Something special is happening this weekend.Â
As we all reflect on the last ten years in a post-9/11 world, with the upcoming ten-year anniversary of September 11th on Sunday, I have been given an amazing opportunity to share something truly wonderful with you. Something will be happening this Sunday, that will be SO FAR from what happened ten years ago on the same day, that it truly deserves notoriety.
On this Sunday, something that is the complete opposite and antithesis of evil, will be taking place. A celebration of selfless, unobstructed, love in the form of a wedding. Now, let me also mention that this isn’t just any wedding ~ it’s the wedding of a couple that has been personally affected by the horrors of September 11th and it is also the wedding of a couple that is not paying a single penny for their nuptials.
On September 11, 2011, Christine & Eddie (an Army vet serving in Europe during September 11th) will be married thanks to some insanely generous vendors & the Love and Liberty Giveaway at Musket Ridge Golf Club.
I was immediately taken with this story when Washington, DC wedding photographer, Cory Brodzinski, reached out to me about this amazing giveaway. Cory & I discussed the impact of September 11th on our own lives (we are both from northern NJ ~ practically NYC suburbs) and then discussed how important it was to give these wedding vendors the exposure they deserve for donating their time & services to such a wonderful cause.
However, I must admit, that I had had some opinions on people getting married on September 11th ~ sharing their wedding day with such a horrific, tragic day; I just couldn’t see why anyone would do it. And then, I read Christine & Eddie’s interview with Yahoo! News and my opinions melted away….
[Christine & Eddie] realize that a national day of grief and solemn remembrance will also become for them a celebration of friends, family, and hope.
“But the more I thought about it,” Christine says, “I was like, ‘You know what? If we don’t take that day back at some point and start celebrating something else, the terrorists win.’
Musket Ridge Golf Club opened the week before September 11th & the Love and Liberty giveaway was intended to celebrate the service and sacrifice of the military and 9/11 first responders.
“We noticed this 9/11 phenomenon where a civilian is reluctant to do anything on 9/11 that resembles a party,” says Damon DeVito, managing director of Affinity Management, which operates Musket Ridge. “But when you talk to first responders and the military, a lot of them feel the opposite. It’s like they’ve risked their lives defending freedom. … They’re not giving the terrorists this day on their calendar.
 There. Right there – that is what hit me the most. If the very people who risked their lives to save others on this day, ten years ago, want us to celebrate the freedom they fight for – then who am I to hold a different opinion about weddings on this day?
The couple will have an all-American theme to the wedding, which only seems appropriate given the day, occasion, and fact that most of their friends are military members.
“I’m just happy to share that day and make it something memorable, not for it to be a day of grief anymore,” Christine says. “Good things will still happen on that day.”
Check back this afternoon for Christine & Eddie’s Washington, DC engagement session at the National Portrait Gallery & a ton more next week on the amazing vendors that will donate their time and services this weekend.
3 comments
I am a friend of the father-of-the-bride, I don’t personally know the soon to be newlyweds, but I’m very happy for their good fortune. This family has had their share of crosses to bear in the past in the form of illness and unemployment, struggling as many of us have been in “these bad times”. It is wonderful to know they will be able to have the wedding of their dreams, free of charge, a day to bring friends and family together for a happy celebration. Christine is right that we need to “take back the day” and not let them win. I wish them all the best!