When radio host Miguel Fuller and Abe Gadikian first met in 2016, they were both seeing other people. But the attraction was always there, they say.
“Now that we go back and look at pictures, it’s really funny because like, we always would gravitate towards each other in group photos,” Fuller says. “Like no funny business or anything like that, but we would somehow always end up, like, right next to each other, but never with the people we were talking to at the time.”
By 2017, both of their relationships ended – Gadikian had actually been seeing one of Fuller’s friends – and to get over his break-up, Fuller embarked on what he referred to as his “summer of single.”
“I was trying to find myself and like a lot of people, I was trying to find happiness in others,” he says. “And I was like, I’m going to take the summer to go on dates, but nothing is going to get past the first date. I wanted to show myself that I could be happy on my own.”
In August of that year, after “a very successful summer of single,” he planned a Labor Day party in his new townhome. He had some projects to finish to get the place ready for guests and hired Gadikian, who owns a painting company, to paint his living room.
While Gadikian and his business partner painted the room, Fuller went to brunch with a group of friends. “And several cocktails later they’re all back at the townhome,” he says.
Worried that a group of tipsy people might mess up the wet paint, he stopped them as soon as they walked through the door.
“I was like, ‘Go on the couch. I will play bar. I’ll do whatever you want. But go to the couch and stay there, and don’t touch anything,’” he says.
They didn’t sit still on the couch for long, Gadikian recalls. “A couple of them were following me around the house. ‘Paint with your shirt off.’ Blah, blah, blah.”
Fuller adds, “Sexual harassment at its finest.”
They peppered him with questions, including: “Which one of us would you date?”
As Fuller walked him to the door later that afternoon, Gadikian said, “You know that question from earlier? It would probably be you.”
That evening, they Ubered to a going away party for a mutual friend. That’s when Gadikian asked Fuller out on a date.
“What he has said was, ‘Not a lot of people make me nervous. You make me nervous. And I’m very nervous asking you this. But would you go out on a date with me?’” Fuller remembers.
They went out to Engine No. 9 in St. Petersburg for their first date and two weeks later, Hurricane Irma made its way to Tampa Bay. To get out of the storm’s path, Fuller planned to go to Panama City, where he lived previously, and invited Gadikian along.
What would normally take six hours of driving became a 15-hour trip. By the time they got out of the car, they decided to make their relationship official. Then, by the end of November, Gadikian moved in with Fuller.
“I was staying there most nights anyway,” he says.
Though their relationship moved quickly at first, the reason for their longevity is because of the growth they shared.
“We grew. We grew individually and as a couple together,” Gadikian notes. “I learned things from him; he learned things from me. I’m not talking about, you know, how to screw in a lightbulb; I’m talking about life stuff.”
Though they’d talked about maybe getting married one day, Gadikian’s proposal took Fuller completely by surprise. “I think one of my favorite things about our engagement is that I got him. He had no idea that it was coming. None,” Gadikian says.
Fuller adds, “And I’m a nosy person. I’ve got my hands and ears in everything.”
The engagement happened Oct. 9, 2020 during a segment on “The Miguel & Holly Show” which he co-hosted in Tampa Bay for nearly seven years until last month. During “Headphone Karaoke,” where he and his co-hosts sang songs without music, a sign was unfurled from the roof of the building in front of his window. It read, “Hey you, look down here.”
That’s when his show co-host and producer started acting strange, suggesting he look out the window. When he looked outside, Gadikian was on the ground waving at him.
“I was like, wait, what’s going on?” Fuller says.
His show co-host told him to put the headphones back on. When he did, an audio recording of Gadikian reminiscing about their relationship started. When it ended, everyone in the room told him to run downstairs.
“So I run downstairs and when I walk out of the building, Abe is there with all of our friends in Tampa/St. Pete, a lot of them that we hadn’t seen since March because of COVID,” Fuller says. “They’re all masked up, spread apart, hadn’t seen all these people and the emotion hit me of what was about to happen.”
With his boss pointing a microphone at them, Gadikian proposed. They spent the remainder of the show on the air, talking to Fuller’s mother and friends who called in.
As they began organizing their wedding, they decided to hire a wedding planner.
“My number one piece of advice for anybody that wants to do a wedding that’s not like a backyard barbecue or going to the courthouse, if you’re going to do a wedding with a ceremony at a venue, get a wedding planner,” Gadikian says. “It takes all of the stress out of it.”
The toughest part of the planning process for them was paring down their guest list from nearly 300 people to 165. They also required all guests to be vaccinated for the safety of attendees.
They hosted the event at The Current Hotel, as they “just wanted some simple, sophisticated elegance,” Fuller notes. “Living in Florida, we don’t do a lot of nice stuff. You’ll always find somebody in some flip flops or some shorts, and this was the one time I wanted everybody to feel glamorous.
“Especially for my mom,” he continues, “because where I come from, we never had nice weddings growing up. I wanted her to experience something where she felt very glamorous.”
Engagement Date: Oct. 9, 2020
Wedding Date: Jan. 22, 2022
Officiant: Holly O’Connor
Planning and Design: John Campbell Weddings
Photo and Video: Ryan McGibbeny Photography & Films
Venue: The Current Hotel
Floral Design: Florist Fire Design House
DJ: Chris Cruise
Cake: The Artistic Whisk
Mixology: Lucky Elephant
Hair and Makeup: Glow by Natalia Barlow
AV: The Production Crew
Rentals: Kate Ryan Event Rentals
After Party desserts: Gigi’s Cupcakes
Greenery wall letters: Flower Me Tampa
Stationery: Minted
Groom Attire: Milano Exchange
Groomsmen Attire: Suit Shop
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