Truss me, it's true love.

Tl;dr - Chris & Monica met in a parking lot. In Lot A, in Harrison, NJ to be exact. Shortly after they both started following the New York Red Bulls and joined the Empire Supporters Club, they met in this storied parking lot during a tailgate in early 2015 surrounded by their friends. After some intercession by a few of those friends, they finally went on a few dates. The dates led to attending parties, weddings and all of life's events together. Throw in some world travel and ultimately adopting a dog, and Chris & Monica got engaged in Poland in July of 2018. ⯎

There are a few versions of the "brama" tradition. Traditionally, when neighbors or friends know the couple is on their way to get married, they purposely block the road in funny and creative ways. Although less popular nowadays, people in small towns and villages still set it up. So-called gates ("brama") are made of people or some kind of barricades. They won't let the groom or couple pass the gate until they receive a bottle of vodka! Sometimes, in addition there's a challenge for the groom or couple to complete. It's one of the first tests for the soon-to-be husband and wife to get through on their new journey together. At our ceremony, you'll see a modified version of this tradition. The groom will be blocked and subject to trivia and games by close family and friends throughout the day. As soon as they successfully pass the "gates", it'll be time for the ceremony to start.

As soon as the new husband and wife exits the ceremony area, friends and family surround them and shower them with the coins they brought for this purpose. Think "throwing rice", but you're throwing quarters, nickels and dimes instead. The couple has to collect all the coins from the ground together. This is meant to bring a happy and prosperous life to the newlyweds. Picking up every coin together symbolizes working together to tackle every problem, and getting over the small things in life side by side. Think of it as the embodiment of dealing with what life throws at you and remembering you're surrounded and supported by those you love...even if sometimes those people are the ones contributing to your difficulties! NOTE: Some of our friends are getting extreme with this event, please only a couple of coins is necessary as there will be plenty of well wishers!

One of the oldest Polish wedding traditions is the welcoming with the bread and salt blessing. When the couple enters the venue, their parents / family members salt the bread. The bread is so that the couple may never experience hunger, while the salt reminds them of life's difficulties and the importance of getting through them together. The newlyweds take a bite and follow it by a shot of vodka. Traditionally the glasses are broken, but for safety we will part with tradition here.

The after-party after the after-party! This takes place the next day, and the traditional meaning of it is to "proprawic" or "fix" the fact that there's leftover food/drink from the wedding the day before, or your hangover. Our modified Poprawiny celebration will be at Forza Lucha on August 31st (the next day) before the New York Red Bulls game against the Colorado Rapids. Forza Lucha is a charity wrestling match put on every year by our soccer supporter's club, the Empire Supporters Club. Typically starts in the early afternoon and will be the official ESC tailgate until around 6:00pm right before game time at 7:00PM! All proceeds benefit charity and the show is a lot of fun. Please feel free to donate to this worthy cause which we support every year. To join us at Forza Lucha, please buy your tickets at https://squareup.com/store/empire-supporters-club To join us the game, please buy your tickets at https://www.newyorkredbulls.com/single You're also in luck, there is a special scarf giveaway with ticket purchases to this game! For the game, we will be in section 101 and if you feel like supporting the team by standing, singing, dancing and shouting the whole game (90 minutes plus half time) please join us by purchasing in sections 101, 102 or 133, we treat these sections as general admission and you can move pretty freely between them so long as you enter the correctly marked section. If that sounds like a lot for you, please feel free to purchase tickets anywhere else in the stadium - no seat is a bad seat in Red Bull Arena.

A symbolic ritual for the bride and the groom where they show their willingness to provide for each other and to share everything they have. A young attendant, usually a little boy, passes a tray with 13 coins to the priest. Then the priest blesses the coins and gives it to the groom and he in turn presents it to the bride. ⯎