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Welcome to my first post of 2009. First, let me wish everyone a very happy new year! I am more optimistic about 2009 than I've been for just about any recent year, in large part because we have a new president who so many of us hope will bring some positive and much-needed change to our country.
In my own life, 2009 started on a beautiful note: Jason and I are engaged!
Word traveled so fast through the channels connecting our families and friends that the sheer speed of it made both our heads spin. So, I'd be shocked if this were still news to anyone!
Jason surprised me with a romantic proposal in Central Park, at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve (our anniversary). Seconds after the countdown to 2009, under a spectacular fireworks display, he turned to me and handed me a little box containing the ring that belonged to his grandmother. She and Jason's grandfather were kindred spirits, married nearly 70 years and in love till the end.
We had discussed marriage, so I knew a proposal was imminent, yet my sweet man still managed to catch me off-guard! I am not an easy woman to surprise, but the thoughtful, meaningful way Jason proposed left me speechless. I am a lucky woman to have such an amazing love in my life. Jason and I have traveled a rough road get to where we are together and it makes our happiness even sweeter that we've worked so hard to find and nurture it.
Naturally, we've been flooded with questions about wedding details and our stock answer is "We don't know yet." We've programmed this response into our brains and we just hit "Play" whenever someone asks. We are overwhelmed by the process, although we do know we want a small, intimate gathering for close friends and family, here in NYC.
That leads me to this call for advice from anyone who's had a smallish, relatively low-budget NYC wedding: HOW DID YOU DO IT?
All responses are welcome. And again, happy new year to all!
Posted by ayelet at January 7, 2009 12:32 PMCongratulations Ayelet! You're not the only one with wedding plans though...
I proposed to Winona on Playa de Amor in Cabo San Lucas a couple weeks ago, and she said yes.
We're gonna do the deed in June of 2010.
Posted by: J. Herzog at January 27, 2009 02:12 AMCongratulations!
I had a lovely, quite cheap, uhm, inexpensive, wedding in NYC. We got married in City Hall and had under 20 of our closest friends and immediate family to a nice Italian restaurant for a luncheon. We left for a week-long honeymoon two days later and about a month later we had two separate parties at our Brooklyn two-family house rental, about 35 people each, one for family and one for friends.
I freely admit this approach isn't for everyone, but I am delighted to be happily married for more than 12 years. My husband and I knew from the beginning that the getting married part wasn't the accomplishment, it is the staying married. (We joke that our 3-year-old son will throw us a party for our 25th or 35th anniversary or something.)
That said, I encourage you to think out of the box for a Sunday afternoon wedding at a local restaurant. The restaurant we chose didn't even say that they do catering but when we told them we wanted to book for 20 or so people for a wedding, they actually opened later so it would be a special day for us. You never know until you ask; think about what truly makes you two happy and you have warm memories.
Also, my dress -- odd as it sounds, check out the prom section in major department stores. There are wonderful off-the-rack white/white-ish dresses out there. Although David's Bridal and that dress place in Bay Ridge can be good, you don't have to do that.
This is the beginning of your official life together. Do things the way they make sense for you two! If that means a traditional wedding, great, if that means something else, do that then!
Congratulations again.
Posted by: Rachel at January 11, 2009 02:48 PMyou KNOW how happy we are for you!
do either of you have family in the military? friends of mine got married in the city at a really nice place that was property of the navy or something... just a thought. and DO ask my dad for ideas!
Posted by: aviva at January 8, 2009 06:22 AM