Maribeth & Erik in Des Moines, IA

Since Maribeth and Erik are both from the Midwest -- she is from Iowa, he is from Minnesota -- they knew they wanted to leave New York City and return home for their wedding. Though the majority of the planning took place from New York, Maribeth used her wedding connections as well as her artistic ability (and love of arts and crafts) to ease the long-distance planning process. The Bride Maribeth Brown, photographer The Groom Erik Romslo, an NYU law student The Date November 23 One afternoon in May, Erik called Maribeth to ask her to meet him after work. He'd be taking them to dinner at Grimaldi's -- a pizza place under the Brooklyn Bridge -- one of their all-time favorites. Since it was such a beautiful day, Maribeth (much to Erik's delight) suggested they walk across the Brooklyn Bridge instead of taking the subway. Erik was acting very strange, she remembers. He wouldn't let go of my hand on the bridge. The next thing I knew, he was down on one knee. I don't remember all the details, but I remember saying 'yes' over and over again. He then told me we weren't going to have pizza. We had other plans. They headed to Maribeth's Brooklyn apartment where Erik had flowers and wine waiting. After watching the sunset from the rooftop, he told his new fiance to dress nicely for dinner. A car picked them up and took them to The River Cafe, where they dined at a table overlooking the entire Manhattan skyline. I was so giddy, says Maribeth. I kept telling everyone we had just gotten engaged...the waiter, the bartender, and the coat-check girl -- it was a spectacular evening. Absolutely perfect!