Hello there
It was after 1 a.m. on a June morning in 2003 when Marcus and a group of college guys boarded the subway near Columbia University in New York. Once on the train, Marcus could not take his eyes off Nicole, who had boarded at the same stop with a gaggle of girlfriends.
It turned out that not only was Nicole leaving the same basketball-fraternity party, but she was a rising senior at Spelman College in Atlanta, which is literally across the street from Morehouse College, where Marcus was a rising sophomore.
Surely, such commonality would persuade this woman to talk to him. But no.
"I was trying to find something we were both interested in, but to no avail," said Marcus, who was in New York on an internship at J.P. Morgan.
It was also an internship - with the Leadership Alliance - that brought Elkins Park native Nicole to New York. She was researching the problems faced by Asian immigrants with learning disabilities.
When it came to Marcus, she was just not feeling it.
After Nicole got off the train, Marcus pestered her friend, Njoki, for Nicole's number. Marcus called that night to be sure she got home safely. Nicole never called back, but Marcus kept her number.
Marcus later received an invitation to a Fourth of July party in the Hamptons. He called Nicole, thinking she'd be thrilled to go. She wasn't.
"I remember thinking, 'OK, you're an investment banker. Great. But who are you as a person?' " Nicole said. She would find out in September.
Back at school, Nicole and Marcus wound up at the same party, in a setting more conducive than public transportation to conversation. By then, Marcus had deleted Nicole's number from his cell phone. But at the end of the night, she happily gave it to him.
Their first date, at an Italian restaurant, went well. But it was on their second outing - a group camping trip - that they really got to know each other.
The group got lost. They forgot to bring batteries. They also neglected to bring firewood, and would have been very cold had a kind passerby not shared some.
"Everything that could go wrong, did, short of us getting kidnapped," Marcus said. But Nicole was cool through it all, he said.
Nicole said the trip gave her the first glimpse of Marcus in problem-solving mode. "I appreciate it," she said. "I can be stuck in a problem forever."
Their couple status was secured. But that fall, Nicole got her psychology degree and left for Nashville, where she earned her master's in special education from Vanderbilt University. Then it was off to Washington to work on her doctorate in clinical health from Howard University.
After graduating with his degree in business finance, Marcus, who grew up in Cincinnati, the Detroit suburbs, and Shreveport, La., went to work as a management consultant for McKinsey & Co. in Atlanta.
Marcus and Nicole visited each other as often as they could. And they lived for the vacations they took to the Caribbean, South Africa, Paris, Colorado, and California.
How does forever sound?
Distance had never come between the couple. But in spring 2008, when Marcus told Nicole he had accepted a job offer from a private equity fund in New York, she became very concerned about their relationship.
One of them was moving again, but they would still be living apart. And she couldn't stop thinking about the glamorous New York women he would encounter.
On May 3, Nicole had plans with her friend Brigitte, whom she considers her sister. Brigitte had persuaded Nicole to come up from D.C. for shopping and a fair on Rittenhouse Square. At lunchtime, Brigitte dropped Nicole off in front of an Old City restaurant and told her to go ahead while she parked the car.
Inside, Nicole saw Marcus.
"What are you doing here?" Nicole asked. The day before, he had driven from Atlanta to New York with a U-Haul. That morning, he had put on a sportcoat, bought some flowers, and taken Amtrak to Philadelphia.
"This is a big change, moving to New York, starting a new job," he said. "I want you to be part of that with me."
Marcus knelt, and presented Nicole with a ring. Her silent pause worried him for a few moments, but it was just her mind racing to absorb what was happening: There would be no breakup.
"Yes!" she said.
When they drove to Elkins Park after lunch, Nicole's parents, Ennis and Carolyn, and about 20 friends and family members were waiting to celebrate. Marcus' parents, Dennis and Ursel, live in Detroit.
It was so them
Marcus, 26, and Nicole, 28, were married before 160 guests at the Unitarian Society of Germantown.
The couple who met on a subway and had spent about two years using Amtrak to travel between D.C. and New York used trains as a wedding theme. Their save-the-date magnets were shaped like tickets. Their favors were chocolate subway tokens. Each table at their Downtown Club reception was named after a New York subway stop, their names spelled out in tile mosaic duplicating the look of subway-system signs.
Since they met in Harlem, Marcus and Nicole wanted to recreate the glamour of that borough during its renaissance. The centerpieces, the bride's bouquet, and the groom's boutonniere featured feathers along with flowers. And a group of student dancers from the University of the Arts dressed like flappers and performed to "Take the A Train."
As a volunteer with Services for the UnderServed, Marcus provides free advice to people starting new companies. The couple hired two of them as vendors.
Hiring companies that he had helped not only made the couple feel good, Marcus said, but the "young and hungry" entrepreneurs also provided a greater level of service than the same money would have bought from a more established firm.
This didn't happen at rehearsal
"I was totally shocked by our cake," Marcus said. It was an impressive eight tiers, because Nicole wanted one layer for each year they have been together, plus an extra for good luck.
Awestruck
On their wedding day, Marcus gave Nicole a family Bible. Nicole also received her grandmother's Bible, which her great-aunt, mother, and now Nicole carried down the aisle. But the Bible from Marcus marks "our own new beginning," Nicole said.
In his volunteer work, Marcus helped a woman named Jai Jai who now owns a wine store in Harlem. At the wedding, she told Marcus that she had never met his wife before. "It was the first time I ever heard someone refer to Nicole as my wife," Marcus said.
Discretionary spending
A bargain: Nicole's mother and her Aunt Carrie decorated inexpensive boxes for the favors with beautiful handmade bows. Chaz, one of Marcus' groomsmen, is establishing a website design and development firm in North Carolina, the Chaz Clark Projects. He designed the couple's wedding website for free as a way to showcase his work.
The splurge: Nicole always wanted to travel from her wedding to the reception in style. The couple rented a 1963 Rolls-Royce.
The getaway
The couple, who live in Brooklyn, spent two weeks in the Maldives.
Officiant
The Rev. Charles W. Quann of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Spring House
Venues
Ceremony: Unitarian Society of Germantown, Philadelphia; Reception: The Downtown Club, Philadelphia
Photography and videography
Nieubreed Boutique Media Services, Medford, Mass.
Florist
Florist Precious Petals, Huntington Valley
Formal Wear
Tuxedo: Black Tie Formal Wear, Philadelphia. Dress: (a gift from the bride's mother) Nicole Bridal & Formal Shoppe, Jenkintown
Invitations
Event Solution Enterprises, Philadelphia
Planner
Tie the Knot, Wyncote{12821224715731}