Hearts Aglow at Studio 450

We used to live a block apart from each other. I would always see Manjil walking his dog. We are both obsessed with dogs, and I would stop and pet his dog every time I saw him. Eventually I got up the courage to ask him out on a date. Four years later, I arranged for our families and closest friends to be flown in from all over the country for a surprise proposal at our favorite restaurant in the city, Ilili. The plan involved placing important people from different parts of Manjil’s life at each corner of the 7 blocks between our house and the restaurant. On his walk over to meet me, he ran into those people on each block, leading a procession into a private room at the restaurant, where I got down on my knee and became a very lucky and happy man. And so began the wedding planning…

Being gay, neither of us grew up dreaming of a wedding, so we didn’t have a lot of ideas about flowers going into it. All we knew was that we wanted something modern/chic and outside of the box. B&B was awesome. They sat with us for a good two hours and showed us what flowers could do for a wedding, and we left with some incredible ideas. We created a pinterest board, and B&B took our ideas and elevated them to unimaginable levels. For example, we loved the idea of a flower wall, and the one that B&B produced was a complete work of art. We were stunned when we saw it. The remaining arrangements left us feeling extremely exhilarated. They were bright and unique and somehow managed to capture exactly what we wanted without us even knowing! The pictures speak for themselves. They were perfect, perfect, perfect!

It’s been a few months since the wedding now, and neither of us can believe that we actually still wouldn’t have changed a thing about it — not a thing! The day was beautiful, the venue was ideal and captured the city that we met in beautifully, and everyone looked glamorous.

Part of what made the wedding so incredible is that we spent a lot of time making sure it represented each of us. For example, we chose portions of a traditional Hindu ceremony and incorporated them into our own to celebrate Manjil’s culture. We also had one of my parents co-officiate and held our rehearsal dinner at Dinosaur BBQ as a nod to Brad’s southern roots.

One of the more memorable moments for me was during our vows, which we wrote for each other. It was such an emotional moment that neither of us could get through them without stopping to hug each other. We also did a surprise choreographed dance at the beginning of the reception. It was ridiculously cheesy but so so so fun! It made everyone get up out of their seats and start dancing before the salad had even been served!

Wouldn’t. Change. A. Thing!