A Wedding Story: Cheryl Lynn Campbell and Olan Bryant Garrett

The former Cheryl Lynn Campbell and Olan Bryant Garrett were married on Wednesday, November 11, 2020. The wedding and the reception took place at the Sculpture Courtyard across the street from the Stateside Vodka distillery in Northern Liberties.

The Garretts went for a simple garden wedding theme with a daytime brunch setting. Brunch is their favorite meal so they wanted to incorporate it in the celebration. Their colors were gold, white and green. Flowers for the wedding party were gifted by Jean Brown of Brandywine, MD. The flowers for the ceremony were provided by their decorator, Collectible Treats. Heather McBride Photography provided the photography services for the wedding and reception. Jeff Bien Aime served as the videographer and coordinated the livestream of the wedding. MG the Venue Specialist helped the couple secure the venue for their special day.

The gown that Cheryl wore was not the gown that she originally picked & purchased. While scrolling through a dress website, a beautiful dress caught her eye after she had purchased another gown already. Cheryl kept going back to it and visiting the site, falling more in love with it every time she saw it. It was a champagne-colored V-neck with lace tulle wedding gown with long illusion sleeves. She wanted a long sleeve gown since the wedding was scheduled for November. So she went for it and purchased the dress she really wanted. Although she was nervous about the dress because it was coming from overseas. There were some concerns if it would fit because she could not try it on. Thankfully, it only needed slight alterations.

Olan wore a remembrance pin in honor of his deceased mother on his tux. Cheryl gifted it to him the night before their wedding as a way of ensuring she was with them on their special day.

Cheryl’s friend, Danielle Shaw-Oglesby, sang her down the aisle with a beautiful rendition of “Golden’ by Chrisette Michelle.

The Bride:

Maryland native, Cheryl Lynn Campbell, is the daughter of Diane White and Mervin S. White Sr. She was born and raised in Lexington Park, MD, about two hours south of Washington, DC. She first moved to Philly in 1994 and lived here for several years before returning home after her dad became ill. She returned to Philly in 2005 and has been here ever since. Cheryl lived in West Philly when she first moved to the city and she now resides in Southwest. The mother and grandmother of five, with a sixth on the way, works as an apartment property manager for the Octavia Hill Association. Her hobbies include community service, music, concerts, and journaling. She describes herself as a foodie and is a big Jill Scott fan.

The Groom:

The son of Carolyn and Preston Garrett, and Charles Howell, Olan Bryant Garrett works as a college housing and student affairs administrator at Temple University. Olan was born and raised on the south side of Chicago. He considers himself an East Coast and Philly transplant having first moved to Maryland in 2005, and then to State College to work at Penn State for three years before officially moving to the city of Philadelphia in February 2019, both for work and after dating Cheryl for nine months. He currently lives in Southwest Philadelphia with Cheryl.

Olan graduated from DePauw University in Greencastle, IN. He later obtained a master’s degree from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. He is currently working on his doctorate in higher education at Temple. His hobbies include golfing. Although he feels as though they don’t really make courses for him because he is left handed. He also loves to travel. Olan enjoys community service, listening to music, and food.

The Wedding Party:

The couple had a very small wedding party. The officiant was Pastor David Melvin, Jr. of Deliverance Temple. The Matron of Honor was Cheryl’s best friend of more than 10 years, Katrina Corprew. Cheryl literally considers Corprew as a sister from another mister.

The best man was Olan’s best friend, Andrew Goretsky. The two met in 2005 as work colleagues in Maryland and have been best friends ever since.

Cheryl has four children. Raven Gantt is her oldest daughter. Cheryl’s son, Sidney White, escorted her down the aisle and gave her away. Cheryl’s middle daughter NaDia Campbell and her youngest daughter Zoe Campbell stood in honor.

The Hostesses were Mikayla and Mirah Anderson, daughters of the matron of honor and Cheryl’s nieces.

How They Met

They met on Tinder in May 2018. Olan was living in State College at the time, but was visiting friends in Philly when he was matched on the dating app. In fact, Olan was matched as he was leaving the city to head home at the end of the weekend.

He talked to Cheryl over the phone the entire three-and-a-half-hour ride home. By the following Tuesday, they were talking for hours via video chat. Olan drove back to Philly for their first date the next Saturday and they hit it off immediately. Normally dates end with a first kiss but theirs started with a first kiss. And the first date turned into a first weekend. It was about as close to “love at first sight” as you could get. They said that they knew pretty much from the beginning that they were destined to be together.

The Proposal:

Olan proposed in September 2019. He and Cheryl attended the Mary J. Blige and Nas concert at the Liacouras Center on Temple University’s campus. When they got home from the concert, Olan got down on one knee in their living room and proposed with her two youngest daughters watching. According to Cheryl, it was the perfect intimate moment.

The Reception:

The food was catered by The Taste You’re Looking For restaurant in Upper Darby, PA.

The couple took an opportunity to get married in the middle of the week on Veteran’s day because they loved the idea of getting married on 11-11. They secured a tent after deciding to live on the edge a bit and have an outdoor wedding in November. Thankfully it ended up being warm that day. There were some showers but the rain did not start until after the lovely bride said “I do” and ended before the reception began. DJ Big A James, who worked with Olan at Penn State, provided the entertainment for the wedding and reception. The happy couple will never forget their first dance as husband and wife which was to “All Over Again” by Leela James.

The Honeymoon:

The newlyweds went to Aruba this past April. They used the getaway as a chance to get lots of sun, fun, relaxation and as an opportunity to focus on each other away from the stress of their everyday lives.

Reflections:

Olan

“When Cheryl turned the corner to walk down the aisle with Raven and Sidney and I saw her for the first time, I could not stop looking at her. She was stunning and she literally lit up the room. My wife has a beautiful soul inside and out,” he said.

Cheryl

“We would talk for at least two hours every night and then see each other on weekends,” said Cheryl. “We were so interested in each other that we didn’t care how much we did it or how long we had to do the distance thing,” she said.