Wedding Date on Oct 16, 2020

About the couple, in their own words: Where We Met: December 2013 at an LGBTQ+ event hosted at Flute Champagne Bar. Ezinne approached Lenny and they spent the night chatting away. They reconnected a few months later when Lenny messaged Ezinne asking how she was doing and the conversation picked up where they left off. Engagement: Ezinne proposed on a ski trip in Keystone, CO on February 7, 2019. Marleni thought it was a trip of 6, but Ezinne actually planned the trip for 18 friends and family to join for the surprise occasion. Upon arriving, there was a blizzard in Denver and much of the surrounding region. Marleni got altitude sickness the night before and said she might not be up for attending the “brunch with colleagues” Ezinne had planned the next day. Thankfully Marleni felt better the next day and after a few hours delay due to weather the next morning, Ezinne proposed at Sapphire Point Overlook, and they had a celebratory brunch. When we returned to the house, Marleni was surprised with everyone who made the trip out to Colorado. We always laugh about how she said “Hello and Good morning” to the photographer she thought was a local out for a morning stroll right before Ezinne popped the question. Wedding: We planned to get married in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico in March 2021. We were about to finalize our venue and wedding planners when the pandemic hit New York City. Marleni is a Registered Nurse at Northwell Health - Lenox Hill Hospital, and based on what was taking place with the pandemic and the rapid increase of cases and deaths, by mid-April we decided to fully postpone all further planning because we knew we’d be dealing with a year plus delay rather than months. By August though, we didn’t want to keep our lives on hold and decided to move forward with getting married. We wanted to be sure to take all precautions, so a ceremony with just us two in Fort Tryon Park, near our home in Harlem, seemed like it would be perfect. On the Monday before our wedding, we realized the weather forecast for Friday (the day of our ceremony) was 100% rain. Not just scattered showers, but an all day downpour, which would ruin the outdoor ceremony we had planned. We hadn’t made rain plans, but by Thursday morning when the weather hadn’t changed, we started scrambling for an alternative to the park. Fortunately, at the final hour (seriously, 8pm on Thursday), Ezinne was able to connect with the designer and artist, Virginie Sommet. Her and and her partner, Christian Frederick, who is also an artist, accepted our request to use their gorgeous home as our venue.