Anjana Kadakkal and Trentice Bolar's ring exchange was a moment nine years in the making. Not that the wait was a problem. "We're both extremely determined, committed people who don't mind the long haul," Anjana says, "As you can tell from our careers!" Anjana, a physician, was finishing her medical-school rotations in New York City when she met Trent, now an attorney, on the dance floor in a bar. "We spent every day together for a week, and then I headed to Chicago for my residency," she says. For two years, they dated long distance, until Trent started law school in Chicago. But then, after two years together, Anjana relocated to Washington, D.C., for a medical fellowship, and Trent landed a plum job at a firm in NYC. After another four years apart, Trent finally moved to the capital in May 2014. Within a month, they were engaged. "He got down on one knee in our living room," Anjana recalls. "It was very low-key."
What wasn't low-key? Their bold vision for the wedding. "I didn't want a white dress," says Anjana, who chose red because, she says, "in traditional Indian culture, only widows wear all white." Remembering early dates driving around New York admiring street art, the couple booked Long View Gallery in Washington, D.C., and decorated it with graffiti-like details that also incorporated Anjana's heritage. On May 2, before 106 guests, a friend officiated as they exchanged vows they'd written, standing in front of a graffiti image of Trent's favorite flower, the lotus, which is sacred in Hinduism and signifies new beginnings.
From the crimson gown to the DJ's mix of what Anjana calls "a '90s punk soundtrack," the celebration was upbeat and unconventional. After a meal of shrimp and grits, kale salad, spiced lamb, and curried sea bass, a throng of loved ones, spanning all the states, schools, and jobs in the pair's history, climbed onstage to bust out their moves. The newlyweds soon joined the fun, kicking off their marriage the same way they met: on the dance floor.
