{"id":245115,"date":"2023-09-05T20:47:32","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T20:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/facingdisability.com\/?p=245115"},"modified":"2023-09-07T20:18:59","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T20:18:59","slug":"he-admired-her-grit-and-grace-she-was-struck-by-his-kindness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/facingdisability.com\/blog\/he-admired-her-grit-and-grace-she-was-struck-by-his-kindness","title":{"rendered":"He Admired Her \u2018Grit and Grace.\u2019 She Was Struck by His Kindness."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo Credit: Khaki Bedford<\/p><\/div>\n

Editor\u2019s note:<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes, love stories stand out not just because of the love itself, but the unexpected twists and unwavering hope they bring. Bri Scalesse, a model and disability advocate, and Sheldon Nguyen, a pharmacist \u2013 were an unlikely pair whose love story defied the odds. Their journey began with a chance encounter, unusual distances, and blossomed into a love story filled with hope and determination. \u00a0Here is an excerpt of their unique love story, from a not-so-typical first date to a wedding that celebrated love and inclusivity. Bri and Sheldon’s story featured in the “New York Times”, is a testament to the power of hope, resilience, and love that can conquer all obstacles.<\/em><\/p>\n

When Bri Sophia Scalesse, model and disability advocate, decided to use the Hinge app to start dating in Manhattan in January 2019, she kept the settings she\u2019d had while living in Norwich, Conn., years earlier, with the \u201cmaximum distance\u201d of potential matches set to roughly 35 miles.<\/p>\n

Within a few weeks, the app connected Bri with Sheldon Thien Nguyen, 31, a pharmacist living in New Brunswick, N.J., which was at least an hour\u2019s drive from where she lived.<\/p>\n

\u201cBri didn\u2019t realize that Manhattan was something like two or three miles wide, so she had her radius set really huge,\u201d Sheldon said.<\/p>\n

And good thing she had.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the reason we met,\u201d Bri said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a cup of coffee to warm my hands, and he wrapped his hands around mine,\u201d Bri said. She felt the spark immediately. \u201cI had been going on many dates at the time, like three or four a week,\u201d she said. A lot of them were mediocre, she added, but this one felt different. She knew there was something special between them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the beginning of a relationship, how disability plays a role and how this person handles it has always been the biggest thing for me,\u201d Bri recalls. (Bri was injured in an auto accident at age 6, that left her with paraplegia.)<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s been a fighter her entire life, through physical and emotional hardships,\u201d Sheldon said. \u201cAnd she does it all with charisma and warmth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bri and Sheldon were ultimately married June 2 at Rule of Thirds<\/em>, a Japanese restaurant and event space in Brooklyn, in front of 181 guests.<\/p>\n

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Photo Credit: Khaki Bedford<\/p><\/div>\n

Eight of their guests were in wheelchairs, so the couple worked with their wedding planner on a smart layout for the ceremony. \u201cMaking sure it was accessible for wheelchair users and anyone who\u2019s disabled was really important to us,\u201d Bri said. They decided on a semicircle of guests on one side, and the traditional seated rows on the other side.<\/p>\n

With that configuration, \u201cwe felt so surrounded by loved ones in a way I couldn\u2019t have imagined,\u201d Bri said.<\/p>\n

For Sheldon and Bri, one of the most touching moments of the wedding was hearing the vows the other person had written.<\/p>\n

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Photo credit: Khaki Bedford<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cBri\u2019s vows meant the world to me,\u201d Sheldon said. \u201cShe\u2019s an incredible storyteller.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSheldon wrote a letter to my childhood self, my present self, and my future self,\u201d Bri said. \u201cI could cry every time I think about them. If I ever need to cry on command, I\u2019ll think about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Intriguing Wedding Day Details<\/strong><\/p>\n

Accessories For All\u00a0<\/strong>One of Mr. Nguyen\u2019s favorite accessory items \u2014 pearls \u2014 was the theme of the evening. \u201cWe bought lots of different pearl accessories, put them all in a box and had guests choose a piece to wear at the wedding when they came in,\u201d Mr. Nguyen said.<\/p>\n

That Can Only Mean One Thing<\/strong>\u00a0As the wedding party came down the aisle, some guests noticed that the music accompanying them was an instrumental version of \u201cHotline Bling\u201d by Drake, one of the couple\u2019s favorite songs. \u201cVery few people caught on, but the few who did were like, \u2018Is this actually happening? Am I really hearing this?\u2019\u201d Ms. Scalesse said.<\/p>\n

Flowers and Metal<\/strong>\u00a0Kelsey Ledezma-Rebollo, a florist based in Southern California who is a wheelchair user, designed an arrangement of flowers to be woven into the spokes of Ms. Scalesse\u2019s wheelchair. The wedding\u2019s florist, A Lily Among Thorns, executed the design according to Ms. Ledezma-Rebollo\u2019s instructions. \u201cIt was very important to me that she was the one who designed it,\u201d Ms. Scalesse said.<\/p>\n

Source: The New York Times, by Valeriya Safronova, August 25, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ms. Scalesse and Mr. Nguyen were married June 2 at Rule of Thirds, a Japanese restaurant and event space in Brooklyn, in front of 181 guests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":245116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[11844,6125,5263,12182,5257,5255,5120,5465,5391,11890,12183,7007],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/facingdisability.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245115"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/facingdisability.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/facingdisability.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facingdisability.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/69"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facingdisability.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245115"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/facingdisability.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":245163,"href":"https:\/\/facingdisability.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245115\/revisions\/245163"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facingdisability.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/facingdisability.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facingdisability.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facingdisability.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}