A Fun Run: From the NYT Wedding Section

I haven't been that consistent with my reflections on oddities, fun items and just plain good old stories from the New York Times' Wedding Section.

Here's one from today:

Dena Elyse Rosenberg, a daughter of Denise Rosenberg and Gary M. Rosenberg of Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., was married Saturday evening to Thaddeus Marcus Verhoff, a son of Gwendolyn Z. Verhoff of Washington and Dennis F. Verhoff of Reva, Va. Rabbi Edward Schecter officiated at Guastavino’s, an event space in New York.

...The bride and bridegroom met over the Fourth of July weekend in 1996, when Ms. Rosenberg and a friend stayed in Washington as houseguests of Mr. Verhoff’s oldest friend. Ms. Rosenberg and Mr. Verhoff saw each other now and then over the years and even kissed five years later at a wedding. But they were seeing others and were in different cities.

In 2005, both were unattached when Mr. Verhoff contacted Ms. Rosenberg. That led to a date on New Year’s Eve, which eventually led to repeated train travel between New York and Washington.

Mr. Verhoff moved to New York in 2007, and by that summer he and Ms. Rosenberg had devised a list of joint goals: lose weight, get new jobs, and become engaged.

“We were taking a gut check,” Mr. Verhoff said. “ We had to step back and see what we were really talking about and make sure we were heading in the same direction.”

The year, however, ended without an engagement. When they both went to her grandmother’s bat mitzvah ceremony — something her grandmother had delayed until the age of 84 — their rabbi got into the act.

Mr. Verhoff recalled being taken aside by Rabbi Schecter, the same rabbi who led yesterday’s ceremony, who asked: “Are you just going to live together or get married?”

He reassured the rabbi by saying, “Things are in the works, don’t worry.’

A week later, during a run with Ms. Rosenberg in Central Park, he got down on one knee and proposed.

Totally off guard, Ms. Rosenberg agreed, told him to “shut up,” and then punched his shoulder, she remembered.

As they resumed their run, Ms. Rosenberg glanced in disbelief at the ring on her finger and giggled hysterically.

Nice going, Rabbi.