Weddings and Engagements

Subterms

    More stories

    • 100 Shares189 Views

      in Music

      Opening Their Eyes to Art and Each Other

      by

      Talibah Safiya and Bertram Williams Jr. felt a spark while watching a play together in high school, 11 years before their first proper date.When Opera Memphis staged a production of “Porgy and Bess” at the city’s Orpheum Theater in the fall of 2006, there were at least two love stories playing out in the room. One centered on Gershwin’s titular opera characters; the other, two high-school students in the audience.Talibah Safiya and Bertram Williams Jr. were different types of teenagers. Growing up, Ms. Safiya, 30, a self-described “theater nerd,” would walk around her childhood home singing songs from “A Chorus Line,” “Hairspray,” “Chicago” and “Dreamgirls.”Mr. Williams, 32, was two class years ahead of Ms. Safiya at Overton High School, a creative and performing arts school in Memphis that he transferred to after struggling at a conventional school.“I was regularly dealing with truancy issues,” said Mr. Williams, who added that he had yet to develop an interest in creative pursuits when he arrived at Overton. “I was more concerned with keeping up with the latest Jordans, spending time at parties and trying to befriend as many young ladies as I could,” he said.Ms. Safiya said she first noticed Mr. Williams in the hallways. The two were later introduced by a mutual friend, and Ms. Safiya said she then started telling other students that she had a crush on Mr. Williams.“It was definitely a strategy,” Ms. Safiya said.That evening at the Orpheum, during a school trip to the theater, Mr. Williams asked Ms. Safiya to sit next to him.Some couples, recalling an early experience of seeing a film or a play together, might be expected to say something about being unable to focus on the stage or screen, so caught up were they in their budding romance. Not Ms. Safiya and Mr. Williams.For them, what made the “Porgy and Bess” experience special was not only sitting side by side in cramped theater seats, but being moved — and sensing each other be moved — by the performance they were watching.“There’s a song in ‘Porgy and Bess’ where she’s singing, ‘I love you, Porgy, don’t let him take me,’” Ms. Safiya said. She said the song, made her think “about how important feeling protected was as a woman,” and wonder if Mr. Williams “was a protector.’”“That play,” she said, “gave some direction for both of us about how we wanted to spend the rest of our lives.”Mr. Williams said that “there was a kind of triangulation happening” as they watched the performance.In the interest of sustainability, the bride and groom purchased outfits secondhand. He wore a vintage brown suit from the Lucky Exchange store in Atlanta; her yellow floral dress came from Stormy Normy Vintage, a shop on Etsy. Raphael BakerFrom there, the two developed a relationship that oscillated, in perhaps a typically teenage way, between friendship and romance. Mr. Williams had a girlfriend at another school; he and Ms. Safiya never formally dated during this period. But they both agreed they were more than friends. (The two shared a first kiss backstage in their high school theater, during a rehearsal for an adaptation of “Lilies of the Field” that starred Mr. Williams.)“We spent a lot of time talking on the phone and hanging out together in theater class, and skipping lunch to hang out,” Ms. Safiya said.Of their relationship back then, Mr. Williams added, “We were deeply interested in each other’s minds. We think of younger relationships being somewhat shallow, but I remember immediately being so impressed by how original in thought and fashion and existence she was.”In early 2007, while they were still in high school, they performed together in a production at the Hattiloo Theater, which had recently opened and has since become a major repertory house in Memphis. Ms. Safiya said she remembers getting into trouble during this period: She’d make entrances from the wrong side of the stage, having crossed backstage to spend time with Mr. Williams.After Mr. Williams graduated from high school, he enrolled at the University of Memphis, from which he received a bachelor’s degree in economics. He and Ms. Safiya kept in touch, though their relationship remained platonic. They acted together at a local summer theater program, Echoes of Truth, where their performances included a play in which their characters dated.Ms. Safiya and Mr. Williams insist that this was a coincidence. Nevertheless, it gave the two a preview of what officially being a couple might feel like.“We were just walking across the stage holding hands,” Mr. Williams said. “I remember being like, ‘Oh I could get used to this.’”.css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-1kpebx{margin:0 auto;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1kpebx{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1gtxqqv{margin-bottom:0;}.css-1g3vlj0{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1g3vlj0{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-1g3vlj0 strong{font-weight:600;}.css-1g3vlj0 em{font-style:italic;}.css-1g3vlj0{margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0.25rem;}.css-19zsuqr{display:block;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}.css-m80ywj header{margin-bottom:5px;}.css-m80ywj header h4{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:500;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.5625rem;margin-bottom:0;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-m80ywj header h4{font-size:1.5625rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Then Ms. Safiya left town.After graduating from high school in 2009, she moved to Washington to attend Howard University, where she studied theater education. But they continued to keep in touch as friends.“We would even talk about our other romantic relationships and be able to give really honest advice and reflections to one another,” Ms. Safiya said. “One of the things that has maintained our relationship is that we are friends first.”They stayed in touch when Ms. Safiya left Howard in 2012 and moved to Brooklyn to pursue a career in music in New York, a choice that Mr. Williams said he admired.“I was so inspired by her willingness to go off to New York without a plan, in pursuit of the thing,” he said. “She was chasing her dreams.”After graduating from the University of Memphis, Mr. Williams spent time working for the city of Memphis’s Division of Housing & Community Development, then for an education program at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library. He also managed a local jazz club, the Dizzy Bird Lounge, and continued to perform in plays at the Hattiloo Theater.In 2013, when Ms. Safiya started releasing R&B music on Bandcamp and YouTube, Mr. Williams again became more than just her friend: He was also a fan who would seek out her work. From time to time, he would even invite Ms. Safiya to perform at the Dizzy Bird when she returned to Memphis to visit her family.“I’ve got to be honest,” he said. “I was stanning,”Ms. Safiya was surprised to discover that Mr. Williams had been so closely following her music from afar.“I didn’t know if anybody was listening to it — I was pretty sure nobody was, in fact,” she said. “But he would know the words.”About 50 guests, most of them family members, attended the wedding. Raphael BakerIn November 2015, Ms. Safiya returned to Memphis for several months to help her brother and her sister-in-law, who were expecting their first child. The trip gave her and Mr. Williams an opportunity to spend more in-person time together than they had in years, including at a baby shower for her sister-in-law that he hosted.At the time, she was single and he was getting over a breakup.It was on this trip to Memphis, Ms. Safiya said, when she realized she was ready to try something formal with Mr. Williams. But he needed more time. When she returned to New York, though, her mind remained in Memphis, with Mr. Williams.“I was ready to plant myself,” Ms. Safiya said.By the time she decided to leave New York for Memphis, in 2017, so was Mr. Williams.He picked her up at the airport when she moved back and, in the car, they talked about their mutual readiness to build a lasting romance. They made plans to go out on a date — their first proper one since they met.The pair had dinner outside at Ecco on Overton Park, a bistro in Memphis. Of the evening, Mr. Williams said, “There was this kind of chemistry brewing with us in that space that we hadn’t really given ourselves permission to consider or explore for years.”Ms. Safiya added, “It felt like we were clearly walking into a new chapter of our relationship.”They moved in to an apartment together a couple of weeks later, and about a year after that, into their current home in Memphis. Mr. Williams proposed in April 2021, while the couple was filming a music video for a song by Ms. Safiya, who is an independent singer-songwriter in Memphis. Mr. Williams works as an actor based in Memphis; his recent credits include a recurring role in the Starz drama “P-Valley.”The two were married Sept. 5, at Mound City, a former farm that has been converted into an events hall and rental property in Marion, Ark. The couple chose to get married at this location because of its history.“We chose it because it was on land known to be a grave site for Indigenous Americans, and then also some sharecropping and, presumably, slavery,” the bride said. “We knew that land deserved to watch some Black folks experience joy.”David Arnett, a baptist minister and an uncle of the bride, officiated at an outdoor ceremony in front of about 50 guests, most of them family members. It began with a libation ritual inviting the couple’s ancestors into the space and included several a capella performances by friends of the bride and groom, who, after saying their vows, jumped the broom. Masks were available for all guests.In the interest of sustainability, both Ms. Safiya and Mr. Williams purchased outfits secondhand. He wore a vintage brown suit from the Lucky Exchange store in Atlanta; her yellow floral dress came from Stormy Normy Vintage, a shop on Etsy. Both of their outfits incorporated cowboy boots, which the couple bought from the Clothing Warehouse, a boutique in Atlanta.Recently, Mr. Williams said he has noticed a shift in Ms. Safiya. As a performer, he said, she has always had a fierce stage presence — “a warrior queen or a drunken saloon owner cussing at the patrons” — while her offstage persona is marked by “tenderness and awareness and softness.” But in the last six months or so, he said, that line has blurred.“I’m watching those two ways of being really kind of meld into one,” Mr. Williams said.On This DayWhen Sept. 5, 2021Where Mound City in Marion, Ark.The Food The couple’s menu included fried catfish, cornbread dressing, watermelon salad, cabbage and macaroni and cheese.The Souvenirs Guests received little bottles of Tabasco sauce as a party favor.The Truck The day before the wedding, Mr. Williams bought an old, red Ford pickup truck, in keeping with the wedding’s farm theme. He tied Coca-Cola bottles to the back, a trick that he’d seen in movies. But offscreen, the bottles proved less romantic. “They didn’t make a sound,” he said. More

    • 125 Shares179 Views

      in Television

      An Actress and a Sports Agent Get on the Horse

      by

      After they met at a North Hollywood house party, it took several years for Ashley Blaine Featherson and Darroll Jenkins to go from friendship to picturesque romance.Ashley Blaine Featherson, who plays Joelle Brooks on the Netflix series “Dear White People,” and Darroll Jenkins, a sports agent, were not immune to the anxiety inherent in a 2021 wedding. “In the midst of planning our wedding, many things have happened,” from Covid to hurricanes, said Ms. Featherson, 33 who is also a television producer and philanthropist.The two met through a mutual friend in the summer of 2010, at a house party in North Hollywood, Calif. “He kind of lit up the room,” Ms. Featherson said. “We just clicked and caught a vibe,” added Mr. Jenkins. “I knew I wanted to see her again.”Their sparks led to just friendship at first. “The romantic aspect of our relationship came about around 2011, but we didn’t officially become a couple until 2018,” said Mr. Jenkins, 34. “But once we got into a relationship,” Ms. Featherson said, “it was like we got into a relationship. We moved in together, we got a dog, and then we were engaged three years later.”Mr. Jenkins planned a trip to Santa Barbara, Calif., on Sept. 18, 2020, to pop the question. “I told her maybe we can go wine tasting or something,” he said. “I was downplaying it. I would say, ‘Let’s just enjoy being boyfriend and girlfriend,’ even though I bought the diamond a year before. I knew I was going to propose.”Ms. Featherson didn’t see it coming. “Our guide was like, ‘Hey, do you want to get off the horse and explore the beach?’ And I was like, ‘Not really,’ because I didn’t. I enjoyed being on the horse. I was reluctant to get down,” she said.When she finally did get off the horse, Mr. Jenkins suggested she look out at the beach while he took pictures of her. “When I turned around, he was on one knee proposing,” she said. “We had champagne on the beach then dinner at a nice French restaurant.”[Click here to binge read this week’s featured couples.]Stanlo PhotographyOn Sept. 5, 2021, the couple were married at Q Vineyard on Hummingbird Nest Ranch in Santa Susana, Calif. Ms. Featherson had 16 “sisters of honor” while Mr. Jenkins selected 10 “brothers of honor.” A total of 180 guests were in attendance for the outdoor affair.All attendees, vaccinated or not, were required to provide their negative Covid test results. “We had a Q.R. code where people uploaded their results. They had to take the test within 72 hours of the wedding,” Ms. Featherson said.The couple also had a wardrobe request for their guests: “We asked everyone to wear black, and our brothers and sisters of honor were in a pink, burgundy and wine color palette,” Ms. Featherson said. The bride wore a custom gown with a 10-foot-long train by Selina Howard of Vainglorious Brides, and Mr. Jenkins, a suit from Davidson Petit-Frère.The ceremony was officiated by Ms. Featherson’s friend and fellow actress, Aisha Hinds, who was also a sister of honor. After vows were exchanged, the couple simultaneously took a shot of tequila. “We love a good adult drink,” said Mr. Jenkins.For their reception, the couple changed into different outfits and hit the dance floor. Ms. Featherson, a Maryland native and graduate of Howard University in Washington, appreciated the fete’s Go-go sounds, a soulful genre of music.Mr. Jenkins, who is from Detroit, ensured that his home city’s club music was in rotation, too; the couple enlisted D.J. Mo Beatz, who kept the dance floor packed. The couple also secured the band Philly Featuring the Hour to play soul music at their reception.A proud member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, Ms. Featherson also incorporated the organization’s wedding traditions in the evening: “We were strolling, we sang the hymn and my line sisters sang the sweetheart song for Darroll,” she said.As for the event as a whole, she reflected on the “added anticipation and gratefulness” that came with getting married in a trying year, and said, “It was beautiful that so many people came together in one place to celebrate our love.”­­­­ More

    • 113 Shares189 Views

      in Music

      Britney Spears Announces Engagement to Longtime Boyfriend Sam Asghari

      by

      In the wake of recent developments in the battle over her conservatorship, the singer announced plans to wed for the third time.Britney Spears announced on Sunday that she was engaged to her longtime boyfriend, Sam Asghari, three months after she told a Los Angeles judge that the conservatorship that has governed her life since 2008 was robbing her of the ability to make personal decisions.Brandon Cohen, a talent manager for Mr. Asghari, confirmed the engagement on Sunday night.“The couple made their longstanding relationship official today and are deeply touched by the support, dedication and love expressed to them,” Mr. Cohen said.Ms. Spears and Mr. Asghari each shared posts on Instagram to announce the engagement and to show off Ms. Spears’s ring.Mr. Cohen said a New York City jeweler, Roman Malayev, designed the ring.The engagement came just days after lawyers for Ms. Spears’s father, James P. Spears, wrote in a filing, “If Ms. Spears wants to terminate the conservatorship and believes that she can handle her own life, Mr. Spears believes that she should get that chance.”Ms. Spears gave a statement in her case in June, sharing that she had been drugged, forced to work and prevented from removing her birth control device.“I just want my life back,” Ms. Spears said. “I truly believe this conservatorship is abusive. I don’t feel like I can live a full life.”In her statement, Ms. Spears said that under the conservatorship she was not able to marry or have a child.“I want to be able to get married and have a baby,” the singer said. “I was told right now in the conservatorship I am not able to get married or have a baby.”In a highly contested legal battle, Ms. Spears in July filed to have her father removed from his role as conservator of her estate. Mr. Spears initially pushed back on the request, but announced last month that he would step aside and work with the court to assure “an orderly transition to a new conservator.”The next hearing in the case is set for Sept. 29.Mr. Asghari is an actor who has worked on a number of movies and TV shows, including the Showtime series “Black Monday.” He also works as a fitness trainer.Mr. Asghari told Men’s Health in 2018 that he met Ms. Spears in 2016 while working on a music video for her song “Slumber Party.”Ms. Spears has been married twice before. In 2004 she married Jason Alexander, a childhood friend, for 55 hours.Later that year, Ms. Spears married Kevin Federline, a backup dancer, actor and rapper; they have two sons. Ms. Spears filed for divorce from Mr. Federline in 2006. More

    • 113 Shares109 Views

      in Music

      Ariana Grande and Dalton Gomez Are Engaged, Singer Says

      by

      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best ComedyBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest MoviesBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyAriana Grande Announces Engagement to Dalton GomezThe pop star shared the news of her engagement to the Los Angeles real estate agent on Instagram, writing, “forever n then some.”Ariana Grande at the 62nd Grammy Awards in January. She gained prominence as Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon show “Victorious,” but her music career gave her international stardom.Credit…Etienne Laurent/EPA, via ShutterstockDec. 20, 2020The pop star Ariana Grande is engaged to the luxury real estate agent Dalton Gomez, she announced on Instagram on Sunday.Sharing photos of herself with Mr. Gomez (and a diamond and pearl ring), she captioned her post, “forever n then some.”Ms. Grande had hinted at her relationship with Mr. Gomez over the past year, tucking photos with him into stacks of images shared on Instagram.A music video for her collaboration with Justin Bieber on “Stuck With U,” a nod to quarantine, was the couple’s public debut in the spring, featuring a clip of Ms. Grande and Mr. Gomez dancing.Along with its “unapologetically and sometimes humorously libidinous lyrics,” Ms. Grande’s most recent album, “Positions,” which was released in the fall, has “occasional slips of vulnerability that reveal the giddiness and anxiety of new love,” The New York Times wrote in its review.Mr. Gomez, a real estate agent at the Aaron Kirman Group in Los Angeles, was born and raised in Southern California, according to his profile on the agency’s website. He has worked in luxury real estate for five years, overseeing sales of homes like Pierre Koenig’s Case Study No. 21 in Los Angeles, which served as the set of “Charmed.”Shortly after the release of Ms. Grande’s 2018 album, “Sweetener,” her ex-boyfriend, the rapper Mac Miller, died of an accidental overdose.He had collaborated with Ms. Grande on her hit song, “The Way,” in 2013.“I adored you from the day I met you when I was nineteen and I always will,” she said of Mr. Miller in a post on Instagram after his death.At the time of Mr. Miller’s death, she had been engaged to the comedian Pete Davidson for only a few months. Ms. Grande called off their engagement shortly thereafter.Mr. Davidson attributed their split to Mr. Miller’s death, telling the radio host Charlamagne Tha God in an interview that “I pretty much knew it was over after that.”In December 2018, Mr. Davidson shared a troubling post on Instagram: “I really don’t want to be on this earth anymore,” he wrote.A police officer checked on him at the Manhattan studios of “Saturday Night Live,” where he is a cast member, and NBC contacted the Police Department to say that he was fine, the police said at the time.In the deleted post, he said: “I’m doing my best to stay here for you but I actually don’t know how much longer I can last. All I’ve ever tried to do was help people. Just remember I told you so.”Ms. Grande, 27, gained prominence as Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon show “Victorious,” which aired from 2010 to 13, but it was her music career that gave her international stardom. Her song “Positions” peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 88 Shares129 Views

      in Music

      Ariana Grande Announces Engagement to Dalton Gomez

      by

      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best ComedyBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest MoviesBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyAriana Grande Announces Engagement to Dalton GomezThe pop star shared the news of her engagement to the Los Angeles real estate agent on Instagram, writing, “forever n then some.”Ariana Grande at the 62nd Grammy Awards in January. She gained prominence as Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon show “Victorious,” but her music career gave her international stardom.Credit…Etienne Laurent/EPA, via ShutterstockDec. 20, 2020, 6:54 p.m. ETThe pop star Ariana Grande is engaged to the luxury real estate agent Dalton Gomez, she announced on Instagram on Sunday.Sharing photos of herself with Mr. Gomez (and a diamond and pearl ring), she captioned her post, “forever n then some.”Ms. Grande had hinted at her relationship with Mr. Gomez over the past year, tucking photos with him into stacks of images shared on Instagram.A music video for her collaboration with Justin Bieber on “Stuck With U,” a nod to quarantine, was the couple’s public debut in the spring, featuring a clip of Ms. Grande and Mr. Gomez dancing.Along with its “unapologetically and sometimes humorously libidinous lyrics,” Ms. Grande’s most recent album, “Positions,” which was released in the fall, has “occasional slips of vulnerability that reveal the giddiness and anxiety of new love,” The New York Times wrote in its review.Mr. Gomez, a real estate agent at the Aaron Kirman Group in Los Angeles, was born and raised in Southern California, according to his profile on the agency’s website. He has worked in luxury real estate for five years, overseeing sales of homes like Pierre Koenig’s Case Study No. 21 in Los Angeles, which served as the set of “Charmed.”Shortly after the release of Ms. Grande’s 2018 album, “Sweetener,” her ex-boyfriend, the rapper Mac Miller, died of an accidental overdose.He had collaborated with Ms. Grande on her hit song, “The Way,” in 2013.“I adored you from the day I met you when I was nineteen and I always will,” she said of Mr. Miller in a post on Instagram after his death.At the time of Mr. Miller’s death, she had been engaged to the comedian Pete Davidson for only a few months. Ms. Grande called off their engagement shortly thereafter.Mr. Davidson attributed their split to Mr. Miller’s death, telling the radio host Charlamagne Tha God in an interview that “I pretty much knew it was over after that.”In December 2018, Mr. Davidson shared a troubling post on Instagram: “I really don’t want to be on this earth anymore,” he wrote. A police officer checked on him at the Manhattan studios of “Saturday Night Live,” where he is a cast member, and NBC contacted the Police Department to say that he was fine, the police said at the time.In the deleted post, he said: “I’m doing my best to stay here for you but I actually don’t know how much longer I can last. All I’ve ever tried to do was help people. Just remember I told you so.”Ms. Grande, 27, gained prominence as Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon show “Victorious,” which aired from 2010 to 13, but it was her music career that gave her international stardom. Her song “Positions” peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More