There were no exchanges of "I do." No cake was cut, with a slice saved to store in the freezer for the first anniversary. And there was no dance to the couple's favorite song. The guests simply looked at photographs and talked about possibilities at a banquet hall in Caldwell, N.J., on Oct. 19.

Karen Carlucci had called a small group of friends and relatives together to memorialize a wedding that never was.

Her fiancé, Peter Christopher Frank, was a vice president and financial analyst for Fred Alger & Co. on the 93rd floor of 1 World Trade Center.

"It was going to be our wedding day and I just couldn't pretend that it wasn't anything," Ms. Carlucci said of that October day. "I had to do something. I think it was helpful, not just for me, but for everybody."

Mr. Frank and Ms. Carlucci, both 29, were looking forward to buying an apartment in Greenwich Village, where they had lived in a rental for two and a half years with their 7-year-old fawn-colored boxer, Chavez.

Six-foot-two, with a slim athletic build, Mr. Frank was the consummate team player on the athletic field and in the boardroom, said his mother, Constance Frank. He was dedicated to friends and family. When doctors discovered last March that his godson, Gregory Waltman, 17, had chronic myeloid leukemia, Mr. Frank stayed by his hospital bedside, whispering words of encouragement, Mrs. Frank said. "Greg, you can get better," Mr. Frank said, according to his mother. "You can get out of this bed. Let's do it."