Real Housewives Star Dolores Catania Engaged Concurrently with Her Two Adult Children
Real Housewives of New Jersey personality Dolores Catania finds herself in a remarkable family scenario that even the dramatic storylines of her television show could not have conjured. The 55-year-old reality star revealed to People magazine that being engaged and actively planning a wedding at the same time as both her 27-year-old son Frankie and her 30-year-old daughter Gabrielle feels "like out of a movie."
"Who would have thought, when they are little, and they're running around, and, you know, you're playing mom, who would think?" Catania mused in her interview. "It's not the natural order to be engaged at the same time as your kids, however, it's a very happy household."
A Series of Romantic Proposals
The unusual family timeline began when Catania, who shares her children with ex-husband Frank Catania, accepted a proposal from her boyfriend Paul 'Paulie' Connell on November 10 of last year. The memorable engagement occurred at the Apple Store in Woodcliff, New Jersey, where the couple originally met nearly five years ago while waiting in line to have their phones repaired. Paulie presented Catania with an extravagant 15-carat diamond ring featuring an impressive 11-carat center stone, leaving the reality star "ecstatic."
Catania's joyful moment arrived approximately nine months after her son Frankie proposed to his partner Nicole Perricho, 30, on February 22, 2025. That romantic gesture took place at the iconic St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, complete with a custom-made diamond engagement ring.
As if coordinating two simultaneous engagements were not extraordinary enough, daughter Gabrielle then accepted a proposal from her 31-year-old partner Mike Tallia on March 19 of this year. That picturesque moment unfolded on a snow-capped mountain in Aspen, Colorado, with Gabrielle receiving a stunning 5.03-carat oval-cut diamond ring from John Anthony Jewelers.
Triple Wedding Planning Underway
Remarkably, all three engagement rings originated from the same luxury jeweler, John Anthony Jewelers, creating an additional family connection. Now the household faces the logistical challenge of planning three separate weddings, though they have enlisted the same wedding planner, JoAnn Gregoli, to help coordinate the celebrations.
Frankie and Nicole have scheduled their wedding for August 1 in Portugal, with a vow renewal ceremony and large party planned for October 30 at the Indian Trail Club in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, to accommodate family members unable to travel overseas.
Gabrielle, whose engagement is the most recent, has not yet immersed herself in wedding planning details. "[Gabrielle] goes, 'Mom, I just got engaged, don't talk to me about the marriage yet,'" Catania revealed. The bride-to-be intends to visit White House Bride in Edgewater, New Jersey, for wedding dress shopping when she feels ready.
Catania acknowledges she will need to exercise restraint during her daughter's planning process: "I will have to remember when it's my daughter that it's her wedding and not mine, and that I'm going to have to be okay with whatever it is she likes because it's her day, and I'm sure the wedding planner will remind me of that."
Dream Wedding Visions and Maternal Advice
For her own nuptials, Catania envisions a "dream wedding" as a "big party" that would include "all" of her Real Housewives co-stars. She shared: "Paul and I would envision a big New Year's Eve party - informal, a bunch of people having a good time all night celebrating with us."
Amidst the celebratory atmosphere, Catania has been offering her children crucial advice about marriage. "The biggest advice I told them was, 'In the hardest of times, can you picture this person standing by you?'" she recalled. "I also told them both, 'I'll never let you fall on your face. Just because you're getting married, doesn't mean I'm not your mother. Now I have four kids.'"
The reality star emphasized the importance of family connections in marriage, adding: "I told them, 'You also marry the family,' and both of their families are everything I could have prayed for. They are wonderful."
This extraordinary convergence of engagements within a single family creates a heartwarming narrative of simultaneous life transitions, with Dolores Catania navigating both her own romantic journey and her maternal role during this unique period of triple wedding preparations.
