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ince Stacy Lieberman, 31, and
Jonathan
Ritter, 30, met as co-
. •'" : Ax; •
leaders on a cross-country bike
•
trip, it was appropriate for them
to depart their Aug. 12, 2001, wedding on
a tandem bike. "I whipped off the veil,
hiked up my skirt and rode off," says
Lieberman, director of communications
and marketing at the Skirball Cultural
•.
Center in Los Angeles.
Somewhere around Wisconsin on their
1996 Seattle-to-New Hampshire bike
trip, they saw sparks. They dated long-
distance, as Ritter pursued -a Ph.D. in
ethnomusicology at UCLA, correspon-
ding via hundreds of e-mails, which he
later compiled as a book for his bride.
After she moved to L.A. and a two-year
courtship, he proposed. At midnight on
Dec. 31, 1999, in the Utah desert, Ritter
sang his proposal, an original score and
played a 10-string South American guitar.
■ •
The next day, they bought a hematite
engagement ring at a Navajo roadside
stand.
- Then, Ritter left for 18 months of doc-
4
4.
toral research in Peru. Lieberman
:4
V
planned the Nvedd i ng with her mother,
*
Rochelle Lieberman, which took place
outside the Cranbrook Art Museum.
They were married by Rabbi Joshua
Bennett
of Temple Israel, under a chup-
; •
,
.
pah using a wedding ring quilt made by
/
Ritter's great-great-grandmother more
i ••,4'
it ,
.:
than 100 years ago. Instead of a wedding
party, friends read seven unique blessings
written by the bride and the groom.
S
t
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.v
Ritter's brother, Nlatthew, who is associ-
ate personnel director at the Minnesota
,•40,4,.' 10
Orchestra, sang, and
,,,,,
Lieberman's twin
0eirl:*****IgfA'
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—,r,-
sister,
Marla, read
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11,
elt
q..
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Kahlil Gibran's
•
'N'N' i.*,.
.•
famous
love poem,
-i*
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4'
"On NIarriage."
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,
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Before the 22 0
.
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,
6 a uests rode school
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buses to Kingwood
,-
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School for the recep-
.
_
tion, a Klezmer band
played a Norwegian
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fiddle
tune (Ritter's
4::. •
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South Dakota ftimil v
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,
,
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Ne •,
traces its roots to
,„
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k
Norway).
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-.Ai
— fyinie Se hreibo-
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PHOTOGRAPHY BY

GARY MILLER

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1 8 •

E It I" A RN 200 2 • SJYI. E Al' THE JN