Island Wedding | ‘Brown’ to be yours: Kamau-Akeele and Anna-Kay say ‘I do’

One ride home from the gym was all it took to change everything for Anna-Kay Green and Kamau-Akeele Brown. The pair, who currently work as personal trainers, met in the summer of 2021, when a mutual friend introduced them at a small gym on Downer Avenue as life slowly returned to normal during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly five years later, they exchanged vows at Boone Hall Oasis in March.
Their first impressions, however, were less than favourable. “He thought I was stuck up because I was constantly taking photos in the mirror and I didn’t really speak to anyone. I thought he was weird and mean because he didn’t speak to anyone. He was always in the corner by himself. He worked out, and then he left,” Anna-Kay told Island Wedding, laughing at the memory.
One evening after the gym, the two realised there may have been a mutual interest. Their friendly conversation touched on their shared Christian faith, the sacrifices it often required, and the challenges of building and maintaining relationships, whether friendships or romantic ones.
“[We talked about] how hard it is to date when you don’t want to have sex, when you want to get to know a person first, you want to genuinely connect with someone on a deeper level than just the physical,” Anna-Kay shared.
Whenever they left the gym together, no matter who else was in the car, Kamau-Akeele made sure the front passenger seat was always reserved for Anna-Kay. 
As they prepared to start working together at a new gym, however, the budding connection hit an unexpected bump. The two had a falling-out in the parking lot and stopped speaking for a while until Kamau-Akeele eventually apologised.
The distance, he admits, became unexpectedly difficult: “I realised that I was miserable with her not being in my life to the point where it would affect my workouts. I’d start getting emotional. I’d want to cry, or I’d just get really angry.”
A few months later, they went on their first official date at one of their favourite spots, Macau Gaming Lounge & Bar in St Andrew. And, from the outset, they were clear about what they were and were not willing to compromise on as they entered the relationship.
“We were like, ‘Okay, we’re dating to marry’,” Anna-Kay explained, adding, “But we’re not one of those couples who are going to rush. We’re doing this the right way, step by step.”
Sharing with Island Wedding why he fell in love with his other half, Kamau-Akeele said that simply seeing Anna-Kay’s face and being in her presence “would just brighten my day and just bring me so much peace”.
It was in the small, consistent things that Anna-Kay knew she was in love. After she heard strange noises and discovered a broken lock at her apartment, Kamau-Akeele came by to make sure she was safe. He packed her lunches, filled her water bottle, and drove her to work around 5 a.m. even when he had only just returned home from work himself. He continued to do so until she started driving.
“When I did get the car, he was worried about my safety on the road. So he drove behind me to work at 5 a.m. every morning for like a month. I had to stop him because he wouldn’t stop,” she said.
Thinking back to that moment, she shared, “I was just like, ‘Oh my gosh! This guy is crazy. I love him’.”
A VALENTINE’S PROPOSAL
Sometimes proposals don’t go as planned, and Kamau-Akeele had every intention of proposing to Anna-Kay around her birthday, which falls on Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately, he had spent the previous two weeks recovering from a mild case of pneumonia.
As expected, Anna-Kay was deeply concerned, and Kamau-Akeele was unsure whether he would even be well enough to make it to the proposal.
Kamau-Akeele said: “I told my doctor, yo, this day – it’s happening. I want it to happen on this day. Do what you need to do. Get me [to] at least 70 per cent, [so I can] propose without coughing up a lung.”
Eventually, he recovered enough to pop the question. As the two made their way to The Pegasus, Anna-Kay spotted a few familiar faces as they walked in.
“I see my sister. I see my friends. I see his brother. I see everyone. And at first, I don’t know what’s going on. So I wave at them. And I’m like, ‘Oh, hey, guys. This is a Valentine’s Day dinner. Why am I waving at my friends?’ And then I look up, and I see the ‘Will You Marry Me?’ sign,” she recounted.
Anna-Kay shared: “I just started to cry. All of the efforts; ­­he had friends on video call, he’d been planning it with my friends overseas. I was just bawling the entire time.  I could hardly get the word ‘yes’ out.”
For Kamau-Akeele, the outcome was never in question. “I knew she’d say yes. I was nervous about everything just happening the way I wanted it to. I’m sort of a perfectionist. [It was], basically, the second best day of my life; second to my wedding day.” 
On March 28, Anna-Kay and Kamau-Akeele Brown gathered with family and friends at Boone Hall Oasis in St Andrew for their wedding ceremony. 
Their wedding planner, Crissan Lyn, had already prepared for the possibility of rain after seeing the weather forecast, arranging for the upstairs section of the venue to be decorated as a backup location.
As Pastor Tucker opened his Bible and began to read, the rain came down.
Anna-Kay recalled, “When the rain started, he (Kamau-Akeele) grabbed my hand, grabbed my dress, held me under an umbrella and brought me upstairs.”
Sensing that his bride was getting a bit anxious, Kamau-Akeele said he remained calm in the moment: “I just had to calm her down right there and just say, ‘This day is going the way it’s supposed to go according to God’s will, so let’s just enjoy it. We’re going to get married either way, whether it’s outside or inside.”
As guests waited for the ceremony to begin, they started singing praise and worship songs.
Later, during the reception held on the same property, guests were treated to a surprise moment when someone handed Anna-Kay a microphone during the couple’s first dance to Calum Scott’s You Are The Reason. Having done theatre and performance before she met Kamau-Akeele, she chose to serenade him to Maurette Brown Clarke’s The One He Kept For Me.
“No one knows that I really sing. I don’t really sing anymore, but I’ve always wanted to sing at my wedding. I surprised him and started singing [while we were dancing],” Anna-Kay shared. “The look on his face [was] priceless!”
The couple honeymooned at Couples Sans Souci.
ruth-ann.briscoe@gleanerjm.com