I'm engaged
before the event in question
The ring (thank you very much to Caryn Mervis who helped me with this and Mervis Diamond for being the best place in DC to buy a diamond).

The picture below is the sign that was on my door when Rebecca came to my apartment.

When Rebecca entered the apartment there was a rose petal path on the floor from the door to the other end of the room where I was standing. There were candles placed around the room and the lights had been dimmed.
* * * * *

After the proposal, I put up this sign on the front door so that all of my friends who thought they were just coming over for a party after dinner would see that it was in fact an engagement party.


The parents
So my parents took the news very well. I called them Sat. night and talked to my dad about baseball for about 20 minutes. At the end I just added "oh by the way, I'm engaged". Neither he nor my mom seemed very surprised at this fact, and apparently somehow the information leaked to my little brother before I could even talk to him.

Her parents were a little tougher to get in touch with. Rebecca called and they weren't home, and they had turned off their cell phone. When we finally did get in contact with them the conversation went something like this:
Rebecca: I have bad news about the bathroom. You know that remodeling you were planning on doing?
Mother: Yes....
Rebecca: You might not be able to afford it now.
Mother: Why not?
Rebecca: Because of the wedding this summer.
Mother: What wedding?
Rebecca: Mine!
Mother: What?

I call that sucessful :-)




Wedding FAQ
  		• Q: When will the wedding be?
    A: Summer 05
  		• Q: Where will the wedding be?
    A: My first choice is Star Trek the Experience in Las Vegas, but I have a feeling I may get overruled. The other logical options are (from north to south) Connecticut, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and Beunos Aires.
  		• Q: Ari has a hyphenated last name, Rebecca has one normal one. Will the kids have 3 last names?
    We've decided to all change our names to "Belzer-Elias-Bachrach-Barak-Smith-Jones-Poleneteskiwitz".
  		• Q: No, seriously, what are you doing with the last names?
    A: Rebecca has decided to subject herself to the horror of having a hyphenated last name, and will take the name Elias-Bachrach as her own.
  		• Q: Rebecca is taking on your name? Has she gone mad?
    A: Hey, she agreed to marry me didn't she?
  		• Q: How did you want to tell your parents?
    A: My first choice was to call the office of the synagogue they attend in Philadelphia, and have them add a congratulatory message for my parents to the regular weekly announcements. That way they would find out when the announcements were read in public and it would come as a complete surprise. I decided instead to just wait till Saturday night and call them instead, but my dad said that if I had done it my way he would have understood. (Next time I get engaged, I'm going to tell my parents that way.)


    One small step for a computer scientist, one giant leap for geekdom
    --Nathan Waldman  

    Marriage is a wonderful institution, and we look forward to having you institutionalized.
    --David Barak (married)

    Engagement is an awful thing to do to a young couple in love
    --Dave Sloan (married)

    First of all, on your decision to ask Rebecca to marry you, "Good choice." Please tell Rivka, "On your decision to say "Yes", good answer."
    --Mike Belzer (Rebecca's dad)

    "adsfhjlkasfdjlklkassCONGRATULATIONSasdfjasdfkjlsd!"
    --Lucy Diamond Biederman

    "Your guys better have funny kids, otherwise, really, what's the point?
    --Kerry Chaplin

    We are requesting an injunction to move the wedding to Montreal as a fair swap for the Expos, we figure the wedding will garner a bigger crowd.
    --Noah Davis (Montreal native)

    What travels to DC on Rebecca's finger? A commutative ring!
    --Naomi Utgoff, Rebecca's rommate and a math major

    I found the cartoon on the bottom of your egagement page particularly amusing because I already call both you and Rebecca by the same name. It's just odd that "Bob" isn't really either of your first names.
    --Riffi Elias-Bachrach, brother of Ari


    "you free any time tommorow?"
    --Ari Elias-Bachrach, Jan 15 2003. (the official start date of this relationship)