When Brandon Cornelius Manning first spotted Krystal Anne Miller at his brother’s wedding in July 2021, he asked a fellow groomsman for support when approaching her.
“I like your shoes,” was all he was able to come up with.
“That was it,” Ms. Miller said. “That was the entire conversation.”
She had already noticed him during the wedding ceremony as the cute groomsman who had let a few tears fall. “My first impression was, Wow, he’s hot — and emotionally connected, too,” she said.
After the wedding, Ms. Miller tracked him down on Instagram and sent a DM, but the conversation didn’t get properly rolling until Mr. Manning realized they were watching the same Netflix show and asked her about it.
They were living about three hours apart at the time, with Ms. Miller in Queens and Mr. Manning in Binghamton, N.Y., for graduate school, so their first date didn’t come until September 2021. He suggested they see the “Candyman” remake.
As they walked to grab a drink after the film, Mr. Manning asked if he could kiss Ms. Miller. “It was just the energy,” he said of what struck him. They carried that energy over to two more bars, where they spoke about their professional aspirations and families. “I was just so fascinated by her mind,” he said. “We did not want the night to end.”
Ms. Miller, 35, is a clinical social worker with her own practice, in addition to lecturing at the Columbia University School of Social Work and supervising students at City University of New York. She grew up in the Queens Village neighborhood of Queens, and received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the State University of New York at New Paltz and a master’s degree in social work from Adelphi University.
Mr. Manning, also 35, was raised in the East Flatbush-Canarsie neighborhood of Brooklyn. He is a director of academic affairs at Columbia Business School. He received a bachelor’s degree in music performance from the State University of New York at Potsdam and a master’s degree in student affairs administration from Binghamton University.
The pair made an effort to see each other every time Mr. Manning was back in the city. “It felt comfortable and exciting at the same time,” said Ms. Miller, who by the second date knew she was falling in love.
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Mr. Manning introduced her to his friends by October. “I knew that this wouldn’t just be someone who I wanted to date,” he said. “Hopefully, this is someone I would marry.” Around the same time, he got a job offer from Columbia, which allowed him to move back to New York City.
Each was supportive of the other’s dreams. In 2022, Ms. Miller began building her own practice; she now works primarily with women of color, often utilizing tools like yoga, breath work and herbs. “When I was doing workshops, I would see him in the background,” she said. “He’s cheering me on, he’s bringing me flowers.”
Similarly, she encouraged Mr. Manning’s burgeoning interest in endurance sports. In September 2023, during a tropical storm, he competed in his first half Ironman race at Jones Beach on Long Island. Over the course of nearly seven hours, Mr. Manning spotted her face again and again in the drenched crowd. “This woman, this beautiful woman, was there the entire time,” he said. “This is my partner.”
He used the excuse of another half Ironman, in September 2024, to suggest a stay at the HGU hotel in Manhattan — where he had first told her he loved her — to celebrate. There, Mr. Manning proposed under a portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat, one of their favorite artists.
The couple married on April 9 at the Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. Dr. Gary V. Simpson, who has known the groom since he was a child. When exiting the church, the pair recreated a photo of Mr. Manning’s parents at their wedding in 1984 on the same steps.
A reception followed at the Fox Hollow in Woodbury, N.Y.
At one point, amid the dancing, Mr. Manning pulled Ms. Miller aside and encouraged her to look around the joyful room. “Look at what we did,” he said. “Look at what we did.”
The post Instead of the Bouquet, She Caught a Groomsman’s Attention appeared first on New York Times.
