![\"victorian](\"https:\/\/hometeamproductions.tv\/wordsworks\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/victorian-courtship.jpeg\")
<\/a>We’ve come a long, long way from Victorian tradition, when a gentleman must request permission for his beloved’s hand from her father, and if approved, then propose to her on bended knee.\u00a0 And that’s just the beginning of an exhaustingly ginormous list of rules, from how to announce the betrothal, to how many parties must ensue and who will throw them, and in what, if any, circumstances may the happy couple enjoy each other’s company alone.<\/p>\nTimes have changed.\u00a0 Nowadays it seems that all the rules were made to be broken, though many prefer to take what they like from traditional mandates, and throw the rest away.\u00a0 It makes for some pretty creative proposals.\u00a0 We’ve all seen them on YouTube (since we all capture pretty much our every move on the iPhone in this post-modern era).\u00a0 Cavorting, lip synching crowds of relatives, friends, co-workers leaping from behind the shrubs to serenade the bride-to-be before the proposal is made and the cork is In my own experience, it really was love at first sight.\u00a0 We met in an acting class, Vic and I.\u00a0 It was bleak February.\u00a0 He had a deep tan, compliments of a recent sojourn to a sunny isle, and his eyes were as blue as a Caribbean sea.\u00a0 Be still my heart.<\/p>\n The acting thing didn’t work out, but that was fine, because we did.\u00a0 I suppose we figured we’d tie the knot eventually, but it wasn’t until we were three years in and living together for two of them that the die was cast.<\/p>\n When I returned home, dress box in hand, I repeated the process for Vic.\u00a0 “Dude,” I said.\u00a0 “This is a summer dress.\u00a0 Time to set a date.”\u00a0 He made no argument.\u00a0 Perhaps he was stunned into silence at the blindsiding.<\/p>\n We were married three months later, at the Columbia University Faculty House.\u00a0 It was Sometimes people ask, “But what if it didn’t work?”\u00a0 What if he had said, as I twirled in our stifling living room in my new gossamer dress, ‘No way, Dude!\u00a0 Bring it back!’\u00a0 Moot point now, though I have to admit, it was a little ballsy.<\/p>\n Love comes first.<\/p>\n When it comes to the huge decision to share a life with another, first comes love.\u00a0 It may sneak up on you and hit you like a wrecking ball; it could evolve over the fullness of time and shared values … Continue reading <\/a>popped on the champagne.\u00a0 A ring slipped on her finger as the sun goes down over the ocean.\u00a0 A scavenger hunt through favorite places until that certain little box is proffered at a destination significant to the couple.\u00a0 And then some.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>It was the sultry summer of 1981.\u00a0 I was running errands on the Upper West Side, where we were living.\u00a0 And then I saw it, in a boutique window, a gauzy ivory confection by Jessica McClintock, all sorts of Edwardian, with bits of lace at the neck and elbows.\u00a0 I slipped into the cool interior of the shop and tried the dress on.\u00a0 It fit perfectly.\u00a0 I held my hair up (allowing some tresses to dangle about my face and neck) and spun, staring into the\u00a0 three-way mirror.\u00a0 I was an ethereal stranger to myself.\u00a0 I liked that.<\/p>\n<\/a>my dream wedding, a dream I didn’t even know I’d had.\u00a0 A potent combination of setting, the perfect September morning, and sharing our joy with our closest family and friends made the occasion nothing short of magical.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"