Anne and Ben met at a mutual friend’s birthday party. The birthday girl, Erin, talked each of them up to each other. They started chatting and completely hit it off! Ben contacted Anne the next day, and they went on a double date to a concert with Erin and her boyfriend (now fiancée!) that night. After the concert, Ben walked Anne home. They stayed up all night talking (literally until the sun rose)—and the rest is history!
Give us the proposal details! When? Where? How?
Ben proposed on July 8, 2016 at the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York City. Every summer we go to Coney Island to a Brooklyn Cyclones Minor League game theme night (2015 was Seinfeld Night and 2016 was Full House Night). For this trip, Ben recommended going up early and spending a night in Manhattan, so we did!
He wouldn’t tell me where we were staying, so I had no idea until we got in a taxi at Penn Station and he said “Gramercy Park Hotel.” When we got to the hotel, the room was covered with roses, rose petals, champagne—the works! My brother had recently been diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer, and Ben told me that with everything going on, he wanted me to know that he loved me very much, that he would always be there for me and my family no matter what, and that he wanted me to know how serious he was when he said that, and then he proposed!
To me, joy is about celebrating each other—not just birthdays and anniversaries, but smaller every day events—and not taking each other for granted.
I said yes. There were happy tears, hugs, kisses and champagne. We celebrated at dinner that night with some friends who live in Manhattan, and the next day had a delicious brunch, a walk in Gramercy Park, and went to the Cyclones game in Coney Island!
What has been your favorite experience planning the wedding?
Our engagement photo shoot. It was really great to get to know our photographer (and her husband who will be our videographer) and to also get some practice getting comfortable in front of the camera. Plus, Ben and I were required to hold hands, hug and kiss for an hour or two on a beautiful day. There are MUCH worse ways to spend an afternoon!
How do you stay sane under the pressures of wedding planning?
Ben and I are lucky enough to have several friends who are getting married this year, so we have people who are experiencing the same things at the same time. We are all having very different weddings, but it’s nice to have folks to share notes, trials and tribulations with.
What is your favorite part of using Joy for your wedding?
That it’s so easy! I’m no computer genius and even I can figure it out. I love the preview feature and that there is a template to get you started, but you can personalize it for your specific needs.
What piece of advice would you give couples to ensure that they use Joy to its fullest potential?
I set up our website right after we booked our wedding venue, which was a full year before our wedding date. (It was so early that even Ben, who knows I’m a planner, was surprised.) At that point, we just had basic facts—the wedding date, site, our story and our wedding party, but it ended up being the best thing I could have done because before we knew it, it was time to send out Save the Dates!
At Joy we believe that even though a wedding lasts a day, joy should last forever. What does that mean to you?
To me, joy is about celebrating each other—not just birthdays and anniversaries, but smaller every day events—and not taking each other for granted. Doing little things: leaving cards or notes for the other, making the bed every morning because you know it makes the other person happy, remembering that the other person is making the bed every day JUST to make you happy. If you remember to do that, I think you’ll have joy every day—forever!
