Sarah Wolf & Dustin Goldstein
Wedding Date: July 1, 2012
Yoga Love
Sarah moved back to Cleveland after living in Israel for five months. Upon her arrival, she was quickly hired at Lululemon, opening their first store in Cleveland. The store held a Grand Opening party with most of the Cleveland Yoga community, including Dustin, in attendance. Sarah said, “We were pretty much inseparable from that night on.”
The Proposal
The Sunday before Thanksgiving 2011, Dustin picked Sarah up from the airport after she spent the weekend in New York City visiting a friend. Dustin said, “ I took her to one of our favorite local places, Sasa, a restaurant at Shaker Square. They had already been filled in on my plan to come in for dinner and that I was going to propose to my girlfriend.” A bouquet of flowers were waiting for Sarah in the car when Dustin picked her up. Walking in, he slipped the ring to the bartender and they were seated. The couple ordered edamame and it was served with an empty bowl covering the top. As Sarah was talking about her weekend, and according to Dustin, “ Felt like an eternity waiting for to take the bowl off the top,” he asked if she wanted to try the edamame. She looked up as he lifted off the bowl and there was the ring sitting on a bed of edamame. Dustin said, “I got down on one knee and asked Sarah to marry me. She said yes, and the whole restaurant started clapping for us. It was a great moment.”
First Look
According to Sarah., “Our first look was very special considering the anticipation of not seeing each other all day and what lied ahead for us next.”
Bedeken Ceremony
Sarah and Dustins’ Bedeken Ceremony was a highlight of their wedding day. Sarah was escorted by her mother and mother-in-law down a sea of people that parted in the lobby of the Chabad. Sarah was seated in a chair where she waited for Dustin and his entourage to dance and sing him down the aisle towards her. Sarah said, “He then put my veil over my face and we both knew that everything brought us to this exact moment. It was just a very special moment for both him and me.”
Destined to be together
Before meeting, both Sarah and Dustin did not plan to stay in Cleveland. According to Sarah, “ We feel as though we were destined to meet and put on this earth for one another. It was all meant to be.” The couple plans to stay in Cleveland and raise their family here.
Mike Manuel & Laura Miller
Wedding Date: July 4, 2010
College Sweethearts
The couple was introduced through friends in college at University of Delaware.
The Proposal
The couple was on a hike together when Mike proposed. Laura said, “The funny part is, as Mike started to propose I simultaneously started to share a running story with him. I realized after I started talking what was about to happen, but by that point he had to stop and then start again.” After the proposal the couple drove all night from Delaware to Ohio to share the good news in person with their family.
Guests from Near and Far
The most special memory for Laura and Mike was having all of their friends and family together. Many of their guests traveled from the east coast and from Switzerland where Mike was born and raised. Laura said, “From the ceremony, it was meaningful to hear the Rabbi capture the essence of our love and our path together.”
The Ketubah
The couple picked a Ketubah with a meaningful message and read it aloud to each other during the ceremony. The Ketubah is now framed and displayed in Mike and Lauras’ home.
Brittany Roth and Josh Neidus
Wedding Date: September 2, 2012
Buckeye, Wolverine United
Brittany and Josh both attended Beachwood City Schools, but it wasn’t until after they both graduated from college that they began dating. Josh attended University of Michigan and Brittany attended The Ohio State University. Josh was a grade above Brittany and completed a Master’s degree before returning home, so it was the same year that they both moved back to Beachwood.
The Proposal
According to Brittany, “He waited, like I had asked him to, to propose until I turned in my final research project to complete my doctoral degree.” It was a Saturday evening and Josh was taking Brittany out to celebrate her accomplishments. Brittany was running behind and Josh urged her to hurry up; “like he usually does,” according to Brittany.
Once she was finished getting ready, Josh proposed in their house before they left. Brittany remembers shouting, “ABSOLUETLY!”, and then afterwards yelling at him for letting her put on makeup before he proposed. Brittany exclaimed, “I was so excited, I called every family member on both sides and shouted…WE’RE ENGAGED!” Little did she know, her family was sitting at the restaurant waiting couple to arrive to surprise her! Brittany said, “It was an extremely wonderful and memorable evening.”
Wedding Day Anticipation
When asked what her favorite memory of their wedding day was, Brittany said, “ When we first got to see one another that day… there was just so much going on, I just wanted to see him and hug him because on that day, I couldn’t wait to have him standing next to me!”
Picture Perfect
Brittany enjoyed taking pictures and working with their photographers, Influx Photography. She was most excited to have all of her families together for the pictures. She said, “Family is so important to us and it is not often we have everyone together, so I cherish those moments.” The couple also took pictures underneath the evening sky’s blue moon. The pictures were used in their thank you cards.
Life After Wedding
Brittany received her Doctor of Audiology degree from the Northeast Ohio Au.D. Consortium in 2011 and has been working for Centers For Hearing Care, a private practice based out of Youngstown for the past three years. On November 1, 2012, they opened an office for her in Pepper Pike, so she could return to her hometown and help those where she is from. She is also a humanitarian, serving on mission trips both locally and globally in third world countries. Josh began his career working for Progressive as a pricing analyst shortly after their wedding. They have a dog, Braylon, and just recently adopted Diggler, one who was in need of a good home. They love Cleveland and plan to stay here a very long time.
Masada Siegel and Ari Marlar
October 28, 2012
Meeting
The couple met through a mutual friend at a museum-sponsored event.
Shabbat Engagement
Masada and Ari went to shul for Friday night Shabbat services. Afterwards, Masada went back to Ari’s house for dinner, where she was greeted with a dozen long stemmed red roses. Masada said, “He cooked me a beautiful meal and then got down on one knee and proposed to me after dinner.”
Wedding Day Highlight
When asked what her favorite wedding day moment was, Masada stated, “My wedding day was one of the most beautiful and meaningful days of my life. So many friends and family came to celebrate our special day from all over the world, from places like South Africa, Israel, Australia, Canada and Switzerland. One friend who is on active duty in Afghanistan took his two-week annual leave to come celebrate our wedding, and that just brought me to tears.”
The wedding of Carrie Bram and Kevin Ritter held on October 21, 2012 at the Wyndham Hotel in downtown Cleveland. All photos by Hunter Harrison of Hunter Photographic, a Cleveland wedding photographer. More on the web at www.HunterPhotographic.com.
Carrie Bram & Kevin Ritter
October 21, 2012
Match-Maker, Match-Maker..
The couple was first introduced through mutual friends- Jordan and Robin Weiss- in the summer of 2007, when Carrie moved back to Cleveland from Chicago to begin graduate school. Carrie met Jordan (the original half of their matchmaking couple) freshman year in college at Syracuse University and remained good friends after graduation. Kevin met Jordan in the MBA program at Baldwin-Wallace University. Jordan and Robin hosted several events at their home that summer where Kevin and Carrie got to know each other better.
Their first date was at Legacy Village where they shared stories of traveling to Europe over drinks and cheesecake.
The proposal
Carrie and Kevin planned a weekend trip to Niagara Falls in October 2011.The drive was a mere three hours from Cleveland but it took all of Kevin’s will not to scream “ENGAGEMENT” when border patrol asked him why we were coming into Canada. Carrie found this part out later.
The hotel that they stayed at was converted from an old dairy creamery. After settling in, they had dinner at the hotel’s five star restaurant.
After dinner, Carrie and Kevin walked down to the falls to see it lit up against the night sky. A few minutes after they arrived to the falls, Kevin said he had a very important question and asked Carrie to be his wife. Carrie was caught off guard and watched him take the ring out of his jacket and said “Sure!” Kevin laughed and asked if that was a yes and Carrie said, “Yes, yes, yes” and started jumping around. Carrie said, “The ring was sparkling under the stars and the falls were crashing behind us in the background.”
First Look
The couple did a “first look” with the photographer. It was the first time Kevin got to see Carrie in her dress and it allowed them to have a few minutes alone before the wedding-day festivities.
Q & A
The Rabbi had Carrie and Kevin answer five questions about each other separately a few weeks before their wedding and they were not allowed to read each other’s answers. The Rabbi incorporated their answers into the ceremony. According to Carrie, “ We had a lot of laughs during that part, our guests laughed a lot too. This helped make our ceremony so personal and reflective of who we are as individuals and together as a couple.”
First Dance
Carrie and Kevin danced to Ray Lamontagne, You are the Best Thing.The couple took ten weeks of dance lessons at Fred Astaire in Chagrin Falls. Carrie said, “We just had so much fun with it and it was so fun to show off our skills in front of all of our family and friends.” Carrie had a line from the song engraved on the inside of their wedding bands as a surprise to Kevin. Kevin’s says “You are the best thing” and Carrie’s says “Ever happened to me.”
A “Ring Pup”
Their dog Bella, a 10-pound yorkie-bichon mix, was the “Ring Pup, “ and was escorted by Carrie’s cousin’s daughter, Avery. Carrie’s mom made Bella’s dress and attached the rings to her back as she walked down the aisle.
Wedding Venue Bonus
According to Carrie, “The Wyndham staff, service and food was incredible. I would highly recommend them to anyone planning a wedding. They truly made our wedding day magical. “
The staff made Carrie and Kevin late night snacks, since they didn’t have much time to eat during the reception . Carrie said, “When we got back to the bridal suite, there were two pizza boxes, one said Mr. Ritter and one said Mrs. Ritter with our own pizzas, chocolate-covered strawberries and pretzels, and champagne.”