Bride: Kelli Valencia Burroughs, 35, OB/GYN
Groom: Anthony James Broussard, 42, Management Consultant
Married On: March 23, 2013
Wedding Location: Charleston, South Carolina
Wedding Style: Contemporary Elegance Meets Southern Charm
A Friendly Favor
It was August 2006 and Kelli was living in Houston completing the second year of her medical residency. It was a busy time for her, so happy hour was a necessity on her nights off. She met up with her friends Shannon and Jeane’ (who are now happily married too) at a local Sushi restaurant with a great bar. That’s when their conversation got interesting. They asked Kelli what she was looking for in the perfect mate and she ran down a very detailed list. Her friends kept pointing out men in the crowd that she should approach, but Kelli kept saying, “Nope, he’s not my type!”
Shannon and Jeane’ told Kelli they’d invited a single guy they knew to join them for a drink and that “he might just be her type.” Kelli admits she wasn’t all that excited about the idea until she saw Anthony walk in. He was extremely handsome, and when he turned his head, Kelli nodded in approval and mouthed to her friends, “Now that’s my type.” Although Kelli didn’t really have a chance to talk to Anthony inside the loud, crowded bar, as she was leaving he asked for her phone number and her heart skipped a beat. “Well, that guy is now my guy thanks to two friends who decided to take a crash course on matchmaking 101 at my expense,” she jokes.
Dinner For Two
Looking back, Kelli insists she should have known Anthony was going to propose during their Bahamas vacation. Normally they shared her giant beach bag, but this trip, he insisted on carrying his own belongings the entire time. Plus, everywhere they went he felt their bags should not be left unattended, although she couldn’t figure out why he thought someone would want to steal her sunscreen or InStyle magazine.
It was the second night of their trip and Anthony told Kelli that he’d made plans for them to have a romantic dinner on the beach. “Spontaneous acts of kindness are not rare in our relationship,” says Kelli. “Therefore, my engagement detector did not go off.” Anthony put on one of his favorite suits, so Kelli dressed up too. Dinner was amazing and during dessert, a photographer stopped by their table and asked if he could take photos of them feeding each other strawberries. They did, but then oddly enough, the photographer didn’t leave. Kelli was confused until she saw Anthony stand and begin his proposal. She was screaming so much she missed half of his speech. “He told me he felt as if God placed me into his life and that I completed him,” she recalls. “Of course, my answer was yes.” See their lovely wedding and share their love!