The Cottage Wedding Venue

Hi; it’s Dina! I was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised by immigrant parents from Sicily. When I was 4 we moved to shiny Las Vegas and opened Pizzeria’s. Once I turned 7 I started working at Villa Roma and joined my brother and sister cooking in the kitchen. When I was 22, after earning a Bachelors in Psychology from UNLV, I began working at The Mirage Hotel. Quickly I was offered my first Beverage Manager Position. I was 1 of 5 teammates that oversaw 16 bars and 90 bartenders. I fell in love with the management side of the restaurant and event industry. After leaving for 4 years to work as a restaurant manager in Portland, Oregon I was destined to return to The Mirage. After accepting the GM position at The Italian restaurant Onda, I met the handsome cook Sal Zappone, Who worked at Renoir, the French restaurant next door. It was love at first bite! Sal and I share similar upbringings, both being raised by immigrant parents from Italy and working in restaurants our whole lives.

On a whim, we decided to buy our first restaurant in Cedar City, Utah (from my parents) and started our road to being Restauranteurs. After 3 years, we decided to trade in the ski’s for warmer weather and head to Phoenix to raise our beautiful children Bella and Enzo. In December 2012, Zappone’s Italian Bistro was born in the heart of Gilbert. Quickly we began to incorporate our delicious Italian Comfort Food and feed the masses. We began to cater large weddings and events. We expanded our business in 2014 to include Zappone’s Catering. It was always my dream to take our homemade Traditional and Italian Cooking and open our own Wedding Venue. In Spring of 2018 that dream comes to life at The Cottage Wedding Venue six blocks from Historic Gilbert.