REAL-WEDDINGS

Real Columbus Wedding: Julie and Gabriel Kriz

Cultural traditions highlighted this spring wedding

Columbus Monthly

Julie and Gabriel Kriz married on April 23, 2022, at Vue Columbus.

April 23, 2022 | Sunday marks the first anniversary for Julie (Zhang) and Gabriel Kriz, whose spring 2022 wedding included elements of Julie’s Chinese heritage.

“We had a tea ceremony with our immediate family before the wedding ceremony,” Julie says. “I also had my aunt do a reading—a Chinese poem—in English and Chinese.” Guest favors and wedding décor included another nod to her family’s culture: the “double happiness” symbol.

The couple, who met via Tinder, got engaged less than a year before their big day. On July 17, 2021, they traveled to Gabriel’s family’s cabin on Pymatuning Lake on the Ohio/Pennsylvania border. As they sat on a bench, eating ice cream, Julie mused that they might be seeing the same view that Gabe’s grandparents had enjoyed when they were alive. That’s when Gabe turned to her and told Julie that he wanted to spend the rest of his life watching the sunset with her, she recalls.

When asked what she remembers most about the wedding day, Julie points to the moment at the end of the processional when her father gave her away … and watching all of their loved ones having funo n the dance floor.

The newlyweds honeymooned in Key West following their celebration.