When Reneille-Gian Paneda Velez matched with Brian Michael Teodoro on Bumble in August 2020, neither was actively dating. Ms. Velez, a wedding planner based in Seattle at the time, spent most of her summer weekends working. “We met in August, which is usually peak wedding season,” she said. “June through September is when everyone gets married here, but because of Covid, things were slower. I actually had time to say yes to a date.”
Shortly after matching, they had their first date at The Rock Wood Fired Pizza in Renton, Wash., which is now closed. They shared a white pizza with pineapple and cocktails and talked for hours about their shared Filipino heritage, careers, and music, until the restaurant closed early because of Covid restrictions. “I knew before we even left that I wanted to see her again, so we scheduled our second date immediately,” Mr. Teodoro said.
Mr. Teodoro, 35, grew up in Shoreline, Wash., and earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Washington and a master’s degree in information systems from Seattle University. He is a security analyst at Microsoft.
Ms. Velez, also 35, was raised in Tacoma, Wash. She is the owner of Gian Events, an event planning and design firm with teams based in Seattle and California. She also works as a global channel sales manager at Google, based in Mountain View, Calif.
Weeks after their first date, they started seeing each other regularly and took a spontaneous trip in September to Las Vegas to spend time with Ms. Velez’s friends. Their consensus, she said: “This guy isn’t going anywhere.” But a few months later, in late November, Mr. Teodoro ghosted her.
He had just started a new job, and the stress took a toll on his mental health. “I didn’t know how to show up for someone when I felt like I couldn’t take care of myself,” he said. “It still hits me hard, because that’s not who I am, and I didn’t handle it well.”
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Ms. Velez was shocked and confused, but when Mr. Teodoro reached out a few months later to apologize, she agreed to meet. After hearing him out, she decided to give the relationship a second chance. “When she gave me that second chance, that’s when I knew I wanted to marry her,” Mr. Teodoro said.
In July 2023, they moved into a house together in San Jose because of Ms. Velez’s role at Google, where they currently reside with their pug, Frank.
On Nov. 4, 2022, Ms. Velez’s father, Raniel Panlaqui Velez, died after a battle with prostate cancer. “When he passed away, I went into full planning mode,” she said. “I planned his funeral and celebration of life myself, and Brian was the only person who had seen both sides of me at once — the event planner and the grieving daughter,” she said.
The experience strengthened their relationship, Mr. Teodoro said, and reassured her family that she was not navigating the loss alone. “Her mom and aunt told me one of the last things her dad said was that he knew she would be OK because she was with me,” he said.
Mr. Teodoro proposed on Sept. 7, 2024, during a trip to Europe for his sister’s wedding in Mallorca, Spain, with a stop in Paris beforehand. Under the Eiffel Tower, during the height of the Paris Paralympic Games, he proposed with a round-cut diamond ring.
They were married Jan. 3 at the Four Seasons Hotel Seattle, before 123 guests. Kimball Gainor, a close friend of Ms. Velez who was previously ordained through the Universal Life Church, officiated.
Ms. Velez walked down the aisle to a piano rendition of “Let’s Get Married” by Jagged Edge, escorted by her younger brother, Rynan Velez. A charm bearing her father’s photograph was tied to her bouquet, and a seat with his photo and a Corona beer, one of his favorites, was set in his honor. “I felt his presence the whole day,” she said.
The ceremony incorporated traditional Filipino unity rituals, including the veil, cord (yugal), and coin (arras) ceremonies, symbolizing oneness, protection, and shared responsibility. After the reception, guests lined up for a traditional Filipino money dance, during which they took turns dancing briefly with Ms. Velez and Mr. Teodoro while pinning bills onto sashes the couple wore. “It’s a way for our family and friends to wish us prosperity and support us as we start our marriage,” Ms. Velez said.
For Ms. Velez, who has planned hundreds of weddings, including her own, the celebration marked both a culmination and a new start. “We wanted the day to reflect where we’ve been while marking a fresh beginning for us as a couple,” Mr. Teodoro said.
The post She Planned Hundreds of Weddings. Now Her Own. appeared first on New York Times.
