Updates
April 11th 2010
(This is pt I of our recapitulation of the wedding and the honeymoon. Please stay tuned!)
Craziness. So we are sitting on a plane to San Francisco, on our way to our honeymoon, while I am
typing this. Is the wedding already over? The stress we felt in the last few weeks definitely is.
Michele had to take more of it though - she was in New York preparing the wedding while I stayed at home in Berlin just dealing with my work stuff. And she still did the majority of work when I finally came to New York a week and a half prior to the big event.
I don't remember when it finally sunk into my brain that the wedding was about to happen. Probably when my family arrived a week before the wedding. They were the first of the German guests. We brought them to Manhattan the following day, to Syosset on Monday (a good idea as it turned out - the families could get to know each other), and then to the Statue of Liberty.
At home we mainly had to prepare party favours. We really loved those custom made M&M's with our logo printed on them, but they were so awfully expensive at the same time. Instead Michele bought Hershey's kisses (Michele already thought about it in December and bought seasonally wrapped kisses in colours that matched ours ). We sorted out the right colours, placed logo stickers on their bottom, put them into cute little see-through bags and attached the plantable seat-cards on them. It sounds like a piece of cake, but it actually took us a few nights to get done with it, not mentioning that Lorraine did all the calligraphy work before. Ordering wine bottles with custom-made labels for all the friends who helped us out was a much easier task.
The actual countdown started on Friday. Alan Bergman, Michele's boss, offered us his apartment for the rehearsal lunch, and Pat - his girlfriend - prepared delicious food for all of our guests. Soooo much better than the bagels with cream cheese and the pizza we initially planned to get!
But what could we tell people about what to expect on Saturday? We never rehearsed the ceremony either, and a lot of times our answers started with "We think...". At least we knew the schedule for the event. Or at least we thought we knew.
Michele left me that night. Luckily not for good, just for the Ravel, a hotel close to the Water's Edge where she would prepare for the event the next morning. I took the chance to meet up with some of my friends for a few beers - not to get drunk, just so I didn't need to stay at home with nothing else to do but get nervous.
That came the next morning. At 6 AM, sharp. I was worried before that I might oversleep on Saturday, but instead I woke up way too early. I thought of running for an hour, but I feared that this would be too exhausting. Instead I opted for - getting nervous.
There was nothing to worry about though. Andrew, one of Michele's "mates of honour" arrived at 9 AM, and our limo showed up 40 minutes later - including my excited family members who had never been in a stretch limo (the kids later on rocked to Lady Gaga on the way back). We got to the Water's Edge on time where I was moved into a corner - waiting for the bride to arrive.
Every now and then Andrew came back to inform me about the latest updates. And every time he looked a bit more pale. Michele did not show up, not 15 minutes late, not half an hour late. Thankfully the Water's Edge provided cheese and fruits, and my best mates Toni and David kept me company (and my new American nephew Sammy too!). It also didn't hurt that David had his iPhone with him so that we could follow the Bundesliga games which were on at that time. ;-)
Did it ever occur to me that Michele could have had second thoughts? Nope. All I thought was that we could never stay on our tight schedule.
Then finally, about 45 minutes later, I was allowed to go upstairs. I heard Garry playing "Beyond Love" by The The inside, which was our theme song. I still had to wait though for last minute fixtures, until I finally walked Grandma Sara down the aisle to her seat. And that was the last moment my body felt comfortable, although I already had to move the thought away that everybody was staring at me.
Michele finally came in, with her parents at her side. Everybody got up from their seats, and I was probably the last person to see my future wife. But oh, did she look gorgeous in her white dress with some blue spots! I can't stop looking at photos my sister-in-law Sabrina took.
I also realized that a rehearsal wouldn't have hurt. Would Michele's parents walk her down two thirds of the aisle or until the last row of seats? Would they walk to the side, and then I would get her, or would they wait until I was there? No clue. Somebody gestured at me, and then I knew it was time to go.
My whole back hurt when we stood in front of our reverend Beverly Millett (in a wonderful dress from Egypt, by the way). I was so tense, I thought I might faint. Everybody else had the impression though that we fully enjoyed the ceremony (and besides that pain I think I actually did!). We giggled a lot during that 30 minutes (for example when I got confused which finger was the ring finger and then wasn't able to get the tight ring over the knuckle) - a bit too much for some old-schoolers, while others loved it.
After all, the vows were said in the respectful way that was necessary, and a lot of people were touched by the German song I chose, "Für immer und Dich" by Rio Reiser during which we mixed a white and a red wine and took a sip from the same glass. Everybody also seemed to be happy that I broke a glass - a lightbulb actually. Not sure if everybody screamed "Mazel Tov" though. And then the ceremony was over.
I knew about receiving lines from the "Sopranos" and Mob related movies, but I never thought I would experience one myself. So I felt like part of the Mafia when a long receiving line was formed in front of us. Some of the guests even welcomed me to the "family", but I think they actually just meant the Jaffe's. It was fun, but at the same time I worried about the one short hour we had to take our official photos in front of the Manhattan skyline.
January 29th 2010
It was a cold day in March 2009 when we accomplished two very exciting things – picked up the very
sparkly engagement ring that brought the “girly girl” out in me (who’da thunk it?) AND picked
out our wedding bands while giggling over the fact that we were picking out our wedding bands.
YES, giggling!
We didn’t really see anything that jumped out at us in the display of our favorite little jewelry shop on E. 43rd Street, so Isaac – our “guy” and presumably one of the owners – brought out a catalog for perusal.
We looked over it and both pointed to the same ring. “Oh, that’s a nice one!” That seemed like a good sign! Since it was still more than a year away from our wedding, Isaac wrote the information down to store away in his very Luddite way of filing and said we should come back in November to order the rings.
November seemed soooooooooooooo far away at the time. And then WHOOSH, it was here. Dietmar came in to town for Thanksgiving and we planned for the Friday after Thanksgiving to go and order the wedding rings. Well… Isaac was not there that day, nor was he available to contact, as his daughter was getting married… and the other guys who worked there had NO IDEA where to find the information that Isaac had written down. Dietmar and I figured we could just look at the catalog and pick it out and we’re good to go. Yeah.. not exactly!
First we were brought a HUGE book that really had mostly engagement rings in it, not wedding bands. And we knew it was not that book as soon as we saw it anyway. So he then took out this little pamphlet – a folded page with pictures of rings on all 4 sides. We looked over that, and I pointed out this one ring that I thought might be it but Dietmar didn’t think so.
Dietmar thought the catalog was a bigger book, and I remembered it being small. However, I wasn’t 100% sure that the little pamphlet was it. So we kept looking at the rings but weren’t totally happy with any of them. We tried on some of the rings they had in their display, but the one Dietmar liked I didn’t and the one I liked Dietmar didn’t. Argh!
I kept going back to that one ring in the pamphlet but we just weren’t sure about it. They told us Isaac would be back on Monday, but sadly Dietmar was leaving on Sunday so I had to go back on my own. Well, guess what! The ring I kept going back to WAS the right ring!! So now we had to wait for Dietmar to come back in December to look at rings again since obviously the ring we had first chosen wasn’t the ideal one anymore. Sigh… or as they say in Germany (and my new favorite word).. Seufz…
Come December, Dietmar and I go back to the jeweler. We look through the pamphlet again, we try on rings in the store again, and after much debate and agonizing we finally picked a ring… THE ORIGINAL ONE!! Lol
Isaac ordered the rings, they were there within days and SO much nicer in person than in the pamphlet.
Needless to say we are VERY pleased with our choice and I will be taking them soon to be engraved…
Another task done – only 300,000 more to go….
November 23nd 2009
One thing I forgot: Please note that the Sheraton offer has a deadline and needs to be booked
by March 4th. Otherwise the hotel will charge you their standard price, which might be as much as
$ 209 plus taxes. So don't be shy!
We worked with Maritza Hammel on our invitations last night. I think she'll use us as a reference for what you can do if you wanna avoid any wedding invitation standards. At least she kept saying: 'It's your invitation so do what you wanna do' :-) Curious now? We'll send out the invitations early 2010! I hope the shipping rate will be 44 Cents so I can buy bulk amounts of Simpsons stamps. Michele got me some, plus the Simpsons Playboy. Anyway, what were we talking about? Oh yeah, invitations. The hardest part actually was to translate the text we wrote into German. It somehow sounded much cheesier than in English. But still we got it done. Or Michele and Maritza got everything done, while I almost fell asleep jetlagged. Thanks very much, Maritza, for the great support!
Michele's already done with all the choices she had to make for the dress and the shoes and the make-up. At least, I think she is, I am not supposed to know anything. I haven't even started at all. Andrew and I will look for Tuxedos around Christmas, and I guess buying black shoes won't be a big deal.
Next update: Wedding rings. Yippie. We hope to choose them this week!
Dietmar
October 2nd 2009
We finally found a hotel we can warmly recommend to you: The Sheraton Lincoln Harbor in
Weehawken, NJ. It actually is more convenient than you might think: it's 10 minutes by bus from/to Port Authority,
there's a ferry terminal to Manhattan right outside, and you can also take the Light Rail to
switch to the Path train to Manhattan. It's right at the Hudson River, so you'll catch
nice views of the skyline. We also plan to provide transportation to the wedding place.
The best is though: We can offer you a special rate: $139 plus tax for a Double or a King room,
or $179 if you want to have a full view of the city.
To get this rate you need to call +800 325 3535 and make sure you mention the 'Jaffe & Stork wedding'.
Dietmar
August 15th 2009
Up until now all the decisions who we would work with were very simple - luckily we have a bunch
of extremely talented friends. It really was a no-brainer to decide who could design the invitations
or who will sing at the reception.
But: We don't have any photographer in our American circle of friends, so we weren't really sure who
to give that job. The flowers we set up at the restaurant are gone after the wedding, but we
still want to look at those photos in 50 years.
Toni, my German Mate of Honor, had a great idea: 'Why don't you ask a German photographer?'. I was
think of Erik Weiss right away, since I know him from my work at some music magazines and whose
work I really admire. Michele loved the photos - 'but are we really able to afford him?', she
worried. Well, Erik took the job, he actually seems to be very happy to get a personal job
besides all the normal work.
Of course I hope we gonna look as cool on our photos as all the artists on Erik's
website.
Dietmar
July 3rd 2009
I’m not one of those girls who gets emotional about clothes. I get emotionally ATTACHED to
clothes (and everything else that’s inanimate), but not emotional ABOUT them.
So when everyone said how you “know” when it’s your dress because of the way you feel about it,
I figured I was doomed – I would never know and would probably just settle on something. So I
looked online and found some dresses I liked – they were moderate, simple, short-sleeved dresses.
And they all seemed to be located at RK Bridal by Port Authority. Perfect!
Karen S. came up from Delaware to help me with the search (she’s not one of my Mates of Honor
for nothin’! ;)- ) fully prepared for, in her words, the “Queen Bitch”. Some background, I
get very frustrated and agitated when I have to find and try on clothing. Thankfully she went
through this with me once before for my parents’ 25th anniversary party. She basically forced
me to try on a dress I very stubbornly refused to try on cause I hated it (like I hated all
the clothes I saw), but when I tried it on it looked good - as she predicted.
So anyway, we walked into RK Bridal and I instantly decided that I hated everything, and I
would never find my dress. Karen basically ignored me and started looking at dresses. She
kept pulling stuff out and my answer for the most part was usually, “No way, no how, not ever”.
I did concede defeat at one point and we both agreed on some dresses for trying on. We actually
racked up about 6 of them when my parents came in. My mom spotted some books and asked me if
I knew that there were books to look through. My answer was, “Nah” in a very “who cares” kind
of way. So she made me come over and look through a book with her.
In the first book we both spotted a dress that was pretty. She asked if I was interested, and
I said, “Sure, why not. I’m trying on dresses anyway, might as well.”
When I got called by the consultant, we handed her the page and she had someone look to see
if the dress was in stock. In the meantime, I was trying on the dresses Karen and I pulled.
I couldn’t even get the first one over my chest. I think it was for a boy! The second one
fit but looked like I was wearing a quilt. We still put it on the ‘maybe’ list. At that point,
the dress from the book was found and brought in. So my consultant had me try that on next.
Wow! Very very pretty dress. It even made ME look pretty. I walked out and Karen, my mom,
my dad and I all got choked up instantly. Some people standing by stopped what they were doing
and said, “Yep, that’s the dress!” I tried on a couple of other dresses just to make sure, but
everything else seemed positively boring in comparison.
In under an hour, I got the dress! And now… the shoes… argh!
Michele
June 9th 2009
I will be in the US in the first two weeks of September. We will go to Virginia Beach (I am running the
Rock'N'Rolf Half Marathon there, yippie!) for the first week, but if anybody wants to catch up
in the second week, drop me a note
Dietmar
