Sunday, March 27, 2016

The groom would like to share a few words

"I love our story," the bride told me. But it was the groom who told most of it.

The tradition of Donaldson's family. I'd never seen a dollar dance like this.
Donaldson had more to say about Scarlett than any groom I've ever spoken with. He started with the moment when he knew he was in love: At a mutual friend's wedding reception, when Scarlett brought him a glass of water.

"There was this sweet voice behind me, she said 'Oh, I thought you might be thirsty,'" Donaldson recalled. "Then I heard the bell going off, ding ding ding, this is your wife. It was all over a glass of water."

Well, there was a bit more to it than that. A lot of it happened while they were Skyping and baking.

Donaldson and Scarlett met through mutual friends Vinesh and Simi, and the couples shared a mutual headache: The ladies lived in Chicago, the gentlemen in London. For New Year's Eve 2012-13, Vinesh flew to Chicago to celebrate with his then-girlfriend, and Donaldson came along because...he's young, single, handsome, why not?

Donaldson spotted Scarlett, and was smitten right away — but she was seeing someone at the time. Donaldson the gentleman eased back...but Scarlett remained on his mind, across the pond.

Easter 2013, an engaged Simi flew to London to see her betrothed, and told Donaldson that she wanted to show him some photos of a nice young lady back in Chicago. Uh...Donaldson wasn't all that interested in checking out some girl in the colonies...until Simi forced one photo upon him.

It was Scarlett, who was free again. And Donaldson was still that smitten.

He gained sole possession of the key to Scarlett's heart: cyber-baking.

Through Skype, the two started cooking things at the same time, from their two apartments' kitchens. To accommodate the time difference, Donaldson would get up at 6 a.m. on Saturday mornings, while Scarlett stayed up past midnight on Friday nights. The groom quickly came to enjoy the early alarm setting.

"I was like 'Oh my gosh, this is so cool.'"

They e-mailed each other ingredients lists in advance. Donaldson once forgot the butter for a cake they were making. His did not come out well.

When Vinesh married Simi, Donaldson came back to Chicago, and made a point of spending time with Scarlett during the reception. This is where the glass of water and the dinging bells happened.

I got almost all of these details from Donaldson — the most conversational groom I've worked with so far. He proposed in October 2014, and Scarlett had this to say about that night: Once he started to kneel, he did not need to speak another word.

"As soon as he went down on one knee, I said 'Yes.'"

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