On Friday, June 19, at about 4:00 pm, Debra Sternberg and Bobby Blankenberg were married. This was a closely guarded secret.

Here are the details from Debra herself:

From: Debra Sternberg

As promised, here is my report on What I Did Last Weekend:

It all began in earnest somewhere around late-winter, early-spring, when I asked my long-time boyfriend Bobby to co-sign on a mortage for me as I had finally decided to grown up and act like an adult by buying a home of my own. The conversation went sorta like this:

• Debra: Will you co-sign on a mortgage for me?
• Bobby: If I'm going to do that, we might as well get married.
• Debra: Aw, do we HAVE to? Bobby: Yes.
• Debra: Oh, all right. But we're not gonna live together, are we?

And so ended the most pragmatic proposal in history! Bobby and I were married this past Friday, June 19 at 7 p.m. in the evening at a very small, very short ceremony (my nephew clocked it at 4-1/2 minutes) attended by immediate family and a few close friends. I made the mistake of inviting Koerner, the only person from the dance community who could have cared less. However, everyone loved Carolyn!

Seriously, though, Bobby and I have been enjoying our status as Happiest Couple in the World for something like 7 years and this was just the next logical step. Although it seemed to everyone that we eloped suddenly, this had been planned for a handful of months. We had the ceremony at the house of my real estate agent/friend over in Palisades. It was, in my humble estimation, THE BEST WEDDING IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE and I actually had a ball. There was no dancing. It was really more like a big family party where my sisters didn't have to cook.

We lit out of there around 11 p.m. and drove to Frank Morra's beach house in Cape May, where we proceeded to spend the remainder of the weekend sleeping, doing crossword puzzles and eating upon occasion. (Naturally, we also completed other traditional honeymoon activities.) True to form, I was back home by 7 p.m. on Sunday and showed up in time for the open dancing at America!

It's been a ball receiving all the congratulations and best wishes from the community, and I thank you all for your warmth and love. And to all you broken-hearted guys, remember: I just might fool around!

With love and a gold band on my left finger,
Debra

PS: We took this photo at one of Doc Scantlin's things and we think that it is just terrific. Mazel Tov, kids.