Hariyat & Nonso
July 11, 2021 · Chantilly, Virginia
“We are excited to be taking this next step in our journey, and would love for you to be part of it. Please join us as we celebrate our wedding in the Washington DC metro area.”
— Hariyat & Nonso
Hariyat’s Story
I’m Hariyat Andargachew or as most of you know me, Hari. I was born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and moved to Virginia in 2006. I’m a life-long science nerd and got my bachelor’s degree in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Virginia, and a Master’s degree in Genetics from Yale University.
After graduate school I moved to New York City where I work in the medical communications industry with various pharmaceutical companies.
Nonso and I first met 7 years ago in 2014 through a mutual friend in Times Square. We had a nice conversation and I remember thinking he was such a gentleman. I didn’t see him again until 4 years later in 2018. Completely randomly, we ran into each other at a small bar called Casablanca in Brooklyn. Despite the many years that had passed since our brief encounter in 2014, I remembered his name and mostly everything else. Even though he didn’t recall my name he was still a gentleman and got me an Uber home. The rest is history and I can't wait to spend the rest of our lives together.
Nonso’s Story
I’m Nonso Ogbonna, though close friends call me Big Bruv. I was born and raised in Kaduna, in the northern part of Nigeria. I moved to Washington DC in 2003 to attend Howard University. I straddle the areas of engineering and finance… with a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Howard, and an MBA degree in Finance and Technology Management from the Stern Business School at NYU. Currently, I get by as a digital solutions architect in the financial services industry.
Back in 2018, I was moving between houses and so decided to experience living in Brooklyn for a few months. It was on one of those evenings exploring the neighborhood that I ran into Hariyat again. I’m pretty good with faces (but not so good with names) , and so I clearly remembered our first interaction from years ago. She was still the same warm, and welcoming, and funny girl that I recalled meeting, and we reconnected effortlessly. We agreed to meet-up more often, now that we were neighbors. The fact that we lived a few minutes from each other helped build our relationship early on, and we committed to giving each other a chance even after I moved out of Brooklyn.
Fast forward to last year… with the COVID-19 pandemic, being locked down in the same apartment for months on end afforded us the opportunity to learn and appreciate a whole lot more about each other, and how compatible we were. And so towards the end of the summer, I asked her to be my wife.