Sumi Jampana and Ryan-Joseph Nucum met “the old-fashioned way, on Tinder,” Sumi chuckles. After two-and-a-half years, Ryan proposed before Sunday brunch. Ryan’s friends were supposedly running late, so Sumi and Ryan sat at the bar and grabbed a drink. “After a half hour or so, I noticed a woman across the bar. She had a single cup of coffee that had long since run cold, and she was busy going through her camera,” Sumi recalls. “I whispered about this to Ryan, adding that I thought I saw her sneak a photo of us.” He replied, “Babe, I think she’s here to photograph THIS,” and slapped the ring box down on the counter. Kelly, their photographer, was mortified that she had become part of their engagement story.
The engaged pair’s vision for the wedding was to combine the iconic-ness of New York City with their own colorful design sense. “We wanted to create an event that was a love letter to the city where we met and where we both felt free to be ourselves and love each other openly and fully,” Sumi shares. After looking at a few landmark venues, they landed on the Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center. “Can’t go gayer than rainbows, right?”
Sumi and Ryan were originally set to marry in 2020, but due to the pandemic, they ended up having an intimate ceremony in Southampton. A year later, they were finally able to have their grand nuptials on September 4, 2021. Jove Meyer Events helped the couple bring their vision to life, and Fourteen-Forty set the tone for the day with a colorful invitation suite.
“As a gay wedding with two grooms, a lot of the traditional wedding fashion moments just didn’t apply to us,” Sumi says. “On the flip side, that gave us a lot of flexibility when making all of our own choices!” The pair opted to wear matching bespoke gray suits from Paul Stuart and individualize their looks with accessories. “In a nod to our heritages, we wore custom-made scarves with Indian fabric on one side, stitched together with Filipino weaving on the other.”
On the day-of, the grooms entered the room and walked down the aisle together, hand-in-hand. After two of their “groomsmaids” delivered readings, Sumi and Ryan exchanged their own vows in front of a breathtaking floral display by Mimosa Floral Design. Since they had already exchanged rings in 2020, the couple shared a “one year anniversary” kiss. Once announced as married (again), the men were whisked to take sunset photos at the Top of the Rock, as guests enjoyed cocktail hour.
“Our vision was to take the elegant, iconic Art Deco design of the Rainbow Room…and then totally modernize it with pops of colorful jewel-toned florals set amidst lush green tropical leaves,” Sumi shares. Each table was named after an iconic city landmark, like The Stonewall Inn and Empire State Building.
The not-so-newlyweds entered their reception to “Let’s Hear it For the Boy,” which led into a choreographed routine to a slow ballad version of “Unconditionally” by Katy Perry.
After dinner, the grooms cut their tiered wedding cake by Ron Ben-Israel, and guests danced the night away with the 15-piece band All-Stars of Element Music. Roaming artist A.E. Kieren also surprised guests with on-the-spot sketches of themselves. At the end of the evening, late-night McDonald’s Happy Meals were passed around for anyone who had danced up an appetite.
To end the day, the wedding party and the grooms met in their suite for more snacks and laughs to wind down. Sumi concludes, “The next morning, we had a brunch platter, coffee, and mimosas to help ease our hangovers and have one last moment together before ending an incredible weekend.”
