Shaina Kohanzadeh & David Simhaee

When David and Shaina met, he lived in Los Angeles and she lived in New York.  He was visiting New York for a family function and got stuck for four days during Hurricane Sandy. 

They were introduced by a mutual friend on David’s last day. That afternoon, they had tea and he immediately asked her out to dinner that same evening. “His tenacity for seamlessly turning his wants into reality immediately caught my attention and eventually my heart,” Shaina said. 

They were dating long distance as David was visiting New York every other weekend for almost a year and a half. At that time, he was living in the Ritz-Carlton Residence so he had their Homeowner's Association draft an email detailing a fictitious event. So, he forwarded the event email to Shaina and suggested they go. When they got to the building, the staff escorted them to the outside event location, which was the helicopter pad of the Ritz. Rose petals were everywhere along with a red carpet that read “Shay Shay, I love you, Will you marry me?”

After the proposal, David surprised her once again. Under the pretense that they would go get a check for the photographer and spend a moment to call their family and friends, they proceeded to his condo unit. Much to her amazement, both families were waiting to surprise and greet them with champagne.  Following their champagne toast, they had a lovely dinner with both families in the private room at WP24, a restaurant within the Ritz-Carlton.  

Shaina and David decided to wed in Beverly Hills at the Beverly Wilshire. Monique Lhullier designed Shaina’s wedding gown and David’s tuxedo was Tom Ford. Since they did so much planning leading up to the wedding, on the day of, they were quite calm as there was nothing left to do. “My favorite moment was seeing Dave’s face down the aisle,” Shaina said.  It was as if the whole world had stopped in that moment and all she saw was David. 

For their chuppah, she had envisioned a giant flower chandelier. They personally designed many of the items at their wedding including their programs, the end of the night flip flops, the welcome tote bags in the hotel rooms of the out-of-towners and their yalmulke, the Hebrew word simcha, meaning happiness and celebration. 

Lastly, the Joanie and Leigh's Cakes made miniature wedding cakes on sticks for guests to take as they exited. The brides entrance was extremely unique as they arranged to have a trained opera singer do a duet with their cantor while Shaina walked down the aisle. 

 It brought a high level of emotion to what was a happy and celebratory experience to everyone. Shaina said, “I was ecstatic that I was married to the man of my dreams and I no longer had to practice our first dance!” For their honeymoon, they went to the St. Regis Bora Bora.