How did you meet?
Rebecca and I met while running in a park, it turned into running dates.
Tell us about the proposal…
Rebecca was on a cruise on new year’s so we decided to have our own New Year’s Eve when she got back on January 3rd. We had a gift from my sister, when we opened it, it was a puzzle of us from Thanksgiving. On the Picture it said Rebecca and Joseph 2019 and that was our guide. We spent the night watching Dick Clark’s Rockin New Year’s Eve, eating yummy apps, drinking champagne, and working on the puzzle. About 70% into the puzzle Rebecca started questioning what the puzzle said as the letters didn’t flow with the example on the box. She quickly realized that the writing on the Puzzle said Rebecca will you marry me? Even though she figured it out I made her finish every piece before I asked her. We are each other’s missing piece; the puzzle was a perfect representation of that during our proposal.
What inspired the vision you had for your big day?
Joseph’s Dad’s tie. Joseph’s parent, Sohiel and Jamie, got married in Syria 40 years ago. When Joseph was 7, they moved to America, packing up what little they could to build a life here. Amongst the items they brought, Soheil’s tie from their wedding. Rebecca saw this tie, looked at Joseph and said, “You will wear this tie during our wedding!” To have Joseph wear the tie his dad wore in his wedding was so special. It was having a piece of their history, their beginning, and to have made the travels from one side of the world to another made it more special. The devious of colors were picked from this tie, but the inspiration for the night as well. The two made the decision to make it a close friends and family affair, having many items throughout the wedding that were pieces brought from family members’ homes’ as well. The love and culture from both were present and radiant!
What made you choose the Art Center as your venue?
As we do not live in Parkersburg, we attended the Bennerhassett bridal show where we met Lyndsay and she helped us better understand what the Art center can offer. We had seen pictures but once we saw the venue, we loved it, and honestly Lyndsay and the staff where very accommodating and even got us the date we wanted though at the time was not available.
What other vendors did you choose and can you tell us a little about your experiences?
Picking the art center seemed to be the perfect move as we also picked Valley Catering. Valley Catering and the Art center have a history of working together and that was an added bonus. We also picked Premier-productions as our DJ, Lake Tree Event Rentals, and Village Cakery. The best thing about those vendors is that they all worked together in the past have a good work ethic. The only thing on their agenda was US, and what we wanted at our wedding. They were very patient with us through the pandemic and all the anxiousness of planning our wedding from 5 hours away, and we could not appreciate them more.
We picked Withthelingerhunts as our Photographers and Kaleb Graham as our videographer – All of our vendors where amazing and made our day special.
What is your favorite memory of your wedding day?
When talking about this question Joseph and I had the exact same response. After walking down the aisle, the moment Joseph and I got to take each other’s hand. I looked at Joseph with a huge smile, covered with a mask, and said,” Hi!” At that moment everything else stopped, it was just us two finally joining together as one!
Any last bits of advice?
Take 5 minutes during the reception, just the two of you sitting at your table or standing it the back. Look around the room at all of those celebrating YOUR LOVE, and take it all in. It is a beautiful event, but such a beautiful moment when you realize all the fun your guests are having celebrating the love you share for each other. Two hearts becoming one.