Emily Young and Max Krauss both attended Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan.
They were even in the same class, but they didn't meet until they joined the same band.
As they rocked out, they fell in love. Two years later, Krauss proposed right at the height of the pandemic.
"There were so many things uncertain about the world and this was one of the few sure things," Krauss said.
As for their wedding venue, they wanted something that felt safe.
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The Baylander is a retired aircraft carrier turned bar and restaurant docked on the Hudson River at 125th Street.
The couple booked it, and on Sunday, August 23, they got married.
Their wedding was the first of its kind aboard the Baylander.
"It's out in the open air and it's one of the few places in New York City where you can feel comfortable and feel like there aren't a ton of people breathing on you all the time," Krauss said.
And it wasn't just a great setting for all the guests who attended. It was ideal for Krauss' parents, who watched from their apartment above.
"They're pretty much stuck in the apartment," Krauss said.
He says they are home-bound because Krauss' 89-year-old father is a polio survivor.
The pandemic is just too dangerous for his health, but their 11th floor apartment, where Krauss grew up and these two retired Columbia psychology professors still live, provided the perfect perch.
"It was incredibly meaningful to be able to participate, oh dear I'm going to cry ... we could see it, we could see the boat," Krauss' mother Lois Putnam said.
Young says she really wanted both sets of their parents to be able to see their wedding.
And they did. Socially distanced, yet deeply connected.
"We were part of it ... this was such a brilliant solution," Putnam said.
Krauss says that even though his parents weren't on the boat, they may have enjoyed it more.
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