Marissa and William's Story From my Point of View: The piece was originally written for a Crate & Barrel $100,000 wedding contest while they were still waiting for visa approval in Tanzania. They did not win the contest but still managed to have a rockin’ wedding for under $1000 in New York’s Central Park on July 3rd, 2010. Wedding images are forthcoming.
After graduation from Cornell University, my sister Marissa Lipovsky (Rissa), wanted to work with inner city youth in NYC. She moved to the big city and began teaching with a program called NYC Teaching Fellows. She taught for three years all while saving up to travel the world for a year after her teaching commitment was complete. And that she did! The girls from her crew team all agreed in college that they would climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2008. Naturally she used this for the starting point of her year-long journey. She set out to travel all over and volunteer her teaching skills to many of the local schools throughout East, and South Africa, Thailand, Bali, Cambodia, and Vietnam however, she unexpectedly added much more to her one-year travel itinerary.
She arrived in Tanzania Aug 2008. Within two days she had managed to find the love of her life. I know this because I had a dream about it before she told anyone that she had met this amazing man.
Marissa met William while she was in the local village stocking up on supplies for her trip up Kili. William saw Marissa and suggested that she try on some of the clothes that he was selling. I hear that they both knew upon their eyes meeting that there was some reason that they had to talk to each other.
In just the fashion that my crazy little baby sister would - she ended up going back to William’s local village so that he could show her around. Little did she know, his village was a two-hour trip away. At dinner time Marissa didn't even realize (once again, typical) that it was dark and she had spent the entire day with William and his friend Good Luck. She also didn't know how to get back to town where she was to be meeting all of her friends for dinner. Hours and hours passed by, with no Rissa in sight. I hear that Kathleen and Robin two of her closest friends were absolutely terrified as she was nowhere to be found. Riss never told anyone that she was going to go see William’s village. She finally got home late that night once all of her terrified Cornellians were at home getting ready for bed.
When she walked through the door the girls knew that she was safe but they now wanted to kill her for disappearing and not telling anyone where she was going. But Riss was mentally somewhere else! She was glowing, she had the biggest smile on her face - and they knew, oh shit what did she just get herself into?
She told them the story of the nice young Tanzanian who took her around to the shops at the town they were in near the base of the mountain. And how he suggested that she come to visit his home. Not realizing that she had been gone for almost a day. She proceeded to talk about Williams hospitality, the food that they ate, the beautiful landscape, the bus ride, the beautiful little children that were running about, and this "Good Luck" character that was Williams best friend and house-mate.
Needless to say it was pretty certain that they had all had enough for the night. Marissa continued to talk to and visit William before and after she summitted Kili. But all too soon, for the two lovebirds, her time was up. She was scheduled to continue the rest of her travels. The first stop - The THANDA Project in South Africa. Even though she just met the love of her life, educating the most under funded and underserved children in the world was top priority for her. Off she went to SA to volunteer with THANDA, which means love in Zulu. She then proceeded to travel to south east Asia, spending a nightmarish few weeks doing a detoxifying cleanse in Thailand, many days and nights hiking, swimming, camping, getting food poisoning in Cambodia with her best friend and former roommate Jordan Tanksley, and multiple week long, silent meditation retreats.
She was planning on doing an entire tour of Europe. She met our brother in Ireland for a week of surfing and Guinness and our Mother in Amsterdam and they proceeded down to Italy where they decided to eat their way through Florence. All the while she had an insatiable urge to get back to Africa!
After almost two years and many, many, many, many back and forths about the globe. She and William have finally received a Visa to The States. The only issue is that they need to get married within three months of being in the country. Since Aleks and I planned our wedding in a month and a half in Manhattan I am sure that the timeframe is doable. However the cash that has been exhausted on this journey to find her soulmate and travel the world is not so easy to come by.
And if this contest doesn't work out a small, elegant ceremony and reception is sure to be just what these two lovebirds need to kick off their lives together in the US. We may have to do some fundraising though ;) Enjoy the images from Africa!
Marissa & William: The Beginning
Children From the Village
Magical Africa
Marissa: Coaching Boys Basketball at THANDA
Local Kids Making Ugali
William, Marissa and his Bebe
Le Toilette
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