Alexis Safo-Agyeman and Kevin Budds were married in West Hartford in the fall of 2020.

Alexis Safo-Agyeman and Kevin Budds wedding. Photo credit: Todd Fairchild

Photos by Todd Fairchild; shutterbugct.com

Alexis Safo-Agyeman and Kevin Budds were not supposed to meet.

Sure, they both grew up in West Hartford and shared more than a dozen mutual friends. Yes, they like to frequent the same favorite watering holes. OK, so their sisters are former co-workers.

To be sure, their mutual friends, Ashlee and Tyler Cawley, thought they would make THE perfect match. In fact, the Cawleys planned on setting them up. Why wouldn’t they? After all, they knew Alexis and Kevin shared the same family values, both loved to engage in intellectual conversations, and were believers in the sanctity of love and marriage.

Alexis Safo-Agyeman and Kevin Budds wedding. Photo credit: Todd Fairchild

Still, by the time Thanksgiving 2017 drew near, Alexis and Kevin had yet to meet. And it seemed as if a connection between these two kindred souls was simply not in the cards … and might never be.

Trust the fates to intervene.

In late 2017 – on the evening before Thanksgiving to be exact – Alexis and Kevin found themselves out with friends at Treva Restaurant & Bar in West Hartford Center.

And that was that.

Now, nobody would ever suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic was a good thing – not in any way, shape, or form. But it did give Alexis and Kevin a built-in excuse to throw the kind of small, intimate wedding they had dreamed of. A fall wedding in which the joyous couple was surrounded by immediate family and close friends. A wedding that was more like a warm and loving group hug than a big boisterous bash.

And so, standing before an ordained minister – who happens to double as Kevin’s brother-in-law – in the midst of an idyllic rose garden that lightly scented the air, the couple said their “I do’s.”

The end … of Chapter 1, that is. The page will be turned on Chapter 2 of their beautiful love story in November 2021, when Alexis and Kevin look forward to welcoming to their happy home their first child.

To be continued.

A version of this article originally appeared in the June 2021 issue of West Hartford Magazine. To read the entire magazine, click here.

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Alexis Safo-Agyeman and Kevin Budds wedding. Photo credit: Todd Fairchild

Alexis Safo-Agyeman and Kevin Budds wedding. Photo credit: Todd Fairchild

Alexis Safo-Agyeman and Kevin Budds wedding. Photo credit: Todd Fairchild

Alexis Safo-Agyeman and Kevin Budds wedding. Photo credit: Todd Fairchild

Alexis Safo-Agyeman and Kevin Budds wedding. Photo credit: Todd Fairchild

Alexis Safo-Agyeman and Kevin Budds wedding. Photo credit: Todd Fairchild