EAST HANOVER -- It was 4:30 p.m. and her date was running late, hair and makeup behind schedule and eager loved ones started to fill a backyard deck.

Still, among the chaos, there was a joy in Gianna Brunini as she got gussied up for the prom.

"Remember when you hated makeup," Ramona Brogo, Brunini's aid from first through eighth grades, said.

"Look how far we've come," Brunini giggled in her "Toy Story" themed bedroom as eye shadow was applied.

Like many teenagers consumed with the high school rite of passage, 18-year-old Brunini wasn't so sure she wanted to go to her prom. But then she found the perfect date: Eric LeGrand, the former Rutgers defensive tackle whose career was sidelined due to a spinal cord injury.

Last month, LeGrand gave a motivational speech at Brunini's school, Hanover Park High School. At the end, in front of students and staff, LeGrand asked Brunini up to the stage and then to prom.

"I asked her, 'What if someone asked you to prom?'" Gabrielle Brunini, Gianni's twin sister said. "I wanted to test her out since I knew beforehand."

Gianna's father, Bruno Brunini, who captured the prom proposal in a YouTube video, worried that his daughter would say no.

"I didn't need all that, I told Eric I would of said yes if you just asked me for a cup of coffee," Gianna said smiling. "The funny thing is that neither of us drink coffee."

Brunini, in a wheelchair since she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age 2, had formed a friendship years ago with LeGrand when they both attended therapy sessions at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange.

Once or twice a week the two bonded over therapy dogs or while racing down the hallways in their motorized chairs.

Unfortunately, Brunini mysteriously lost her memory two years ago and, besides having to relearn most things from the beginning, she forgot the experiences she had with LeGrand, Brunini's mother Maryann said.

But still, Maryann Brunini said, "Eric is an inspiration for her, sometimes she gets down and frustrated because of things she can't do."

"But if he [LeGrand] can believe, she can, too."

Recently, one of Brunini's aunts had seen a segment on "Good Morning America" about a 14-year-old Wisconsin teen, also with cerebral palsy, who attended prom with a girl he met at an airport.

The aunt wrote into the show and a few weeks later LeGrand's agent got in touch with Brunini's parents about attending prom with their daughter.

"Eric is doing a wonderful job," Bruno Brunini said. "Given his situation and to take time-out to do something like this."

"I wonder if I'm going to have fun?" Brunini said, as prom jitters set in.

"Of course you will have fun," stylist Heidi Martinez told Brunini as she put pins in her hair.

Martinez, from Randolph, volunteered to style Brunini's hair and makeup for free after hearing about the prom date from a friend.

"It's a Cinderella story," Martinez said.

In between being styled, aunts, great aunts and grandmothers peeked in to see the transformation.

"Whatever your disability, this shows you can live like everyone else," Michele Brunini, an aunt from Pompton Plains said. "She can have that special day like everyone else."

Soon word came that LeGrand had arrived, the women quickly dressed Brunini in her glimmering turquoise dress.

"Ahhh," sister Gabrielle shrieked with happiness as she saw her sister dolled up for prom. A chain reaction of tears among her family followed.

"We wanted her to feel like a princess and I think she does," Maryann said.

As Brunini came out on the deck to met LeGrand, more than two dozen family and friends clapped and shouted.

"You're a movie star!" said one.

"You guys look great!" said another.

After LeGrand's mom helped put on the corsage and flower lapel, Brunini and her family presented LeGrand with a gift as a sign of appreciation - Rutgers cufflinks.

LeGrand, dressed in a tux and his now trademark smile, said little because of restrictions from a production company that was traveling with him as they film a series on his life. Producers are currently in talks to sell the show to a network.

Following a montage of photos with loved ones, and prom already underway, the beaming couple rolled down a red carpet and off to Brooklake Country Club for a night of fun.

"I have a lot of emotions. It has been a long time coming," said sister Gabrielle. "A lot of people didn't believe she would get here but she's proving them wrong."

Fausto Giovanny Pinto may be reached at fpinto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @FGPreporting. Find NJ.com on Facebook.