in training. For their recent nuptials, Kelly Anne wore a tactile dress so Anthony could feel how she looked.
Kelly Anne and Anthony first met back in 2017, along the Jersey Shore.
According to Anthony, the couple felt an instant connection. Kelly Anne was “Someone who put her self[sic] in my shoes and went as far as wearing a velvet dress to our first date so I could feel her beauty,” Anthony said via Instagram .
Anthony began to notice how much his life was changing for the better once he and Kelly Anne started traveling together.
Kelly Anne helped Anthony to see the world in ways he’d never imagined or even thought possible. She would always take extra time to explain in lengthy detail every sight, landscape, and structure.
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Kelly Anne would even close her eyes and try to experience the world around her from Anthony’s perspective.
“And then, I would explain it to her, how I would see it, with my senses. She would fill in all the visual gaps for me and explain it in perfect detail,” Anthony said .
For their wedding day, Kelly Anne wanted to do something special for her husband-to-be.
Kelly Anne decided to partner with Loulette Bridal; a sustainable bridal boutique based out of Brooklyn, NY. Together, they developed a tactile wedding dress with plenty of textiles and fabrics that are pleasing to the touch.
The best part is that Anthony had absolutely no idea!
Kelly Anne wanted to keep everything a surprise for their big day. “I wasn’t allowed to know anything about it,” he told Insider . “I even went with her to pick it up in Brooklyn, but I wasn’t allowed to go in with her. I had to wait in the car.”
The dress itself was absolutely stunning, and was adorned in lace flowers, silk, and velvet.
Kelly Anne’s dress also had an open back, which Anthony said he absolutely loved. “It just fit her like a glove,” he happily recalled .
As sweet and beautiful as Kelly Anne’s dress was, it wasn’t the only surprise she had in store for her husband.
Kelly Anne also wore a totally custom white velvet jacket, complete with fringe as an ode to their first date.
Anthony couldn’t stop playing with the fringe all night. “It was the most amazing feeling, rubbing it back and forth, and rubbing her back with the velvet,” he said . “It’s so nostalgic and so beautiful. Those textures made me able to visualize Kelly perfectly in my head.”
The couple also incorporated other tactile elements throughout the ceremony and reception.
The idea was to make it as accessible as possible for Anthony. Everyone thought these were just added decorations, but they also had a practical purpose as well.
Earlier in the day, Anthony accidentally whacked his head on the tent poles — twice.
Anthony recalled nearly knocking himself unconscious on what he referred to as the tent’s ” death poles .” Fearing that her husband might become concussed at his own wedding, Kelly Anne sprung into action.
Before the reception, Kelly Anne told Anthony that she had yet another surprise in sore.
“They all went out of their way and wrapped the poles in bubble wrap, and then wrapped them with burlap and put flowers around them to make it look all pretty,” Anthony explained .
The day was everything that Kelly Anne and Anthony could’ve hoped for and the two can’t wait to start their life journey together.
Anthony and Kelly Anne aim to continue motivating others to dream big and follow their hearts. As Anthony says, so long as you have a vision — no obstacle on earth can stand in your way.
