In many parts of Europe it was traditional to supply a newly married couple with enough mead for a month, ensuring happiness and fertility. Mead is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented honey. From this practice we get honeymoon (moon meaning "month") or, as the French say, "lune de miel" The Merriam-Webster dictionary reports the etymology as from "the idea that the first month of marriage is the sweetest". One of the more recent citations in the Oxford English Dictionary indicates that, while today honeymoon has a positive meaning, the word was originally a reference to the inevitable waning of love like a phase of the moon.

Why do they call it honeymoon?

Malaika had a crush on Walford, who goes by Wally, since she was 15. "I've loved his spirit since I was younger," says Malaika. At the time, she knew him only as her brother's college roommate. But during her second year of college, on a family visit to Tanzania, she sent him a postcard. Wally initially thanked her brother for the note. After he realized who it was from, he decided to hold on to it. They began dating in 2003, when both were out of school and in New York. In 2007, the couple visited Tanzania together. Malaika and Wally, whose family is from the Caribbean, bonded over their cultures and upbringings. "He just felt like our families were so similar, it just fit," Malaika says. In October of that year, Wally proposed on the beach in the Dominican Republic, where the two had traveled for a friend's destination wedding...

Malaika Makembe and Walford Lindo

They were in study hall together at Floral Park Memorial High School but when Diana and Giovanni got to college, they fell out of touch. Five years later, the pair reconnected at a friend’s graduation party and started dating. Giovanni, 27, a physical therapist, proposed after Diana’s birthday dinner at Iavarone’s Prime View in Port Washington. “He gave me three different presents, for the past, present and future,” says Diana, 28, a teacher. “He gave me a framed picture from the past and future tickets for the Blue Man Group. I thought it was just those two presents and then he said, ‘There’s one more thing,’ and then got down on one knee and proposed.” At the celebration for 200 at the Royalton Mansion, the bride and groom danced to “Everything” by Michael Bubl. They honeymooned in St. Lucia.

Diana Rakowski and Giovanni Maturo

Elizabeth and Jonathan were drawn together by their mutual love for New York. The couple, who met at a party, love to walk around the city, exploring and people-watching.

Elizabeth Fortin and Jonathan Morgan