Last weekend, in a galaxy not so far away, more than 300 people from around Earth were sucked into the gravitational pull around Rockaway, surrounded by an orbit of stained glass, carnival games, handball and pickleball, ocean and dunk tap dips, a gospel choir and a samba band, international cuisine, nutcracker-induced fun and the contagious love of a couple with deep admiration for each other as they came together as one—Sophie Purdom and Arthur Matuszewski—in an out-of-this-world wedding celebration unlike any other. Welcome to Booboopalooza.
A four-day wedding celebration may be a staple of in Indian culture, but not so common locally. But starting last Thursday, August 6, people from all walks of life and all corners of the world, from Purdom’s family from England to Matuszewski’s contingency from Poland to friends and colleagues from Australia, Portugal, Spain, Argentina, Israel, Germany, Ireland and states across the county, descended upon Rockaway, Arthur’s childhood hometown, for a multi-day affair to celebrate Sophie and Arthur making it official. Of course, such an event, planned in coordination with GvW Events, required a name. Booboopalooza stems from a pet name Arthur jokingly gave to Sophie after they agreed they hated pet names—boo, or rather, booboo. “Doubled for emphasis,” Matuszewski said.
Purdom and Matuszewski’s story begins at Brown University in Providence, RI, where they met 10 years ago, while she was graduating, and he was in town for a five-year reunion at his alma mater. It was a prime opportunity for Matuszewski to quickly meet the parents, who promptly asked if he had a hitch, to help Sophie move her belongings back to her home in Boston. Three weeks later, they found themselves on a trip to Italy where they fell in love. Several years later, after many adventures locally and around the globe, often surrounded by family and friends, Purdom began dropping hints about solidifying their timeless love. She sent Matuszewski a link to a diamond made by a carbon-negative diamond company that she had invested in. “I got the assignment,” Matuszewski said. As a new year turned over from 2022 to 2023, during a trip to Mexico with about 20 family members and friends, Matuszewski got down on one knee at the end of a pier that conveniently had a heart-shaped installation at the end, and much to Purdom’s surprise—popped the question. From a story that started with a hitch on the back of a truck to move Sophie’s belongings from Brown, the couple started moving along with plans to officially get hitched.
And at the center of that plan was Rockaway. “The anchor was always going to be Rockaway,” Purdom said. “Arthur is from here.” When Matuszewski’s parents immigrated from Poland, they landed in Rockaway, where they’ve called home ever since. And it was a place Purdom fell in love with as Matuszewski introduced her to his world and the place where his story began. “I think a lot of our most treasured memories together are here with his family and his oldest friends,” Purdom said. Matuszewski added, “Growing up, it was hard to convince friends from the city to come out to Rockaway because it’s like, too far, so I think this was really just like living out a childhood fantasy of having a lot of friends hang out with me.”
Of course, a wedding is a good opportunity to draw in loved ones from near and far over shared love, but in their planning, Arthur and Sophie wanted to show their loved ones some of their favorite aspects of the peninsula—activities, places and people they’ve developed a shared love for—as a way to bring the people they’ve collected over the years through work and travel, together through activities that could connect them.
Surrounded by the main events of the wedding was a plethora of activities to choose from to participate in around town. In a choose-your-own adventure style weekend, participants had the option of signing up for various activities involving local businesses and locations. Among them were gym sessions at Burn Fitness, yoga at the Beach 97th concession, pickleball at Rockaway Pickleball and Golf, a stained-glass crafting activity at Sunlites Stained Glass Studio, surf lessons on Beach 69th Street, a historic Fort Tilden bunker tour led by The Rockaway Times’ own Dan Guarino, a boardwalk 5K that everyone was too hungover for and more.
Guests were given some recommendations of where to stay—The Rockaway Hotel and Rogers Pub, and foodie options to explore—like a lunch at Tacoway Beach and breakfasts at Brothers at Beach 106th. And some found their own gems through talking to locals, and wound up grabbing piña coladas at Connolly’s.
And of course, there were the main events where different numbers of large groups gathered throughout the weekend. It started on Thursday, August 6, with a garden party and grill at the historic Richard Mott House, where guests gathered again on Sunday for a post-wedding brunch. The evening was catered by local chef Whitney Aycock, whose buddy caught a massive tuna for the event the morning of. “Sophie and Arthur are great friends. OG customers. Really f*ckin’ cool people,” Aycock said behind the grill while cooking up some ribeye. “Really f*ckin’ cool location.” As guests wore yacht-chic white clothing, they were handed nutcrackers, yes, those beachy alcoholic concoctions served in a plastic bottle, which were a reoccurring beverage though most of the weekend’s festivities.
Friday included a beach-themed afternoon by the handball courts on Beach 105th Street, where guests were treated to a barbecue cooked by up-and-coming local chef, Big Lou, rounds of handball, ping pong, volleyball, beach games, and dips in the ocean to cool off. The festivities continued into the evening with a carnival-themed event at the Belle Harbor Yacht Club where guests enjoyed catered carnival favorites like hot dogs, sausage and peppers, chicken fingers, popcorn, cotton candy, balloon popping games, face painting, and even a dunk tank. The bride and groom arrived at the Yacht Club in Kenny Monahan’s yellow submarine, straight from The Rockaway Hotel. Due to intense storms, the planned outdoor event was mostly held inside, until the skies cleared and the dunk tank became a main source of entertainment, with of course, Sophie and Arthur being the first victims. After switching out her dress for a bikini, Purdom stepped up to the platform first, where Arthur and a slew of other family members took their best shots for several minutes before Sophie got soaked. When it was Arthur’s turn, it didn’t take as long. Like a pitching pro, Purdom got him drenched with the first throw.
Rockaway wasn’t the only anchor for Booboopalooza. Thursday’s event was held in the yard of the historic Richard Mott House on Norton Drive in Bayswater for a reason. The home was officially designated as historic this year, by the New York State and National Register of Historic Places, but more importantly, it’s a place that holds a lot of personal history for Matuszewski due to the home’s owner—artist Patrick Clark.
Matuszewski considers Clark to be a mentor who helped shape his life, and now someone he and Purdom consider to be an uncle, despite no blood relation. “Patrick is a unique soul. I got brought into Pat’s life because my mom decided that I needed more American influence. She asked Pat to mentor me and take me in as an apprentice at his stained-glass studio. I was mostly useless for a while until he made me useful cutting glass. But it started, like, sweeping floors and organizing stuff. But more than anything, he taught me to focus on the work, to really have, like, an ethic and responsibility for producing things,” Matuszewski explained. Under Clark’s wing, although just 12 years old when the Twin Towers came crashing down on 9/11, Matuszewski helped his mentor create some of the most notable pieces of Rockaway’s Tribute Park—the stained-glass dome, Firefighter’s Rock and the Navigator Star central mosaic.
So Patrick Clark and Tribute Park became instrumental, sentimental pieces of Booboopalooza. “We did the first look in Tribute Park, which was very meaningful,” Purdom said. Instead of creating a wedding registry, the couple asked that guests make a donation to Clark’s fundraiser for the restoration of Tribute Park’s central mosaic. “Tribute Park is such a huge part of the community, for me, because it’s important to remember all of the fallen first responders and folks in the community, and it’s a way to deeply understand the community because everyone suffered through that day. The whole ‘Never Forget’ thing for me, is important because of the memory of the people who died, and the memory of the community that cared enough to invest in the park,” Matuszewski said, adding that he hopes the donations can help fulfill the ongoing mission to “Never Forget.”
As for Patrick Clark, he not only hosted the inaugural Booboopalooza event and a Sunday brunch for everyone to unwind and share stories in the yard of his home, but he served as the officiant for the main ceremony on Saturday night, August 8, making sure to become certified just in time. “Arthur and Sophie and I are very close, and they love the house and they consider it part of our friendship, our relationship, so they wanted it to be a part of the event. And when they asked me to officiate, it was a compliment, an honor, so I became a universalist minister of love,” Clark said.
While initially planning on hosting the ceremony at the historic Riis Bathhouse turned Rockaway Ocean Club, the delayed opening led the couple to changing course for the ceremony. So, they reached for the stars, exploring spaces off the peninsula, but still deeply New York. “When we first walked into the Great Hall of the New York Hall of Science and saw the stained glass, which is supposed to look like you’re in outer space, it felt like, celestial, but scientific, magical, but also like, a bit religious, like a cathedral. We were totally sold,” Purdom said. “And the massive cherry on top was it’s next to another one of our favorite core New York things to go to—the Queens Night Market.”
The idea for the ceremony took shape. Asked to wear their best intergalactic-chic look, more than 300 guests were equally as impressed by the Great Hall of the space in Corona. And the ceremony, of course, was out of this world. To a gospel choir singing Madonna’s “Like a Prayer,” Purdom marched down the aisle, greeting her fiancé and officiant, Patrick Clark, who was holding a custom stained-glass staff. Clark led the ceremony, sprinkling in lines that embodied the couple’s spirit, and a bit of religion with Corinthians mixed in, before the couple exchanged hand-written vows that had guests shedding a few tears. “We wanted to have some wedding tradition, but like do it our own way essentially,” Matuszewski said.
The meal was anything but traditional. After the ceremony, guests were given “booboo bucks,” to take to the neighboring Queens Night Market, where they were able to spend them on whatever cuisine they desired from the international vendor offerings, from Brazilian steak to Ethiopian cuisine, kielbasa and ceviche, and more. “The food was solid, phenomenal,” Purdom said. After guests dined, a world-renowned samba band led a conga line back to the New York Hall of Science, where a gravity-defying dance party ensued into the night. And the afterparty continued to a banya in Brooklyn, where guests got to soak in late-night revelry.
At the recovery brunch back at the Mott House on Sunday, the reviews of the weekend flooded in from remaining guests. Arthur’s friend Shubham from Chicago shared, “It would almost be easier to ask if there was anything I didn’t like. The highlight was the character of the event. It was like a whole love story to New York.” Evan Stites-Clayton of San Francisco most enjoyed the ceremony and the banya. “It was a perfect way to end the wedding because it reinvigorated everyone.” Julian Jimarez Howard, who came all the way from Portugal said, “I think Arthur and Sophie had really great vows. It was really sweet to see that exchange, and Patrick, the officiant, did a wonderful job of guiding the ceremony. The ceremony was very them.”
Sophie’s uncle and aunt, Jim and Katie Brown, from England, shared, “It was the strangest wedding we’ve ever been to. Amazing. High spirited and so many vibes going on.” Arthur’s niece, Patrycja Polewacz of Poland shared, “We were so excited to be here. Sophie and Arthur are very special to us. We love them. We got to do stained glass and go to the beach and play volleyball, handball, and we really connected with all of the guests. But the best part was the ceremony. It was one of a kind. I even shed a tear during the vows.”
Dorian West and his family, of California, dove headfirst into several of the weekend activities. “We went to the beach. It was beautiful. The waves were awesome. We played volleyball, pickleball, our kids enjoyed the dunk tank, and we really got a good feel for the people here. Everything was well planned, thought out, casual fun.” Traveling the farthest, from Australia, Lucinda Hankin said she wouldn’t miss it for the world. “That’s what Australians do. We show up. Sophie and Arthur are a dynamic couple. Meeting their family and friends, they’re just such nice people, It’s such a lovely community.” Traveling from not too far, Rockaway’s Sophia Skeans said, “I’ve been to hundreds of weddings, and this was the most extraordinary, innovative wedding I’ve ever attended. And the love…beyond words.”
Matuszewski’s mother, Bodga Matuszewska, who gave a heartfelt speech during the wedding, is thrilled for the happy couple. “It’s very exciting. I asked God to bless the couple because they’ve stayed together almost 10 years. My biggest blessing in this country was to have a child, and to have a child that is happy and healthy and has beautiful friends and success.” Bogda, herself married 50 years to Arthur’s father, Adam, shared the secret to a long marriage is “to be honest and wait for the one who has respect for you. Together, that’s a blessing.”
As they start their new life as a married couple, after a whirlwind celestial celebration, Arthur and Sophie not only recently purchased a home in Manhattan, but they’ll be taking on a new shared name—Matusz. Congratulations to the Matuszes!
