When Michael and Rachel first reached out about doing a pizza tour, they had a perfect plan. First they would get married at the City Clerk’s office, then their friends would assemble outside to celebrate with them on a pizza tour. Sounds ideal, but I was skeptical. Can you really count on a city agency to run exactly on time? I don’t think so. That’s why I called up Michael and Rachel with a proposal of my own: let me officiate the wedding.
This wasn’t my first rodeo. I’ve officiated at least 8 weddings before this one, mostly for friends and family. And this wasn’t even my first pizza-related wedding. Check out this video for that story, featuring my friends Mark and Jenny from Pizza School NYC. But this most certainly was the first time I ever constructed my dream pizza tour wedding, in which each stop featured a different portion of the ceremony.
It was beautiful. Parents made speeches over coal-fired pizza at Table 87; vows were exchanged over Grandma Pizza at Il Porto; and the lovely couple said their “I Dos” at the base of the Williamsburg Bridge in Domino Park while I munched on a beautiful slice from Wylie Dufresne’s Stretch Pizza.Â
The whole thing kicked off at Keste down by South Street Seaport. I explained the plan for the day since Michael and Rachel didn’t tell everyone exactly what would be happening. They just knew to show up at a pizzeria. Then we dove into the tour component, in which I explained the early history of pizza by demonstrating how and why the first pizzas may have been made.
It wouldn’t be a complete education without getting our hands on some dough, so Rachel and Michael did some collective dough stretching. Pretty good practice for marriage, right?
By the time we left Keste, everyone was fully on board and excited for the adventure. Off to Brooklyn we went, to Table 87 in Gowanus for some coal-fired pizza. This was the stop for speeches, so the parents had an opportunity to say a few words about Rachel and Michael. I may have made a speech as well, but it had to do with the transition of pizza from the soft wheat of Italy to the hard wheat of the US as Neapolitans brought the concept of pizza to North America.
Next up was Il Porto on Washington and Flushing Ave (Brooklyn). We talked about tradition while eating Grandma Pizza in the lovely dining room. This is when things got serious with the wedding ceremony. Rachel and Michael exchanged vows. It was so beautiful!
As we rolled up to the final stop, the clouds started to get heavy. My eyes were on the weather radar because this was going to be the dramatic culmination of the wedding. I had carefully scouted a perfect spot in Domino Park for the final Declaration of Intent and ring exchange. If things worked out they way I had planned, we’d have time for some great photos with the East River bridges and Manhattan skyline in the background, all while sporting slices from Stretch Pizza.
I had been coordinating with Stretch via text as we pulled up, so the pizzas were set to emerge from the oven as we walked in. We made it just in time to see the post-bake finishings of parmiggiano reggiano, extra virgin olive oil, and basil. Just as these elements came together to form a harmonious mixture, Michael and Rachel’s lives were merging to form a new unit! So exciting! We grabbed slices and ran out to the waterfront for some amazing photos. Then the clouds parted as we culminated the ceremony with an exchange of rings. Everyone in that park was probably taken aback by the sudden wedding ceremony that appeared out of nowhere. Then again, it’s NYC. Much stranger things happen every second.
