I always knew where my wedding was going to be. I was a counselor at a day camp and somehow we ended up at the Manhattan Beach Jewish Center in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, New York. It was elaborate and very posh. I came home and told my mother I found the place for my wedding. Mind you, I wasn’t even dating anyone seriously at the time. Those details are insignificant in the imagination of any girl, though. Girls always picture themselves in the dress, walking down the long aisle while everyone is murmuring their “oooohhh, how beautiful she is”, then gliding on the ballroom floor with the man who is the most wonderful, handsome, devoted, adoring husband ever. Who he is, usually, doesn’t have to be determined right away when any girl is dreaming about herself as a bride. We just know he’s out there, somewhere, waiting to sweep us off our feet.
My wedding was at the Manhattan Beach Jewish Center on June 24, 1978, just as I had planned, with its spiral staircase leading up to the bridal suite, marble floors, and sparkling chandeliers. Fancy, fancy, fancy. I didn’t care so much about the wedding dress but I did want to be surrounded by elegance.
Lindsay and Scott have very different taste. They like homey, Victorian, cozy places. They see a glittering chandelier and shiny marble floors and they turn to each other and just shake their heads. The only fancy thing Lindsay requires is that they each be served a lobster dinner, in which the lobster is cracked for them, and all they have to do is fork it into their mouths, while their guests just eat the usual beef filet, chicken, or salmon. This is probably my fault, since my husband and I once ordered in a lobster dinner for our seventh wedding anniversary. Lindsay was three at the time and woke up, probably from hearing us cracking the lobster. She was very curious to know what it tasted like, so we gave her a piece. She was hooked from that time on. Lobster is her favorite food and is necessary for her very special day. The one other thing Lindsay requires is pretty chairs- very important. The minute she sees the wrong kind of chairs, she says, “Nope, don’t like the chairs”, and we move on.
We started to look for the venue before Lindsay got her ring, because she was so anxious to get things started. Remember, this was the girl who was born three weeks early. Looking at halls gets to be very routine after a while. They show you the room for the cocktail hour, the ballroom, the bridal suite, where you can have the ceremony, the bathrooms, the bar, etc., etc. Everything’s the same and everything’s different. We went to one place where the ceremony would be overlooking the water; it’s just that the other side was overlooking the parking lot. Another place, where the ceremony was overlooking the water, you had to cross a busy street to get there. They actually stop the traffic to get your guests across- like ducks crossing the road! And you meet all kinds of banquet managers- ones who sound like robots, ones who are just boring, ones who are just plain bored, ones who insist that they have the best deal ever and talk and talk and talk. The relationship you develop with the banquet manager really helps you decide if you are going to book the place or not. We found who we feel is the best banquet manager, ever- Vicky. She’s funny, she’s honest, she’s real and she nicknames all her couples. Lindsay and Scott are, of course, the “Lobster Couple”. The most important thing about this place is that I know Lindsay pictured herself being the bride there- just like I pictured myself being the bride at the Manhattan Beach Jewish Center. The only difference is that she had the groom right there to imagine it with her. Done.
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