Photo: Adonye Jaja Photography
Anika Noni Rosehas found her real-life prince, saysColman Domingo, who officiated her wedding.
The Disney princess, who voiced Tiana inThe Princess and the Frog, married Jason Dirden, 42, in Los Angelesin October, and Domingo played a special part in their big day.
“We had the best time,” he tells PEOPLE of his “best friend” Rose’s ceremony.
“It’s beautiful to be able to bring two of your close friends together,” the Tony Award nominee says, adding that he’s known fellow Broadway alum Rose, 50 — who won a Tony for her performance in Broadway’sCaroline, or Change— for years.
“There’s such a history before Anika wasAnika. So it’s nice that we get to have these landmark moments together,” he says.
He adds of Rose and her husband of three months: “She’s really such a dynamic, beautiful spirit, and I’m so glad that she’s found her Prince Charming in Jason.”
Along with officiating the ceremony, theEuphoriastar, 53, helped get the party started at the reception.
“Colman Domingo, our officiant, started doing the electric slide, which is something that I never thought was going to be at my wedding, but it was so much fun!” Rose said toldBridesin an interview published last week. “Everybody knows a line dance, so all ages danced to that—there was an intergenerational joy and connection that was so fun to see.”
Their big day also featured a moment from the bride, who delivered an original cover ofNorah Jones' “Come Away With Me,“which was to be their first dance song. Her schedule was packed until the very day of the wedding, however, leaving her with only the day before to record her vocals over the track.
“The only other person who knew that this was happening was the DJ,” Rose toldBrides. “I saw the moment Jason realized it was me singing. Meanwhile, my family knew it was me from the moment the first beat dropped! Jason was so focused on the dance that it took him about two lines in before he had that ‘Ah’ moment.”
Dirden was shocked, but moved at the special moment.
“My first thought was: I did not know I was marrying a liar!” he joked toBrides. “It was so moving, so magical, and something I would have never expected.”
The newlyweds met in 2014 when they were cast in the Broadway production ofA Raisin in the Sun. Dirden proposed in December 2021, but when the time came to settle on a date for the wedding, Rose and Dirden, who is also a working actor, realized there was only one block of time in which they were both free — leaving them with two months to plan the wedding.
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For Rose and Dirden, the wedding couldn’t have gone more smoothly — even if some things were unexpected.
source: people.com
