A quick flashback to our (fiance and my) chance meeting: One Tuesday night, after U.N. chorus rehearsal, I changed my usual routine of going to one of my regular tango spots then, off to karaoke somewhere in Times Square. Instead, I headed to the Upper East Side for an open mic night and coincidentally ran into my sassy, elderly friend… a very cool lady, at least, in her 80s, always in fashionable mini-skirts and dresses, flashy jewelry and at just under five feet, very high, platform shoes. We’ll call the native New Yorker “M”… others refer to her as, “The Mayor of the East Side” due to the night owl’s achieved popularity through partying with everyone from age 18 to 118 and her often being spotted at the local diner (where Li’l Kim has even visited) at six in the morning after a night out on the town.
But I digress…
“M” convinced me to not be sheepish about singing a song with the band that was there then, persuaded me to go with her to another venue around the corner. We arrived at a wonderfully seedy karaoke joint. On the inside of the entrance stood my soon-to-be sweetheart who exclaimed, “Hello!” I returned the greeting then, dodged him for five minutes or so because he looked like a “suit”, only out for a good time. I was wrong. When he finally approached me to strike up a conversation, we immediately clicked and were together at that bar for the rest of the night.
Three days later, we had our first date. Afterwards, Masatoshi (a.k.a. “Mike” or my “Hot Sake”) said that even though it was too soon to say, he knew that I was his “dream one”. After our second date (11 days in) my honey-bunny told me that he loved me and asked that I be his girlfriend. The third date, on the Fourth of July (18 days in), my love suggested that if we were still together in a year and all was well that we get married. I agreed. That was around nine months ago. We skipped the year thing because it has just been that natural and simple… and no greencard or shotgun wedding was needed! Hahahaa…
The wedding plans begin!
Once we became officially engaged, I knew that we’d have to tie the knot this year, during my favorite season, Fall, as it would have the best date that we could ever have for a spiritual union…10/10/10; It just seems like a powerful, mystical day!
I planned my (our) wedding before meeting the groom and as I told my guy, it conveniently means that all he has to do is show up! Haha…
One of the first things that I chose was to have the wedding in the secret garden of the Conservatory Gardens of Central Park, NY. I discovered it years ago while walking my dog, and loved how it was so secluded, intimate and whimsical… It all reminded me of “Alice in Wonderland” with all of these spectacular flowers surrounding two benches, one on either side of a fountain with a statue of little girl and boy playing in the water. It’s perfect for 20 or 30 people to gather around for a ceremony.
We’re on a tight budget, but naturally, want to look as stylish as possible for less. I’m kind of thinking of it as a sort of H&M (appropriately named) department store kind of fiesta. With that said, I started to hunt around for my groom’s outfit that would be elegant, but inexpensive.
Even though I met him in a suit, he doesn’t like them so, realized that it would be perfect to have him in a very regal, white or cream Indian pyjama (or “sherwani”) set with beautiful gold embroidery, a sexy Mandarin collar and no necktie in sight! To my pleasant surprise, such wedding/ special occasion ensembles for men usually run between $95 to $300.
He put up a fight for a few minutes saying, “But hEiDi, I’m not Indian!” My response was, “No, but technically, you’re both Asian.” I then showed him a picture of actor, Chow Yun Fat dressed as royalty in a similar outfit and got him to agree. 🙂
I have no interest in wearing white… never liked the color on me so, have decided to go for an antique gold-colored garment. I was heading in the direction of a Grecian-style dress, but am more and more convinced to buy a beautiful, Indian sari particularly because they’re breath-taking, easy to get in virtually any color that I’d like and without any effort will have all Autumn hues of gold, rust, burgundy… even teal, that I’d like for our decor. To my shock, the women’s formal wear are as equally inexpensive as the men’s wear, ranging from $65 to $600.
Future “baby-daddy” (heehee) is terribly allergic to most metal jewelry. So, we decided to have our rings made out of black titanium… hypoallergenic and non-traditional. I have a tango friend who is a jewelry designer and about to do a trunk show with Henri Bendel who has agreed to design them. I don’t want an engagement ring or diamond so, will have an extra wide band that matches hubby’s, but with either a greenish~blue sapphire, tanzanite or other blue-hued stone for a little bling. We’ll also have a Japanese character of his family name engraved inside.
For fun, we’re planning to get a party bus with a dancer pole inside to drive us and our guests to and fro’ the ceremony.
We’re looking at having a cocktail party reception (with a possible buffet) at this Greek joint that I frequent to dance tango, as well as, attend Mediterranean night with a live, Greek band and bellydancing. I’m also planning to have a bright-colored “Whimsy” cake that looks very obnoxious and gawdy with flowers and pearls made from icing with three tiers that are basically stacked lopsided to look like they’re about to fall.
As party favors, there will be cotton candy, half pink and blue, to represent boy/ girl LOVE and other fun stuff like tiramisu and chocolate fondue to make the guest feel like they’re at a carnival.
I’m going to surprise my sweetheart with a choreographed tango dance with one of my instructors.
For our wedding song, we’ve chosen a funky tune by Nikka Costa called, “Stuck to You”. Fiance didn’t care for it, at first, but quickly got tickled when he heard her say, “If you a king, I be your kong.” He now refers to us as “Team Kong”. Hahaha… Anyway, seeing as he’s not a big dancer, I figure that we can have a good time with him being the stem to my flower as I dance around him.
Oh yeah, I made a “WEDDING STUFF” playlist in my iTunes with (so far) two and a half hours of lovey-dovey music with a splash of salsa, tango, big band, alternative, Frank Sinatra and Chaka, Chaka… Chaka Khan!!!!
And, finally… one of my “gay husbands”, from Italy, will be my “man-of-honor”, in charge of the bridesmaids; No other bossy chicks allowed, but me! Hahahaa…
THE END.
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(*First published as “hEiDivaChocolate!” a.k.a. “Heidi Rodney” on different site. Edited and posted to http://www.ChocolateGeishaGiggles.com on August 1, 2011)
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