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These Big Apple brides and grooms may not be the only ones getting a ring this Saturday.
In a twist of fate that some near-newlyweds are calling serendipity, and others a head-scratching snag — a host of tri-state couples who have spent months or even years planning their big day will be tying the knot on the same night as Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
There, the New York Knicks, leading the playoffs 3-1, will play the San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden, hoping to nab their first championship title since 1973.
With some guests panicking about missing a chance to see their beloved team’s big moment, The Post met the brides and grooms pivoting their nuptials to Knick-tials.
Victoria Perry and James Kostadaras
“This is more exciting than any other piece of my wedding!” Victoria Perry — a 33-year-old Manhattan bride, native New Yorker and lifelong Knicks fan — confessed to The Post.
“As a girl, I never grew up dreaming about my wedding dress or the flowers,” said Perry, who will marry her fiancé and fellow diehard Knicks fan James Kostadaras at a snazzy Midtown East venue on Saturday.
“But the Knicks have been such a source of happiness for me over the years.”
When Perry and Kostadaras — whose first date in 2023 involved watching a Knicks game at Astoria sports bar Rivercrest — first realized that the NBA Finals could coincide with their wedding, the pair sprang into action to incorporate the game into their June 13 nuptials.
But Knicks fever nearly derailed their plans: Perry shared that she and Kostadaras would have even considered delaying their wedding due to the Knicks’ potential championship, if necessary.
“We would move it if it would guarantee [the] Knicks win,” she told The Post, joking that their priorities as a couple are: 1. God, 2. The Knicks championship, and 3. Their wedding.
Ultimately, though, she’s just thrilled to be able to experience Game 5 with those closest to them.
“It’s the biggest blessing,” she said.
After a traditional Greek Orthodox ceremony, guests will file into the larger reception space to enjoy dancing and a live band — which has been instructed to share live updates on the score throughout the game.
Perry also has a big outfit change planned: she’ll wear a white Knicks jacket over her dress for the reception.
During the last quarter/after-party, guests will move into an additional downstairs space, which Perry, Kostadaras, their planner and an AV team worked to convert into a full-blown Knicks watch party — complete with a 70-inch TV screen, team-themed floral arrangements and sports-bar food.
A hip-hop DJ will also play NYC-themed hits, such as “New York” by Ja Rule.
Arielle Salmon and Greg Eichenholtz
For Arielle Salmon — a 28-year-old teacher based in Bergen County, New Jersey — the emotions about having her big day fall on the Knicks’ potential championship game have been decidedly mixed.
“It’s so weird to have excitement but also nervousness,” she told The Post.
Though Salmon and her fiancé, 29-year-old contract negotiations worker Greg Eichenholtz, identify as avid Knicks fans and are rooting — along with the rest of NYC — for the team to clinch the NBA Finals, Salmon admitted to “anxiousness” that the game clashes with their wedding.
They started planning it soon after their January 2025 engagement.
“Monday night, I literally was sitting on the couch hyperventilating … I was just not OK,” Salmon told The Post, after the Knicks lost Game 3, meaning that Game 5 would fall on their wedding day.
“I was disappointed because we didn’t want [the Knicks] to lose, but also because I expected them to win all four games in a row and then be done with it before our wedding,” she continued.
“We keep laughing, because we tried so hard to pick a date where there would be nothing going on.”
In the midst of last-minute wedding preparations for the Bergen County ceremony, which will be held at a venue 16 miles from Madison Square Garden, Salmon has also had to deal with a few guests reaching out to ask if the newlyweds will be streaming the game at their reception — a line of questioning the bride-to-be sees as “rude.”
“I would never ask anyone that question — these people are being serious,” said Salmon. “It’s kind of, like, how do we handle this the right way?”
While the couple doesn’t plan on putting the game on at their reception — a screen will be available if they change their minds — they are encouraging their guests to bring their best Knicks gear to wear during the party portion of the evening.
The band will also lead famous “Go, New York, go!” MSG chants and play N&C-themed songs like Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’s “Empire State of Mind” to get people “going and excited.”
“The good thing is that if they lose, there’s more games, so that’s what’s helping me through this,” Salmon said.
“Just knowing that hopefully everyone we invited are trustworthy people, and that they care very much about us, and hoping that they won’t just be sitting and streaming the game the whole time … We’re just trying to focus on the positives.”
Robyn Ferguson
When Robyn Ferguson, an Upper East Side-based consultant, first met her fiancé, who chose to remain anonymous for this story, in 2022, the two quickly bonded over their shared passion for sports — with her native New Yorker husband-to-be’s unwavering love for the Knicks fully rubbing off on her.
“(My fiancé) went to Villanova for college, and of course (some of) the best players on the Knicks are all from Villanova,” Ferguson told The Post, referring to the Pennsylvania university’s alumni Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges.
“He’s followed these guys since they played in college, which makes it more fun for him … I’m now a diehard Knicks fan, too. We go to a lot of games together.”
Before they even knew that the Knicks would reach the NBA Finals, the couple had joked that if the team made it, they would get a TV and “blow the roof off the Metropolitan Club” — the luxury, private UES venue near Central Park where they will tie the knot this Saturday.
The pair could hardly believe it when their joke turned into reality.
“The way the Knicks were playing in the playoffs at the beginning — we were, like, ‘OK, they swept the first series — they’re hot, this could actually happen,’” recalled Ferguson, referencing their Eastern Conference Semifinals win over the Philadelphia 76ers in May.
Then the Knicks swept the Cavaliers.
“They have a chance to win it all,” she recalled thinking. “Like, all of (my fiancé’s) dreams are coming true in the blink of an eye.”
Once they knew the NBA Finals were a serious possibility, they asked their wedding planner to reach out to AV companies to arrange for a TV at the Metropolitan Club, and told the 12-piece band that the game would be accompanying their set.
The reaction was a mix of incredulity and laughter.
“Everyone was just laughing at us — they’re, like, ‘Of course you guys would do that,’” Ferguson said. “I love it. I’m just as into it as my fiancé, so it just makes it more fun, honestly.”
In addition to their main cocktail hour and reception areas, there’s a section of the club called The Bar Room, sanctioned as the official game-watching area, with a Knicks-themed cocktail menu — with blue-and-orange signature drinks including “The Brunson” and “The KAT,” named after team stars Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns.
As for what their friends and family have thought about the big day colliding with the NBA Finals, Ferguson emphasized that they are all ready and raring to celebrate both.
“When I tell you the amount of Knicks fans we have coming to our wedding — all the text messages I’m getting are, like, ‘Knicks in five, we’re going to blow the roof off the Metropolitan Club!’” said Ferguson, who will be wearing a blue Knicks jacket for her reception and has a friend bringing team jerseys for guests.
“We have a pretty fun crew of people coming — it’ll be a big celebration.”
However, the couple isn’t worried “at all” about the Knicks overshadowing their big day, emphasizing that the game will only amplify their wedding festivities.
“As soon as we found out the Knicks were definitely in the Finals, it made us even more excited for our wedding — which sounds crazy,” Ferguson said. “But as big sports fans, it’s like you ride so hard for your teams that any excuse to have a giant celebration is just really special.
“I think we’re really lucky.”
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