4-,
racy Rubin, nee Moreno, met her husband-
to-be, Gabe, in a somewhat startling manner.
Sipping a cup of steaming coffee in her 11th-
grade marketing class at Berkley High School,
Rubin was jolted by a dark-haired senior,
spilling the drink. "He said, 'I owe you a cup of coffee,' she
remembers. "Now we've been together for nine years."
The romance that thrived even through five years separated
at colleges in different states (she at Michigan State University;
he at the University of Denver in Colorado) finally culminated
Pr
in the wedding of the couple's dreams on April 1, 2006. And
though the guest list exceeded 300 attendees, the bride made
certain that another of her dreams came true as well. "I wanted
our wedding to be very intimate and romantic," says Tracy,
who converted to Judaism. Helping fulfill this wish: Event
planner Dede Hoffman of West Bloomfield and florist Dawn
Owen of Royal Oak created a uniquely layered ceremony
and reception area out of the ballroom at the Ritz-Carlton in
Dearborn, breaking down and transforming corners through-
out the night. "Because the ceremony and reception were both
at the same place, I wanted guests to feel like they
were walking into different places," a technique
that made the venue feel smaller and more inti-
mate. The result? A softly muted palette of pretty
pink and white English roses, peonies, orchids and
hydrangeas gave the ceremony the feeling of an
English garden while more punchy tones of the
same palette — in shades of raspberry, fuchsia and
orange — made the reception pop.
Though the couple, who have settled in
Huntington Woods, succeeded at making the
enormous guest list an intimate affair, in the end,
having so many people was what they loved the
most about their wedding. "Because Gabe and I
have been together so long, we each know every-
one from each other's families, down to the last
distant aunt," explains Tracy. "I just loved that
everywhere I turned, there was someone I knew
and wanted there with me."
This page: Ed Moreno (above) of Berkley prepares to walk his daughter down the aisle to meet her husband-to-be, Gabe Rubin (above right), at the chuppah (top). Right: Adat Shalom
Synagogue Cantor Emeritus Larry Vieder, with whom Gabe studied for his bar mitzvah, was asked to sign the couple's ketubah; he also sang during the ceremony. Opposite page,
clockwise from top left: Rather than giving a traditional toast to the bride and groom, Gabe's brothers, Ari and Josh (on guitar) performed Bob Dylan's "The Man in Me." The bride
beams. Tracy and Gabe dance their first dance to Frank Sinatra's "I've Got the World on a String." Gabe's parents, Judy and Bobby Rubin of Huntington Woods, celebrate the mar-
riage during the hora; "One of our favorite moments was seeing the joy on our parents' faces while dancing the hora and being put up on the chairs," says Tracy, "especially my par-
ents [Denise and Ed Moreno of Berkley], who experienced the hora for the very first time. My dad did not want to come down — it was wonderful seeing them embrace it with just pure
enjoyment."
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MARCH 2007 • plaill111111