tim harrington is getting married!

omigod from catherine's pita

Met: May 1999
Engaged: Jan. 26, 2003
Projected Wedding Date: July 3, 2004
When Tim Harrington’s future mother-in-law first saw him perform in his punk-rock band, Les Savy Fav, she had a most unmother-in-lawish reaction. "She was like, ‘He’s the Messiah!’" said his fiancée, Anna Schwebel.

"She’s European," Mr. Harrington explained—specifically, Swedish. A Web designer by day, he makes an impressive sight onstage, jumping around half-naked with his bushy golden beard and bristling eyebrows to match. "I like to examine space," he said.

Ms. Schwebel, 28, an abstract painter who works under her mother’s maiden name, Killander, first saw him perform at Tramps (a pal of hers was dating the band’s scruffy drummer). "I was just like, ‘Yeah, he’s a kooky guy. Whatever,’" she said. But Mr. Harrington, 29, was quickly smitten by the cherubic, ponytailed blonde, a Columbia grad. "I thought she was stone-cold fox," he said.

They became friendly, and when Mr. Harrington had an empty spot in a five-person share in Williamsburg, Ms. Schwebel moved in. Ah, la vie bohème …. Mr. Harrington, simmering with desire, would sing Bad Company’s guttural "Feel Like Making Love" around the apartment, hoping she’d take the hint. But she remained oblivious until this woman Ivy began calling the house for him. Turned out Ivy was every New York woman’s nightmare: a gorgeous Rockette. "I got really jealous," Ms. Schwebel said. "I hadn’t understood how great he was, but then one day I woke up and was like, ‘Oh! Oh my God, I’m in love with Tim!’"

They began sharing a loft bed, eventually moving to a private apartment in a Williamsburg townhouse, and it sounds like they’re having a wild time behind closed doors. "He’s really good at pretending to be animals. Really good," Ms. Schwebel said. "Like Gorillas and tigers. And lions, too!" Grrrrr.

Mr. Harrington consulted his female kinfolk for advice on how to propose. "They gave me all these cockamamie ideas—straight from the WB," he said. "And I did them all."

But the chunky diamond ring he ordered was all wrong. "It was like it belonged to the Bride of Frankenstein," he said.

And the week before they jetted off on a surprise trip to Paris, Ms. Schwebel broke her wrist snowboarding.

Dying to get the damn thing over with, Mr. Harrington dropped to one knee in the middle of the night at a Rive Gauche hotel when she slipped out of bed for some water, offering up the ugly ring and promising he’d replace it with a nicer one later. Ms. Schwebel responded by erupting in giggles.

They’ll be married at an inn near her family’s country house in Vermont. The bride will wear a Reem Acra gown she got from a sample sale and a new rose-gold ring with 10 small diamonds. The groom is writing a love song for the reception—something along the lines of "We’ll Make a Lover Out of You," Les Savy Fav’s only existing love song. "It’s about how we have enough love," he said, "so that everyone else can get some of it, too." Groovy, man.