Elie and Sarah were married at the Staten Island Hilton in a traditional Jewish ceremony.
I must say that I adored the romance of the day. It was for me not just romance in the everyday sense of anticipation, excitement,
and fresh love. Rather, it was a romance of a romantic age, with that nostalgic air of true courtship. Perhaps it was in part because Sarah evokes a bit of Audrey Hepburn, but more so, because I could see they both shared the type of love and connection whose essence who have been unchanged if they had met fifty or a hundred years ago.
I learned from Sarah that she and Elie exchanged numerous letters during a long distance phase of their relationship.
Since I am not privy to what was written between them, I could only imagine some sort of Ellen Terry, George Bernard Shaw
correspondence. Their letter writing tradition was obviously of great importance to them, as after the bridal preparation,
Sarah sat down, doe and teary eyed, to read a lengthy letter that Elie had given her for the wedding day.
Sarah beautifully recounts how their love came to be:
“Elie and I were introduced through a friend of our parents who had known me since I was five but had never met Elie at all. All she knew about him was that he was Modern Orthodox and a lawyer, but as you know, a dearth of information never stops a Jewish mother from encouraging her daughter to pursue a prospective date. In both mine and Elie’s experiences, set-up dates usually spelled disaster, so it was surprising that our first one lasted almost five hours.
We are very different in most respects: Elie is laid back; I am “Type A.” He is quiet; I am more talkative. He likes nature and exploring the outdoors; I appreciate a good read and the comforts of home. But somehow, we managed to merge our distinct personalities and predilections to build a relationship that began in our native New York nearly two years ago and continued from afar, once Elie relocated to Washington, DC.
During our time apart, Elie frequently sent me letters, so it was quite fitting that his proposal was epistolary as well. Now, once again living in the same city, we are thankful to be spending more time together, in person, rather than over the phone :) “
Here is a sneak peak of some of their photos:
by admin