Eduard Anatoly Romanov – Melanie Cyntia Peyser
This beautiful country wedding ceremony took place in Vermont and it was featured in several Country Living magazines.
Melanie C. Peyser
Sophisticated Beauty with the Russian Soul
E.R.
The International Debutante Ball
The International Debutante Ball is considered one of the most prestigious debutante balls in the world.
The International Debutante Ball is an invitation-only, formal debutante ball, to officially present well-connected young ladies of distinction from upper-class families to high society. Founded in 1954, it occurs every two years at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.
Young women from all over the United States and from around the globe are brought together at the ball and the surrounding parties, including daughters of presidents of the United States, billionaire businessmen, diplomats, nobility, ambassadors, and governors.
– Wikipedia –
Our Story
From the very beginning, it was a mind-blowing love story between an Eastern boy from an academic family and a Western Uptown girl who grew up on Long Island.
Mel came to the USSR out of curiosity on a Colgate University student exchange program where she took a course in the Russian language. We spent together slightly over a month. When she returned back to the US, we continued our relationship by mail.
The world was a slightly different place back then. We wrote letters—the actual letters written on paper with envelopes and stamps. There is a suitcase of them @ my mother’s place. We wrote to each other every week for over a year.
I was living in the Soviet Union, so for me, leaving the country was out of the question because of the Iron Curtain. We were only 21 and still attending college So, -> The only option available to us to re-unite was for Mel to bite-the-bullet and return to the USSR for an academic year as a foreign exchange student.
She got accepted to the program called “American Collegiate Consortium for East-West Cultural and Academic Exchange” – an unprecedented historical student swap between the Superpowers ever. It was not easy for Melanie to convince her father that it was the right thing to do. But, somehow, she succeeded.
Melanie was sent to the city of Voronezh to study and live with a Russian family (exchange requirement) while I was still attending the Tver Institute of Technology. We had to take trains every weekend to see each other.
Being a natural-born leader, Melanie quickly made a name for herself among fellow international students in other colleges around the USSR. No wonder Raymond E. Benson – a phenomenal human being and a former counselor on cultural affairs at the American Embassy in Moscow and the director of the Exchange, offered her a management position at the Student Exchange.
She said “yes”
It was the only way for us to stay together. She accepted the offer to stay in the USSR for another year.
This time around, Melanie was based in Moscow and had а home office in the center of the city. Finally, we had privacy and were separated by an easy train ride.
Our love came with sacrifises. Both of us did our share.
Melanie was the perfect definition of a “Decembrist Wife”. I don’t know any other Western girl, not to say a DEBUTANTE who would be able or capable to trade all the perks of the Western Civilization for 2 years in the Communist Russia only to be with the soulmate.
E.R.
— TO BE CONTINUED SOON —
We were true soulmates who had a chance to find each other. Our love did not come easy. We had to fight for it from day #1. We managed to overcome all the obstacles and find our happiness. It was a strong magnetic pull that grew into a full-blown magical relationship that lasted for over a decade.
Unfortunately, not all Soulmates are destined to be together for a lifetime. Many are given to us to learn our life lessons. I, certainly, learned mine.
Melanie has always been a true soulmate, the love of my life and the most reliable friend that I have ever had. She still is my ‘measuring stick’ for the next Mrs. Romanov. We spent together ten wonderful years that I will always remember. She still holds a very special place in my heart. She always will…
E.R.