Brianna Agyemang and Ermias Tessema were first introduced by a friend—but not romantically. “Erm was looking to apply to a job at a company I used to work for and took me to brunch in exchange for me giving him some background on the company,” shares Brianna, who is an entrepreneur and professor at NYU in Los Angeles. While the meeting was friendly, the two didn’t reconnect until the same mutual friend’s engagement party six months later in late 2019. “We chatted it up a bit—then ultimately I went home, and Erm went out to the after-party. The next morning, Erm sent me a text saying, ‘You’re the hardest person to hang out with.’ I replied, ‘I’m available tonight.’” She adds, “And the rest is history.”

Ermias—who leads finance at Michael B. Jordan’s agency Obsidianworks Creative and co-owns a bicoastal kickball league—came up with a thoughtful way to surprise Brianna with a proposal on August 17, 2024, at Prospect Park in Brooklyn, just a few blocks from her childhood home. The two were visiting from Los Angeles, while Ermias’s parents were visiting from Ethiopia. They all had plans for a “dinner” that night, but Ermias’s brother texted them to stop by Prospect Park on the way. Ermias remembers, “I was really nervous because as we were on the way, it started to lightly rain and luckily I grabbed an umbrella because the show must go on! I walked her through the park, under the tunnel where a dance party was randomly happening and past the trees to the pond.”

Once they arrived atop a bridge over the pond, Ermias began a heartfelt speech about how incredible their years together had been. Then, he showed her a lock on the bridge inscribed with the date, their initials, and an infinity symbol in his handwriting that Brianna’s friend had placed earlier in the day. At that point, Brianna recognized what was happening. “She slowly turned around in tears and saw me on bended knee. I made sure to give her a minute to come back to Earth and her body—it is a lot for the one being proposed to,” says Ermias. “I asked her to marry me, and of course, she said yes.” He then had Brianna look towards the Prospect Park Boathouse, where both sides of their families were waving and cheering. After a brief reunion, the newly engaged pair took a car together to the restaurant where they had celebrated their going-away party three years earlier. “I walked her into another surprise—a 100-plus crew of our family, friends, and close loved ones yelling ‘congratulations’ and ready to dance the night away with us,” Ermias shares. “That weekend was the lightest I have ever felt in my life; weightless. It was truly special.”

The pair decided to exchange vows on Sunday, January 18, 2026, at Desert View in Apache Junction, Arizona. The modern venue in the middle of the desert featured panoramic views of the Superstition Mountains both indoors and out. “Arizona is where we took our first trip together in March 2020, a week before the COVID shutdown, so it made sense that we would go back there for our wedding,” shares Brianna. Brianna led the charge on planning with help from Ermias and coordinator Alayna Landrey of Kristi Marie Events. Looking back on the process, Brianna says there were “a lot of decks,” but it wasn’t as bad as she expected it would be.

Ahead of their big day, the couple would also have two traditional African ceremonies as a nod to their roots in August 2025. “We spent a weekend on the East Coast doing our traditional Ghanaian ayefro in New Jersey and Ethiopian melse in Philly,” explains Brianna. “Each ceremony had its own dedicated day filled with cultural traditions, processes, gifts, clothing, food, family, friends, and music. We wanted to honor our parents by doing these ceremonies, and they were able to invite all of their friends to these.” The couple got started early to book out their venue and other major vendors for the Arizona wedding so they could pivot and dedicate time to planning these events. The last few months were spent executing the rest of their ideas to make their dream wedding come to life.

Brianna spotted her wedding dress designer, Ellie Misner, on Instagram before they even booked the venue. “I loved how she highlighted women’s bodies, and there was a vintage, yet modern and clean vibe from her that I really loved,” describes the bride. Since Misner is based in London, she would have to venture across the pond for a custom dress appointment. Brianna decided to plan a vacation to visit her sister in Amsterdam and tie in a short day trip to visit her studio. “Since I knew I probably only had one time to meet with Ellie, I did a lot of online research and tried on at shops in LA to make sure the styles and shapes I thought I liked in theory actually looked good on me in real life,” says Brianna. “The vibe at the fitting confirmed to me that I made the right decision and she was going to kill it!” Misner sketched out a strapless, corseted style, chose fabrics and color, and took the bride’s measurements to begin the process. Adds Brianna, “A few months later, my dress was ready,” and two friends helped her deliver the final product back to her in Los Angeles.

To accessorize, Brianna wanted to find a pair of metallic shoes she could wear the entire night. “I landed on a pair of silver Jimmy Choo Bing 100 mules that were way more comfortable than they sound and I loved them so much,” she says. Finding the right earrings for the look proved to be a little more tricky—but on the week of the wedding, Brianna walked into the Swarovski store while doing last-minute errands at the mall with Ermias. “They had these beautiful dangly earrings with multiple green stones,” describes Brianna. Since her engagement ring was an emerald, she loved the idea of wearing green elsewhere. “Erm walked into the store as I tried them on but he made me think he didn’t like them,” she says. “But, he actually tricked me so he could later go back and buy them for me as a gift.”

For beauty, the bride wanted to stick true to her style. “My friend Dawn, the Hair Nutritionist, has been doing my hair for over a decade and to be honest I couldn’t imagine anyone else doing my hair on such a special day,” she shares. Brianna has always loved fun, colorful makeup, so she wanted to do something nontraditional for her look. “I actually used to wear glitter eyeshadow and colored eyeliner before Euphoria came out,” she jokes. “Doing a ton of IG and TikTok research, I came across the page of Cassandra aka Facegod and her makeup was unlike anything I had ever seen. I did a trial with her when we were in town for some wedding planning and I was sold.”

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