I saw a rainbow when I saw you

On the most beautiful, sunny, warm day in November, we got married in my family's church. Following this, we had a small dinner celebrating our love at my parent's home. While we could not have asked for a more perfect and special day, we certainly did miss having all of our loved ones close. We are asking that you all start preparing for our reception to be held on our one year anniversary! We're looking forward to dancing the night away with our friends and family and to celebrating one year of being Mr. and Mrs. Granata!

September 3rd: Eric and I have been so touched by the love and support we've received from all of our family and friends. As we have hit many additional wedding roadblocks, we have decided that it is time to make the difficult call to scale back our wedding. Our new venue can no longer accommodate our needs, and we are too worn out by the process to deal with the let down again should we find another venue. We will still be getting married at my family church on November 20th, 2020 and will have a live stream set up for those who are not immediate family or in our bridal party. We ask that you save the date of November 20th, 2021 to properly celebrate during our postponed reception. Thank you for your understanding and we wish you continued health.

Hi all, Anna here. I’m going to fill you in on the way Eric and I met. For the better part of my life, I’ve been going to a Slovenian Polka festival called Slovenefest. It’s been a long-standing tradition in my family since the SNPJ fraternal organization originally started hosting these festivals.. Eric started going a few years ago with his friends as a way to reconnect with his polka heritage, learn some new music, and enjoy some time with his friends away from work and city life. We had gone to at least 3 of the same festivals and never crossed paths or remember ever seeing each other. During Slovenefest 2016, I was at the Gostilna (the bar) and noticed a guy in a blue “Absolut Polka” shirt. I walked up to him and asked him if I could take a picture of his shirt and, of course, he said “Yes!” Eric asked me to dance, and we eventually parted ways after I gave him a kiss on the cheek. The next day, I was doing what any good Slavic girl would be doing on a Sunday, serving beer. Eric found me and came through the line more times than either of us would care to admit, picking up our conversation with each beer. Once I was done, Eric asked me if I wanted to go and watch the last band of the festival with him. I told him that I’d love to, but that I needed to go get freshened up. I never showed. After I got ready, I sat down for a few minutes and fell asleep after spending the day dancing and working. When I woke up, it was dark and the music had ended, but I was happy to realize that I had already given Eric my number and started waiting for him to reach out. He never did. Eric assumed that I didn’t show as a way to let him know that I wasn’t interested, but I was! After a few days, I found Eric on Facebook and threw out a “Hi! How are you?” message. Thankfully, he responded. Eventually, we ended up meeting for drinks in the basement of Caliente's in Bloomfield and, as they say, the rest is history.

Eric proposed on a trip to Gatlinburg, TN. I had had a particularly trying week at work and was not in a good mood at all. Trying to cheer me up (and propose as it turns out), he took me to dinner, for coffee, and to play mini golf. True to form, I was not picking up any signals from him at all. All of the extra long hugs and pauses where he was trying to ask me, I kept talking through or was generally complaining. Eventually, I suggested just grabbing a bottle of wine and going back to our room to take in the views of the Smokies and watch the sun set. I went inside to grab the bottle of wine and when I turned around, Eric was standing there waiting to grab my hands. Again, true to form, I was still completely oblivious. It wasn’t until he knelt down that it finally all hit me! After a “What are you saying?!” and a bunch of crying, I said “Yes!” I spent the rest of our trip staring at my hand and smiling like crazy. Our relationship started with a question and a “Yes!” and now our future has started the same way.