Rod Gilbert was at a celebrity re-opening of a favorite restaurant, sitting with fellow New York Ranger Ron Greshner, supermodel Carol Alt, Marvin Scott, and other friends.

Their First Meeting: His Version
He noticed Judy Christie at the next table. He found her stunning. So he tapped her on the shoulder. "Excuse me, my name is Rod Gilbert. I find you very attractive, and I’d like to meet you."

Intimate Profile: Judy & Rod Gilbert First Meeting: At a restaurant opening. (“He introduced himself three times!”) First Date: Dancing till 5 a.m. at the China Club. Proposal: At lunch, with her daughter. Her Gown: Ulla-Maija. Venue: Ceremony officiated by then Mayor David Dinkins at the UN Chapel. Reception on board The Spirit of New York. The Four Seasons Hotel in Maui. Backgrounds: She is a partner in the Christy MacDougall Mitchell ad agency. He is a New York Rangers Hall-of-Fame Hockey player, and now is Director of Community Relations at Madison Square Garden. "You’re a lot stronger when you team up,” say the ad agency entrepreneur and the former New York Ranger, photographed above at a benefit for inner city children held at Chelsea Piers.

"Hi, I’m Julie Christie," he heard her say. He turned back to his table. "That’s the actress Julie Christie behind us."

"No way!" Greshner said.

"No, I’ll bet you."

Five minutes later, Rod turned around again. "What’s your name?"

"What? You forgot already? I told you five minutes ago, Judy Christie," she said, exasperated.

He turned to his table and they said, "You lost the bet. That’s not her. Give us the money."

The next thing he knew, she was on her way out.

A month later he met her at another restaurant when she arrived with some of her friends. "What’s your name?" he asked her innocently.

Later that evening they went to the China Club and danced until 5 a.m. He called her four hours later, at 9 a.m. "My best friend is going to the Jersey shore. You’re coming with me."

She said. "I can’t, I have a date tonight."

"I don’t care. Break your date. You’re with me forever now."

Her Version
"That was his version, but I have my own," says Judy. "From my point of view, he kept introducing himself!

"But I also thought he was very handsome, and he has a charisma about him, as anyone can see."

She found out he was Rod Gilbert, the Hall of Fame hockey player from the New York Rangers. "I was happy he tapped me on the shoulder. But he introduced himself three times!" she exclaims. "That’s why I left. I lost interest after the third time he tapped me on the shoulder."

The Proposal
They went to visit Judy’s daughter Holly at the University of Colorado. "At lunch I said to Holly, ‘I am going to ask her to marry me, and I would like you to know that my intentions are very honorable.’ "

Judy laughs when she recalls the moment. "Holly and I were like, ‘What did he say?’ He can speak in circles. He didn’t actually say the word marriage."

Rod spoke to Judy’s other daughter Brooke, "and she told me a secret. She said, ‘If you want to be happy with my mom, you’re going to have to do the following.’ I said, ‘I love her very much.’ She said, ‘That’s not enough. You’re going to have to do everything she tells you to do.’

"I’ve been following her instructions, and I’ve been very happy. We’re married eight years now, and she was right. That’s why we get along so well!"

"He’s a jokester," exclaims Judy.

"I was sure our relationship was going to be very loving and productive," says Rod. "We both lived in New York, we enjoyed the same things, and we both worked on different charity projects."

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Teamwork | Love & Marriage | Communication

Teamwork
Rod believed if they teamed up and became very close, "We could please each other to the ultimate. I also felt we could help people around us benefit from our energy.

"I think I feed a lot from her energy, her kindness and her love. It has changed and improved me, definitely.

"You’re a lot stronger when you team up," Rod asserts. "Now I have someone to be proud of me, and to encourage me to reach higher goals.

"That’s the beauty I find in Judy’s character: her integrity. She pushes me all the time. She says, ‘We’ve got to do this.’

"We always have another charity or business project to do."

The Wedding Dinner: At Sea
They were married in the United Nations chapel by then Mayor David Dinkins, and for their reception they cruised around the city in The Spirit of New York yacht.

"It was extraordinary to have the reception on the boat. It’s spectacular to go around Manhattan. People never have the same view twice.

"I had my ex-teammates there, and they were so flamboyant. But when I was about to throw the garter belt, the captain came to me and said, ‘We have a problem on the top deck.’ "

Rod followed him and when they got there they saw his ex-teammate Pierre Larouche on top of the stack, saluting the Statue of Liberty. "I said, ‘Pierre come down. You’re ruining my garter belt throwing!’ He was going to fall right into the chimney. We had to talk him down. But we had so much fun."

First Dance
The most memorable moment of the wedding for Judy was the first dance. The song they selected was ‘All I Ask of You’ from "Phantom of the Opera."

"It’s one of the best memories of my entire life," says Judy. "I remember hearing that song before I even met Rod, and thinking, ‘When I get married I want to have that song.’ When you hear the words, ‘Say you’ll share with me one love, one lifetime.’

"And now the fantasy was coming true. It was so beautiful to be dancing with my husband to that song. It is a perfect, perfect song."

"If I had to pick one moment," Rod says, "it was when she came down to the dance floor for the first time and I greeted her."

They went to the Four Seasons in Maui for their honeymoon. "They tracked us down on our honeymoon to tell us Rod had won the Lester Patrick Award, for the greatest contribution to hockey."

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Love & Marriage
Judy has an advertising agency with two veterans of the business, Marty Mitchell and Mal MacDougall. "Mal is one of our Hall of Fame writers. He did campaigns like ‘Diet Coke, Just for the taste of it!’ "

They recently did the campaign ‘Come to Israel for the millennium—the land where time began,’ and represent companies like the Dime Savings Bank and Magazine Publishers of America.

"We did the mentoring program, and then the Washington D.C. drug czar’s office asked us to come up with a sports version, so I came up with a concept called ‘Coach a Kid.’ We’ll go through Big Brothers and Big Sisters, and instead of a mentor, it will be a coach. It also could be sponsored by teams like the Knicks and the Yankees."

Rod is director of community relations at Madison Square Garden. "I’m on the board of Big Brothers Big Sisters, and I’m also involved with the Rangers Alumni, which is a former player’s organization."

He’s also a spokesperson for the Dime Savings Bank, and is involved with charities like the March of Dimes.

"I also have been honorary chair of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for five years, and we do walks all over New York."

A Great Wedding, A Growing Relationship
Judy shares her tips for an ideal wedding. "One of the secrets is to make sure it’s fun all the way through. On the wedding day, you have to say, ‘Let’s have fun with this.’ We made a commitment to ourselves not to get stressed out. That is number one.

"Number two is to be organized so you don’t get stressed out.

"Number three is to have luck and great friends. The energy from your friends is going to make that wedding. The love that comes together is really what makes it a hit. Not the food, not anything else but that energy."

"Absolutely," agrees Rod. "I also think the way you ask the person you want to marry is very important. The minute you get engaged is when preparation for the wedding starts.

"Number two," he continues, "is the location. You want it to be as special as possible. You want your friends to share it with you. Make it convenient for the majority of your friends to be with you.

"Number three is, ‘Where do you go on your honeymoon?’ You want to start that bond properly, and you want to be excited. You want to pick a place that’s romantic."

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Communication & Consideration
What are the secrets to success as a married couple? Says Judy, "Try not to make the other person wrong. Also, when you are complaining, remember that it’s better to be loving and considerate."

For Rod, the most important thing is, "doing whatever she tells you to do! Whatever she suggests is out of love and consideration, and to make you a better person.

"Another secret is to let the other person know about your plans and your schedule, so your partner will be able to arrange it so he or she is not left alone on short notice. Open communication is very important to a successful marriage.

"And," he adds with a devilish grin, ""somebody must say this in this very first issue of Manhattan Bride (where this initially appeared): You have to be good in bed together!"