All of the adults of Eyrealm have just had the time of our lives in New York City! For us there couldn’t be anything more fun in this world than having all our adult children in one of our favorite cities on earth…for the seventh wedding of Eyrealm!
Most of us arrived on Saturday night for a wonderful dinner at a Thai Restaurant. Sadly, I didn’t get any pictures but just sitting there, just talking to our adult children and enjoying fabulous food during “Restaurant Week” in New York was just to die for!
After that, ten of us who hadn’t seen In The Heights on Broadway, went! It was such a terrific show and we enjoyed seeing Washington Heights from the view of the Immigrants who settled it. Of course the script as well as the singing and dancing were brilliant! Dad and Eli charged out to the US Open, which was happily happening on the wedding weekend.
On Sunday morning we were joined at church by Anita’s parents who had arrived from Switzerland just a few days prior to help Anita pack up her apartment and take in New York for the 4th time! Her father had come I believe in 1997 to run the NY Marathon with Anita and they have visited several times since. It was such a delight for our children to finally meet these bright and wonderful people who we have been raving about ever since we met them in June. We are so grateful that they have produced this spectacular woman who was about to become part of our family!
That afternoon they joined us for a simple lunch at a Brownstone owned by friends of Noah and Kristi. They own the building but rent out the top two floors. It just happened to be empty on the four days that we were there and was one of the great blessings of our visit!
Here are “the girls” on the steps of this wonderful place:
This provided us not only an absolutely perfect place to gather for lunch but a great spot to practice our song for the wedding dinner AND to a place to have a brief birthday party with tributes to Dad on Sunday night for his birthday next month, when the kids won’t be able to be with him!
In the afternoon we strolled to Central Park and enjoyed the Metropolitan Museum of art with everyone showing up at different times and in different places. What a view of The Big Apple!
It was especially fun to be on the roof which always has some wild art exhibit and especially to be there with darling McKay:
This crazy piece of art just makes you feel like jumping for joy!
Next we wandered through the park and found a perfect enormous tree limb found by Kristi to use for “the next generation limb picture”. It was hilarious AND precarious and since the real photographers took the pictures, we’ll have to wait until thanksgiving to see those!
There’s no place quite like Central Park on a Sunday afternoon for pure pleasure and relaxation:
Although it looks as though Noah is laying on a sharp rock!
Cute Eli!
Great family time for both generations:
On Monday, everyone went their own way to explore the things they wanted to see in NY. Eveyone had their own adventure! Dad and I went off to buy Five Finger Shoes…the new idea for making your feel that you’re walking barefoot wherever you go…with a little protection.
From there I went straight to Whole Foods where we I gathered up food with the celebrities of Chelsea for a picnic in a beautiful garden owned by the place that Tal has been living for the past two years. It was a small intimate garden and we all enjoyed a nice little dinner there with Mr. London, Tal’s roommate as the host.
It was an evening we will never forget as we had a chance to meet Anta’s sister and brother who added to the depth of what we know about Anita. Terrific young parents who, true to form, speak several languages fluently and conversed in English with us as though it was their mother tongue, even though they were born and raised in Switzerland. Truly AMAZING!
Our beloved Adam and Eva (who doubled as our official photographer) also arrived with Ian, London and Skye for the festivities. At the end of the evening we shared such funny and dear family stories about the newlyweds to be. It was a great time to relax and kick back on Labor Day…the night before the wedding and just enjoy some tender moments with both families. It was so memorable just being being together in that lovely garden!
Afterward the guys took off with Tal for a short “bachelor party” and I walked along the Skyline Walk with the girls. It was a breathtaking walk along concrete filled with wild grasses and beautiful plants as we viewed that gorgeous city at night. Such fun with four darling daughters:
And three Incomparable In-Laws…soon to be joined by a fourth:
The next morning was THE DAY! Since the wedding wasn’t until 1:30 the guys joined Tal for breakfast and the girls and I went to scrumptious MFME brunch at Sarabeth’s our way to the temple. We’re missing Kristi who was helping Anita at the temple.
The wedding ceremony was beyond description in beauty and simplicity. What a joy to be there in the temple of the Lord in the middle of Manhattan with all our children and six spouses along with the bride and groom. A moment to treasure in our minds forever!
Afterward we waited outside of the temple and took pictures of each couple while we waited for the bride and groom to immerge:
Josh refused to have his picture taken by himself…I don’t blame you Josh! So here’s one of him with Eli from the day before:
Yikes! We didn’t get one of Noah and Kristi either…they were helping…which lasted ALL weekend. Here’s one of them from “the limb” on Sunday.
Could there be happier parents on earth. We are truly blessed!
The bride and groom immerged and we cheered the beautiful couple!
The real photographers will be posting their spectacular pictures but this one just says it all for me! At last, they have each other forever!
Our fun little flock of photographers took every possible angle of picture of every moment from that moment on!
Tal…continually helping with the train!
From Lincoln Center we walked down the busy streets and amazing buildings of New York
And on to Central Park where we met Anita’s family and friends and proceeded to take thousands of pictures in the park.
Every step of the entourage was photographed and people were commenting along that way that “they must be famous because they have at least eight major photographers!
Those pictures will be coming later but here are a few that I snapped with my little “point and shoot”!
Funny brothers…jumping with joy (action too fast for my little camera but you get the idea):
And adoring sisters loving that beloved brother Talmadge:
It was splendorous! That night we gathered at a restaurant perfect for the occasion in Brooklyn for an inspirational ring ceremony at 6:00. The temple ceremony was explained and words of wisdom abounded. Anita’s father walked her down the aisle of very special friends and family.
Tal and Anita and her parents then hosted an amazing, almost divine four course dinner with attention to EVERY detail. Wild flowers and grasses had been gathered in upstate NY by Anita’s friends and adorned both the gorgeous white room upstairs where the ceremony took place and the room for the dinner guests. Drinks (soft) were served in a beautiful garden while we visited with Anita’s interesting and delightful friends and some of Tal’s dearest friends as well!
Shoot I cut off the chocolate mousse at the end which was truly to die for!
Fun questionaires about what the future might hold for Talmadge and Anita were filled out and and and there were toasts which included their “meeting story”,(Noah and Kristi) “engagement story” (Saydi) and their “Binanca Story” (Jeff)…inside story…ask about it sometime… as well as some fun stories from Tal and Anita’s friends who were all so interesting and delightfully diverse!
The entire party then went back upstairs where the chairs had been re-arranged for some fun slide shows and video presentations! I must say that Anita’s father stole the show with his fun slide presentation of Anita’s childhood presented with such grace and humor that we were all in stitches!
After a few slides of Tal’s childhood, Noah included video clips of Tal’s spectacular efforts at the championship game that clinched the Weber Wildcats’ place at the Big Dance…which beautifully showed Tal’s ability to have a dream and somehow make it come to pass!
The capstone of the evening was a surprise and a perfect finale. Tal and Anita thanked everyone in that cozy white room and then, with Tal in his handsome black suit and Anita in her stunning wedding dress,together they read an exquisite poem by Pablo Naurda from a book of poetry given to Tal by Anita with beautiful music from The Postman in the background that absolutely took us all to heaven. I can hardly even write about it without splashing tears on my computer keys! It was absolutely magical!
It was a magnificent and treasured evening that none of us will ever forget!
