Something bold, something new

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Tired tradition spending a year planning
TheKnot.com has a checklist of more than 150 things do to before the big day. But unless you’re giddy to “track down something old, new, borrowed and blue” (No. 128), that’s a major time suck. In 1999, Joanne Cordoba, now 39, and her boyfriend, Luis, decided to get married, but neither wanted the pageantry of a formal wedding. Their idea: Surprise 18 of their closest friends by exchanging vows at an upcoming New Year’s Eve party they were already planning to host in their Lakeview condo. The only people who knew in advance were Joanne’s parents and her sister. “Nobody suspected a thing,” she says. At 7 that night, a retired judge wearing his robe knocked on the door and asked, “Is this where the couple is getting married?” After a confused guest told him he had the wrong house, Joanne and Luis announced their surprise. “It was an amazing moment where [everyone] was just in shock,” Joanne says. Vows were exchanged, then the newly married couple revealed an elaborate food spread, including oysters, foie gras and a dinner they cooked themselves. Afterward, they turned up the music and danced all night. Joanne says the surprise on her guests’ faces was priceless. “To this day, they still talk about it.”Continued...