Ryan Melcher, the only inheritor of the late Doris Day, a Hollywood star, has finally found his happily ever after.
The real estate agent, who is based in Carmel, California, and his wife, Brittney Giammanco, who is 31 years old, revealed details of their joyful day with PEOPLE in an exclusive interview. The event took place on September 30 at Lambert’s Cove Inn & Resort, which is located close to Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts.
“It was truly a no-brainer when it came to it,” Giammanco tells PEOPLE of the decision to organize their wedding on Martha’s Vineyard. Melcher had visited the island with his family when he was a boy. “It just felt like it was meant to be.”
Their special day got off to a wet start, with Giammanco recalling that it was “pouring.” So much so that “it ran past our start time,” adds Melcher, who was recently named the no. 1 real estate agent in Carmel-by-the-Sea. While the inn, which is run by Bridget Sampson and her chef husband Galen Sampson, was the ideal location, the couple’s special day got off to a wet start.
After the storm passed, Melcher reported to PEOPLE what he saw. The pair then said the phrase “Let’s do this.” At that point, “everyone went running out” onto the grounds, where there was a lovely flower garden. The guy exclaims, “It’s incredible,” as he looks at his bride. “I’ve never seen anything quite like that, and the aim behind it is to be something wild and rugged. There is just one path that you can take through the market, and on each side of it are two rows of floral arrangements.
“I was adamant about getting into that garden,” Giammanco says further. “I was determined.” So, he says something to the effect of, ‘We’ll wait as long as we have to. We’ll make our way in there'”
“People were still seating when we started walking down the aisle,” she says, disclosing that the weather did not dampen the event. “People were still seating when we started walking down the aisle.” “When it was all over, there came a downpour of rain. It was adorable to see how concerned my poor father and my brother were over the outfit that I was wearing. My brother is all like, ‘I’ll hold the train for you. You won’t be able to ruin it. I just want to say, “Forget it. Who gives a damn? Come on, let’s go!'”
The new bride remembers, “I didn’t even realize that it started raining while we were saying our vows,” and she laughs about it now. “It worked out well. Because of love, I couldn’t see clearly.”
The couple made their way down the aisle to the Beach Boys’ rendition of “Kokomo,” a song that Ryan’s late father, music producer Terry Melcher, had a hand in writing. Giammanco wore a flowing white dress made by Enzoani with bespoke sleeves that matched the train while Melcher wore a cream-colored suit and tie. The flowers in Giammanco’s bouquet were from the florist Louise Sweet. Melcher rocked a cream-colored suit and tie.
According to Giammanco, her closest friend sent her flowers that had a “beautiful charm” on them and gave them to her. She continues to say that it “had a picture of his mother and my grandparents that had passed away and my cousin that had passed away.”
Giammanco claims that in preparation for the welcoming celebration, she had a dress belonging to Melcher’s mother, Jacqueline Carlin, “tailored to fit from the 1980s.”
Melcher said of his mother, who passed away in 2021, “She liked white a lot,” and there is a photo of her in [the garment] at our old home in Carmel. And she had just handed it on to Brittney before she went away.”
It was said by Giammanco that there was “so much eucalyptus down the running tables with kind of that blue and white paisley looking pattern that went across the long tables.” Then, the same design that was used for the napkins on the circular tables.” She continues, “It had the atmosphere of a vineyard.”
“Everybody that left called in the morning pretty much, virtually everybody, or texted, and said, ‘That was the best wedding we’ve ever been to,’ ” says Melcher, adding that there were friends and relatives “from all different walks of life, from all periods of life” for their big day. “That was the best wedding we’ve ever been to,” adds Melcher.
Melcher says that in addition to playing “Kokomo,” the Dukes Band played a lot of Beach Boys songs (his father produced some of their biggest hits), as well as a few favorites from his grandmother, one of which was her signature tune, “Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be),” a song that also has a special meaning to both Giammanco and Melcher. “Kokomo” was one of the Beach Boys songs that the Dukes Band played.
It turned out that the bride had the words of the legendary song that Doris Day sung in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much tattooed on her arm when she was 19 years old, a long time before she ever met Melcher. The song was included in the film The Man Who Knew Too Much.
After that, on one of the couple’s meetings — after initially meeting at a dive bar in Monterey, California in 2019 — Melcher asked Giammanco whether she knew who originally sung the 1956 album. Giammanco said that the question was posed by Melcher. After that, Melcher revealed his connection to the late Hollywood legend by telling her, “My grandmother just sang it to me all the time.” Melcher was a relative of the late icon.
On Giammanco’s birthday, Melcher popped the question to her in a field only yards away from their dairy farm in San Lucia, which has sweeping views of the valley. Giammanco and Melcher’s mother also had the same birthday. Giammanco recalls, “I was completely caught off guard,” and adds, “He grabbed me and he was down on one knee.”
Giammanco claims that given all of their amazing tiny connections, such as the fact that she shares her birthday with Melcher’s mother and that she has the words to a song tattooed on her arm, “Clearly we would’ve found each other in any lifetime at this point.”
