Wedding in Santa Barbara

Mahan & Nikki

A Message From The Groom

This love story is so unique, and so special. Mahan, a Physician in Arizona had heard of his future bride from one of his employees, Alexandria, who had tried to set them up for many years. But it wasn’t until an unforeseen circumstance where they would finally meet.

One day, Alexandria never showed up to work which was not really like her, shortly after the start of her shift I received a call from the hospital stating that she was in a vehicle accident and she was in critical care but unfortunately they could not find any info on her except for our work info. I then looked through her desk to find Nikki’s number, to my surprise. I called her to let her know about what had happened and I asked if she could help me let her family know, I also told her that I would go to the hospital to see if there was anything I could do. Who would have ever thought that the first time I would meet my future wife would be outside of ICU in a hospital in the worst of circumstances.

As I walked in the room to meet her for the first time, we were both devastated by the news of our mutual friend at this point fighting for her life. We only had each other to console as her family had not arrived yet, you can say that it wasn't your typical first meet as she was in tears and we were both very upset. Thankfully Alexandria fought for her life and she started to recover more and more everyday and Nikki and I started to see each other more and more at the hospital while being there for her.

Somehow what we shared in those couple of weeks in the hospital brought us a connection and a feeling that we had never felt. Every time I think back, I think that it could not have been anything but fate. As Alexandria was making full recovery and ready to leave the hospital, I asked Nikki to go out to dinner with me and well... the rest is history.

Fast forward to Thanksgiving the following year, I proposed with a total surprise proposal as she walked into my sister's house where I was waiting for her on my knees with all our family standing behind me. Even her brother had come to town from CA without her knowledge. As she parked the car and proceeded to open the door and to walk into my sister's house where she thought it was a typical thanksgiving gathering, she ran into the last thing that she could possibly think of. Her face to this day was the most priceless thing that I have ever witnessed, it was amazing moment that we will never forget.

Wedding planning was a bit stressful to begin with as we found a destination wedding to be more challenging. I could say that we were one of those couples that were really involved in every aspect of our wedding planning which made it maybe a bit more stressful but yet more rewarding to see the final result.

When we finally made it to Santa Barbara the day before our wedding for the rehearsal and saw friend and family arriving at the hotel, we knew that the day had finally arrived and we were so anxious for everything that we had planned to take place.

We knew we were prepared and confident that with the people that we had behind us, especially our wedding planner and photographer, we were going to have a beautiful wedding and everything would turn out just the way we had dreamed and we were not wrong.

To be honest, the day is so full of events that it rather flies by so we were both doing the best we can to truly take in the experience.

We were so excited for our ceremony as we were able to join two completely different cultures yet each with its own beauty into one magnificent event that we knew all our family and were friends would enjoy along side us. It was definitely a unique wedding ceremony to witness, followed by a cocktail hour by the sea that made our guest gasp for air.

One of the main reasons why we picked the location was the serene atmosphere that the resort provided by the water. It was fun to change things up and actually attend our own cocktail hour as most bride and grooms are typically not present for this portion of the wedding. We were so impressed with the reception as the decor, flowers, cake and lighting had come together to create the impeccable picture we had envisioned for ourselves.

This was the portion that we had waited for the most all day, to eat, drink and dance the night away with all our friends and family.

The entertainment made that happen with perfectly mix of Persian and Latin music. They became one of the main highlights of our wedding as they exceeded our expectations. We still talk about how much fun our wedding was and how beautiful it turned out but we didn't really grasp the full extent of it till we had our cinematographer send us our short film. It was pure bliss.

Our honeymoon was not short of our wedding as we got to see and experience some beautiful parts of the world together and experience different foods and cultures that we had talked about for years.

We kicked off our honeymoon in Miami where we enjoyed the latin flavors of south beach and then it was off to Europe. What can I really say, perfection, London, Mykonos, Santorini, Rome, Capri, Positano, Venice and Barcelona... What more could we ask for? From the charm and beauty of the greek islands to the history of Rome to the sunsets of Capri to the marvel of Venice, a truly beautiful city on water to the food, people and the culture that fills Barcelona.