When it comes to sports, Raina and her fiancé David can only agree on one thing: The New York Knicks.
“It’s the one team that bonds us. He’s a Jets fan. I’m a Giants fan. The Knicks bring us together,” Raina, who preferred not to share her last name, tells TODAY.com.
Both New York transplants living in Florida, they would call each other during games when they couldn’t watch them in person.
It just so happens that Raina and David’s wedding falls on June 13, the same day as the NBA finals’ fifth game, where the Knicks could win it all for the first time since 1973 during a faceoff with the San Antonio Spurs. For two Knicks super-fans, this could be “euphoric,” she says — or, it could be a disaster.
A wedding that falls on the same date as the NBA Finals’ Game 5 raises questions of logistics and etiquette, one that other people whose parties coincide with the high-stakes matchup are also contending with.
For Rachel Perlman, while watching the Knicks make a historic and unexpected comeback during Game 4 on June 10, she had one thought: “We have to have an emergency, 12th hour meeting.”
Her son’s New Jersey bar mitzvah would now coincide with the game — and the Knicks fans coming quickly began asking for a plan.
Rachel and her husband decided to lean into the mania that swept the tri-state area; they will be pitching a “massive screen” at the hotel ballroom where the bar mitzvah will take place. When the party ends at 11, the ballroom will turn into a viewing party with pizza.
Raina, meanwhile, is taking a different approach. Rather than leaning in to the game, she’s hoping the wedding can be just that — a wedding.
Her venue doesn’t have the option to have a TV and, even if there were one, she wouldn’t take it. “I love the Knicks, but I love my husband more,” she says, laughing.
But it might be a challenge. Most of the wedding attendees are flying in from New York, and they’re equally enthusiastic about the outcome. “The second that we knew that there was going to be a game five, I got like 15 text messages,” she says.
Leading up to Game 5, other couples have battled the NBA finals for attention, as evidenced by videos on social media showing guests crowded around phones.
For Knicks fans, there’s been an upside to incorporating the recent games, too — like celebrations on dance floors after wins, father of the bride speeches-turned-chants, themed entrances or slipping “Go Knicks” into vows.
The couple is trying to get ahead of it by communicating with guests directly. “My fiancé has already texted his groomsmen, “Put your phones away during the wedding, nobody pull it out,” she says.
During the event, she’s asking the DJ to make an announcement along the lines of, “We appreciate you being present with us. Stay with us.”
That said, Raina’s realistic: “I know people are going to pull (their phones) out.” After all, she’s anticipating the near-irresistible pull of the game, too.
“I’m the bride. I shouldn’t be focused on the game. But if I see someone, I’m going to ask, ‘What’s the score?’” she says. If she were a guest at her own wedding, she knows what she’d do. “I’d be going to the bathroom and checking the score,” she says.
Rayshad Talukder, meanwhile, is taking a different approach to his June 13 wedding in Chicago. He hasn’t missed a single basketball finals — and he doesn’t plan to now.
“I‘m just going to keep the game up on my phone, keep watching it. She’s learned to love me for who I am. She knows that I love basketball,” Talukder tells TODAY.com.
Unlike Raina, Talukder isn’t a Knicks fan specifically — just more of a basketball fanatic. So his emotions are less pinned to the game. “I just want to see a good game,” he says, adding that his friends also plan to watch.
Talukder did compromise on one regard. “I tried the iPad, and and my fiancée gave me a look like she wants to kill me,” he says, laughing.
Wedding planner Amanda Friedman, CEO of Amanda Paige Events, says that while this particular timing feels pressing, sporting events are a perennial issue at weddings.
Some couples, she says, pivot their plans by embracing the sport and hosting watch parties. Other couples don’t want sports to overshadow their moment, like one whose big day fell during the Chicago Cubs’ historic World Series. “Absolutely not. This is my wedding day, this is my once in a lifetime,” she paraphrases.
Friedman, who is planning a wedding for June 13, says the key is to strike a balance and to choose what feels aligned with the couple.
For a wedding on June 13, she’d advise the DJ to give updates on the score, but only if they’re trending in the direction the couple wants. Or, the game can be mentioned during speeches. If the game is going to be played during cocktail hour, keep the volume off, and save the audio for the dance floor.
Weddings, she says, are a balance between spontaneous moments and planning. A sporting event adds a level of risk and adventure, depending how it goes. In this case, she says a wedding planner could make a quick call.
“If things are going well, it’s just such a fun moment to have at your wedding day. If things are not going well…OK, we just bury that plan,” she says.
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
- Claire Sullivan Saw the Future in 9th Grade and Brought it to Her Wedding 10 Years Later
- How Karl-Anthony Towns Is Remembering His Late Mom Amid the Knicks’ NBA Finals Run
- The World Cup Will Spread Cheer — and Germs. These Infectious Diseases Are a Risk
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