Taylor Ann Ackerman and Ross Edward Steinberg were married on the beach at the Village Suites Bay Harbor in Northern Michigan on Saturday, July 13, 2024. Taylor wore a white lace dress with a rose print, parasol, veil and pearl necklace, and Ross wore a custom black tuxedo with a boutonniere.

I don’t usually take requests from readers. I’m not a hotel lounge pianist, let alone a wedding storyteller. Once you start, it never ends. But a certain esteemed couple asked me to write an announcement. I’m honoring their request because, well, as their wedding approached and I didn’t want to be a source of trouble, as I often do, I came up with my Three Wedding Rules, which I’d like to share with you now because they’ve been so helpful: 1) None of this is about me. 2) Do what the bride wants. 3) Don’t argue with anyone about anything.

The wedding party was barefoot in the sand. They wore tan suits and eucalyptus dresses. The flowers were muted roses and orchids. The weather was perfect. The bride’s brother, Brennan, officiated the interfaith ceremony. Ross’ brother Kent was best man and Taylor’s sister Ellie was maid of honor. Our dog Kitty and Taylor’s family dog ​​Rosie were the flower girls.

Every wedding is news. The marriage rate in the US is falling rapidly – one in four Americans over 40 has never been married. This couple bucked the trend because, well, love. Every speech at the wedding was about them.

At the reception, the couple danced their first dance under a tent to “Say Yes to Heaven” by Lana Del Rey. Their table decorations were their favorite books. Their tables were named after board games and their cocktails were named after childhood pets – including an NA cocktail that the groom’s father loved. The couple danced the Hora, held up on chairs, Jewish style. As darkness fell, much of the wedding party, including the bride and groom, celebrated in the lake, a typical Gatsby touch.

Sun-Times readers have read about Ross throughout his life. He and Taylor first met on a Friday night in the fall of 2019 at a board game club at New York University School of Law. The two were playing Wingspan in the basement of NYU Law’s D’Agostino Hall.

The groom, 28, of Northbrook, Illinois, graduated from Pomona College in 2018 and from NYU Law in 2021. After graduating from law school, he worked as a litigator at a New York law firm and then as a law clerk in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco before joining the Federal Trade Commission’s Washington office as an antitrust attorney.

During the COVID spring of 2020, NYU Law began conducting online classes, which brought Ross to our couch. He spent several hours each day talking on the phone and playing online board games. My wife knew from the way his tone changed that something special was happening.

“He’s FLIRTING with someone,” she told me, combining the verb with surprise and delight. “I can hear it in his voice.” For a while, the mysterious woman was “T” – my boy jealously guards information, perhaps to prevent it from ending up in the newspaper.

The bride, 29, from Charlevoix, Michigan, is a graduate of Central Michigan University. She received a master’s degree in global affairs from NYU with a concentration in international law and human rights in 2018 and graduated from NYU law school in 2022. She works for the Legal Aid Society’s tenant defense unit in the Bronx.

When 2021 arrived, Taylor had a name and Ross was visiting her parents’ house in Michigan. In the interest of fairness, the couple came here and stayed with us for seven weeks. A great way to get to know a person – over a cup of coffee in the kitchen or on the drive to Springfield for the first vaccination.

“She is a very polite and thoughtful young lady who obviously thinks highly of Ross,” I wrote in my diary. My wife simply thought of her as “cheerful.” Taylor’s father is a businessman – she grew up all over the world: South Korea, Germany, Singapore. I knew my wife and I were in the thick of it when Easter rolled around, and we asked what we needed for the holiday: daffodils and a cake in the shape of a lamb. They gave each other baskets.

The wedding has been going on for a month now and I’m starting to think it will last forever. My wife describes the wedding with the adjective “magical”, but I prefer “perfect”.