H+G
Georgia Peaks Ski Club
We brought our guests to Georgia Peaks Ski Club and celebrated a beautiful Shabbat Dinner alongside the summer slopes.
Wendy: Welcome everyone! If we haven’t met you yet, we’re Garrett’s parents, Wendy and Brian. It’s so great to see everybody and to be together for this fantastic occasion. Thank you all for coming from near and far. We appreciate all the efforts that you’ve made to be here to share this special moment in our lives with us. Brian: We definitely must start by offering a huge “thank you” to Lisa and Jay and the beautiful Bride, Harley, for their incredible vision and their tremendous effort, planning, and hard work for what we know will be an epic wedding weekend. Lisa, Jay and Harley, Wendy and I am incredibly grateful for all that you have done to make this weekend a memorable one! We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you also to Kobi. His expertise in so many areas really helped make this entire weekend possible. Thank you so much Kobi! Wendy: Finally, Brian, Garrett, Drew and I want to thank the Joffe/Sprackman/Simpson families for the warm welcome they have extended to all of us. We already feel like a part of your families and we hope you feel that you are a part of ours. ***
Brian: Tomorrow, the Cantor will recite the traditional marriage blessings. So tonight, we thought it would be fitting to recite our own wedding wishes for Harley and Garrett. 1. WL – Harley and Garrett, we wish that long after you are married, like your first Zoom pandemic dates, you still have many romantic dates where you talk for hours and hours 2. WL - We wish that you both never lose your love of adventure, travel and good times and your love of great music and delicious foods 3. BL - We wish that you always continue to share your love of sports including skiing, running, cycling, tennis, fly fishing, and golf. We also wish that someday Garrett will share Harley’s passion for spectator sports and not nod off during the Super Bowl. 4. BL - And then there’s Harley’s and Garrett’s favorite sport. We wish you as many as blue bird and powder days as your Epic and Aspen passes and your bodies can handle 5. WL - We hope that Harley always appreciates Garrett’s energetic drive and laser focus that he applies to all he sets out to do 6. WL - We hope that Garrett always cherishes Harley’s upbeat and fun loving personality and her incredible thoughtfulness 7. BL - We wish that you have a relationship filled with an abundance of patience, careful listening, and lots of compromising 8. BL – We wish that you have a relationship that emphasizes helping one another grow both as individuals and as a couple 9. WL - We wish that you lead a life which honors your Jewish heritage 10. WL - We wish that you will be blessed with a life full of family, continued cherished relationships with your brothers and continued deep friendships with your many friends 11. BL - We wish that you always know that in happy times and sad times, hard times and good times, our unconditional love is always there for both of you; let our marriage and Lisa and Jay’s marriage serve as your foundation on which you can always find support and love 12. WL - We wish that you are blessed with good health; that your home is filled with the sound of laughter and overflows with love Let’s all raise our champagne glasses. Here’s to Harley and Garrett – mazel tov!!
To tell you the truth : it takes a village to plan a wedding, 100 staff, 20 trucks, 25 plane trips, multiple zoom calls, 10,000 emails, and a whole lot of liquor to get to this day. And visualize this…. an extra Air Canada seat to get Harleys wedding dress from LA to Thornbury. All those things are just logistics but let’s get to the juicy part, the part that brought each of you here tonight…THE ROMANCE….. How did our daughter Harley, this California girl riding out the pandemic in a cottage in Northern Ontario seal her fate with a Bostonian entrepreneur, who took lock down refuge in the ski mountains of Vermont., All against this back drop of a public health crisis and closed borders, a fateful phone call was made by their mutual dear friend Anna to Harley. If it wasn’t for the one call from Anna who told Harley she knew this fabulous guy from Boston.. BUT Harley wasn’t so sure she wanted a long distance relationship, but lucky for Garrett, she texted back. Until than Harley and Garrett were speaking every evening on zoom or facetime for 2-3 hours for almost three months. In the meantime her Fairy Grandmother Micki was brewing up a great idea to get the two of them to meet at Micki and Papa Leonard’s apartment in Florida. Than Grammy Micki secretly spoke to Harley and said “ Here are the keys to our Florida apartment, figure out a way for the two of you to get there. Flash forward to the Fort Lauderdale airport… Harley and Garrett met for the first time wearing their N95 masks. That was January of 2021 and they have been together ever since. The rest is history and a mystery…. To describe Garrett is to say he’s tenacious, hardworking, driven, and a planner just like Harley.. I liked him from the moment we crashed their Miami love nest.. The funny thing is when we got there Garrett had his huge ski bag ready to hit the mountains if all didn’t go as planned. And truthfully on our side we had Kobi ready to fly down if Harley put out the call. The good news is there were no calls, almost silence. When we finally flew to Miami, Garrett came right downstairs to shake Jays hand and help with my ever so light luggage... After about a week Garrett convinced Harley to go live in Sugar Bush Vermont with him and his dear friends Matt and Katie. They could hit the ski mountains for an hour in the morning and then work all day. That lasted for about a month. All I can say is Harley has a great Boss!! Harley finally returned to Los Angeles. I think less than 2 weeks later his father Brian told me Garrett pulled out a huge suitcase and said he was going to LA to be with Harley. Well there is no better feeling than seeing your child, happy, smiling, laughing and in love, and that happened from the moment, Garrett walked into Harleys life. We watched as their love bloomed as we spent a great deal of time living together during the pandemic. From Boston to Miami to Stowe Vermont to Nashville, back too Toronto and then back to Los Angeles and his newest and latest stomping ground Bentonville, Arkansas. Garrett traveled wherever, whenever, to be with our Harley. But during this time he never stopped working. The two have travelled more in the last two years and during this time their love for each other only grew. People would ask us where are Harley and Garrett living? We would reply they’re nomads right now or their shacking up at our place. Their planning and shared calendars would blow your mind….. only the other day Garrett asked Harley if she had any schedule restrictions? Jay and I just laughed… Harley and Garrett are so similar and are so in sync that it’s been so fun to watch. Garrett wooed her with his charm, cool cards and his new love of fine wines as well as many surprise adventures together. But truly his calm demeanor and his care for Harley showed his true character right away and Harley was hooked. There’s an expression “You really never know but they say mothers know!” I KNEW…. Garrett is a MENSH, a true gentleman, caring and thoughtful and well brought up. BUT as much as he is SO endearing, he decided to share Covid with me after coming back from one of his work trips, but in all fairness after Harley got engaged to Garrett in Nantucket Harley got Covid and gave it to Garretts mother Wendy… So I guess sharing is caring …. But the icing on the cake was when we all had to drive home from Aspen to LA and no one would go in the car with either Garrett or me. How lucky you were Garrett to be with your future mother in law for 15 hours and to drive 921 miles in one day.
Well……Time to talk about my Smart, Savvy and Gorgeous daughter Harley, WE LOVE… You look radiant tonight….. From the time Harley was little we have been coming to this cottage even though we moved to California. Part of my deal with Jay was we would always come home to see our families every year, and always back to the cottage. It has changed a little with the times and years passed but, one thing always remains is the people here and the love we have for the times we’ve shared together. My Dad, Jerry or as those close to him called him Papa Jerry, built this place when I was little and it was his and our favorite hangout. I’m sure he’s looking down on Harley and Garrett with a big smile and that famous smirk thinking I’m glad their using the tennis court tonight!!! Funny thing is when Harley was little she told my Dad and me she would like to get married here someday. How serendipitous is that! With poise, patience, and organizational skills that I have never seen before Harley helped get us all here this weekend. Harley lead the way. Thank goodness for all her skills she learned in television production and her diligence for detail. Truthfully Harley prefers being behind the scenes, but today you deserve to be front and center with Garrett by your side. Harley just wanted it all to be perfect for all of you to enjoy with the two of them tonight. Those that really know Harley know she is always concerned about others before herself. So today Harley it is yours and Garretts moment to relax, enjoy and dance like no one’s watching We are so blessed to have you as our daughter and to welcome Garrett and his warm and beautiful family into our family circle. How lucky you two are to have found each other. Enjoy every moment tonight and every day together. Life can throw curve balls at you both but, we believe you two will get through any obstacles. Really look around as Harley made this all happen with her great TEAM, her brother KOBI her MAN OF HONOR, my Fabulous husband JAY, and so many other amazing people that help put this whole weekend together. We feel such gratitude for all of you that have travelled so far to be here for Harley & Garrett. NAMASTE Please Raise your Glasses to toast Harley and Garrett as we all share the love that fills this room
On the Summer Slopes Harley & Garrett Night One Thornbury, OT