RANCHO SOL DEL PACIFICO, MALIBU, CA

    Fola and Alvin had an awkward chance meeting at a conference of medical students in April 2004. Although both had attended Harvard Medical School, they had never met.  When they did, Alvin was tired from the conference and could think of little to say—an unusual circumstance for him. Fola informed her conference roommate that she had met “a really rude guy.”
    The roommate insisted that Alvin was great and arranged another meeting. From then on, the couple sought each other out at the conference and phone numbers were exchanged. Back in Boston, Fola was thrilled when the name “Alvin” flashed on her Caller ID. “And the rest, as they say,” says Alvin with a laugh, “is history.”

    Two years later, as Fola stepped off a plane to meet Alvin, she had no idea her life was about to change. After a yacht ride across San Francisco Bay and dinner with Alvin’s parents, they wound up alone on the top floor of the St. Francis Hotel, with its 360-degree view. Fola turned to see Alvin kneeling down. Shocked, she buried her face in her hands and said, “Oh my gosh . . . now?” then kneeled down, too, to hug her fiancé.

    Fola and Alvin wanted a “magical and unique” location, so they chose Rancho Pacifico del Sol. The 280 guests were shuttled along the scenic California coastline and up the Santa Monica hills to the wedding site.
    To honor Fola’s Nigerian culture, her aunt, Arin Oladapo, blessed the couple with a wedding admonition, in Yoruba, then presented them with the Yoruba interpretation of marriage and family.
    To celebrate the couple’s heritage, a special guest performed a traditional African-American broom ceremony. Alvin explained, “The broom ceremony pays homage to our rich African-American traditions and acknowledges a time, not too long ago, when our ancestors were not given the legal right to marry. During slavery, jumping the broom represented the joining of two families and symbolized the beginning of a new life as a married couple.”
   Although Fola and Alvin chose traditional Western wedding attire—she, a Pronovia A-line gown with delicate asymmetric crystal and pearl beadwork, and he, a Larry Cooper custom-designed long-cut tuxedo jacket—the couple changed into traditional Nigerian attire during the reception, and surprised guests by dancing to Nigerian Yoruba wedding music.

    Fola and Alvin stayed at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel on their wedding night, then spent a week at Victoria House in Ambergris Caye, Belize.