Debra Marnie Shapiro and Jordan Howard Goldes are to be married this afternoon at Temple Beth Torah in Melville, N.Y. Cantor Kalman Fliegelman, an uncle of the bride, is to officiate.
The bride, 35, received an associate degree in applied science from Kingsborough Community College. She is the coordinator of the visiting lawyers department at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, the Manhattan law firm. She is the daughter of Hannah Shapiro of Brooklyn and the late Matt Shapiro.
The bridegroom, 38, graduated from the State University of New York at Oswego. He is the press secretary of Representative Gary L. Ackerman, the Queens and Nassau County Democrat. He is the son of Barbara Goldes and Alan Goldes of Great Neck, N.Y.
Ms. Shapiro mentioned to Mr. Goldes on their second date that she was a wrestling aficionado, who had watched competitions on television with her grandmother.
"I thought, wow, I never met a girl who was a wrestling fan," he said. At the time his interest in wrestling had waned, but "She got me back into it, and going to matches became a special part of our relationship."
So what more logical place for him to give her a ring than in a wrestling ring?
"But I didn't want to do it in front of 18,000 screaming fans in Madison Square Garden, who might throw things," he said.
Instead, he arranged to propose between the second and third bouts at a New York State Wrestling Federation match at the E. J. Murray Skating Center in Yonkers.
"The proposal happened after a wrestler known as the Sandman clobbered another wrestler with a wooden Singapore cane," he said. "When I popped the question, the ring announcer reminded Debbie that the Sandman was still in the building if her answer weren't yes."
