When Ariana Austin, 33, met lawyer Joel Makonnen, 35,
at the Pearl nightclub in Washington, D.C., she had no idea that a fairy tale
was about to unfold.
“I said: ‘You guys look like an ad for Bombay
Sapphire’,” Makonnen told The New York Times
about his opening line to Austin when they met on the dance floor at the club
in December 2005.
“Not even five minutes later I said: ‘You’re going to
be my girlfriend.’ ”
Hitting it off immediately, the couple started dating
and as things started getting more serious, Makonnen hit her with the truth: He
was, in fact, Prince Joel Makonnen, grandson of the last Emperor of Ethiopia
and a direct descendent of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. (The 1988
comedy Coming to America starred Eddie Murphy as an African prince who
poses as a commoner and falls in love with an American woman.)
“It’s unbeatable heritage and history,” Austin told
the New York Times. “It combines sheer black power and ancient Christian
tradition.”
On Sept. 9, Austin joined this royal lineage when she
married Makonnen in an Ethiopian Orthodox ceremony at the Debre Genet Medhane
Alem Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Temple Hills, Maryland. And she
looked every inch the princess bride in a flowing, ivory Lazaro dress. The
ceremony was officiated by 13 different priests, with the guests removing their
shoes to stand in stockinged feet, reports the New York Times.
Hours later, the couple celebrated long into the night
at Foxchase Manor in Manassas, Virginia, dining on platters of Ethiopian food
and Guyanese black cake.
“I think we both had this feeling that this was our
destiny,” Austin told the Times about the wedding, which was 12 years in
the making after the couple’s careers took them to different corners of the
world. “But I felt like I had things that I had to do.”
Makonnen will return to his job
in the international legal affairs department of Japanese pharmaceutical company
Otsuka. His new bride, who grew up in Washington, D.C., and studied English
Literature at Fisk University, works in philanthropy.
“You don’t expect to meet the person you’re going to
marry at Pearl,” a bridesmaid Ramberan told the Times.
You also don’t expect that person to be full-fledged
royalty!.
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