I thought I would share this write up from Channel 13 Albany NY News when they published the story about Ariella and Eli’s July 5th wedding. I love these two big hearted humans and their resilience to make the most out of whatever life throws their way.

….”It’s the kind of fairytale wedding that nobody ever dreams about. It’s more like a story about two young filmmakers who fell in love who making the most of the times and circumstances in which they live.

“Getting married in 2020 is a rought moment for a lot of couples,” said Eli Shapiro, “We were just determined to make it work in a safe way that we could be with our families and friends.”

For Shapiro, the groom, and Ariella Segal, the bride, making their wedding work in the age of covid meant abandoning a synagogue and hotel ballroom and moving everything, and everyone, into the Jerico Drive-In for a Sunday nuptial matinee.

“When we had to cancel our original wedding, it was really a hard and heartbreaking decision,” Ariella said, “We just really wanted something beautiful to come out of it and we’re so excited to get married.”

And so underneath a traditional Jewish wedding huppah, with about 150 guests looking on, all wearing masks, many standing in the 90 degree heat, others listening on their car radios, Rabbi Roy Feldman married the young couple in front of a huge drive-in movie screen. And since Eli and Ariella, college sweethearts since freshman year at NYU, are in the filmmaking business, the wedding scenery seemed an appropriate part of their script.

“This is one of those moments when we had to cancel our initial wedding and then Ariella comes to me a few weeks ago and said, “You what, plot twist, can we do it in this way safely?” Eli recalls, “And immediately, this was the easiest choice we made in the whole wedding, and here we are.”

It’s in life’s most important moments when sometimes you realize the most important lessons.

“I don’t know if I ever dreamed about my wedding as much as I dreamed about the person that I would share it with,” Ariella stated, “I’m so lucky that it was this guy.”

A leading lady and her leading man, now with a wedding day story for the ages.

“There’s our name on the marquee,” Eli pointed out, “You can’t get any more Hollywood than that, right?”

And as Hollywood endings go, it looks like this is the beginning of a beautiful life together.”