A San Francisco City Hall Wedding Where Their Love Story Came Full Circle

Janiera Jackson & Wanda Kollie | September 4, 2026 | San Francisco City Hall, California

Neither Janiera nor Wanda went to California looking for a wife. They went to work. Six years later, they stood together at San Francisco City Hall, surrounded by their people, and became wives.

Their story is a good reminder that the best love stories are rarely the ones we plan.

How They Met: Two Travel Nurses and a Plot Twist

On January 13, 2020, just before the pandemic changed everything, Janiera and Wanda met as travel nurses on assignment in Orange County, California. Janiera wasn’t even supposed to be there. She had accepted a position at another hospital, but when it didn’t feel welcoming, she asked her recruiter to find something new. Days later, the Orange County opening came through.

During orientation, Janiera wasn’t looking for love. She was focused on saving money before starting CRNA school. But she caught Wanda’s attention when the group was asked whether nurses should have sympathy for their patients. Janiera answered, very confidently, “No, I don’t.”

Wanda’s first thought was that it sounded a bit cold. Janiera’s point was that she couldn’t take on every patient’s emotions, but she would always bring empathy and the highest quality of care. They were also two of the few Black women on the unit, and the friendship came naturally.

Then came the coincidences. While getting their hospital IDs, they discovered they share a birthday, March 5th, two years apart. Over time, they learned they were both women who loved women. By the end of 2020, Janiera was preparing to move to Philadelphia for graduate school.

The plot twist: Wanda is from Philly.

They reconnected there, started dating in 2021, and became official girlfriends in 2023. In 2025, Janiera proposed. As she puts it, she wasn’t supposed to be at that hospital. She was supposed to meet Wanda.

The Proposal: A Hot Ones Episode for Two

Wanda is Liberian and loves spice. She and Janiera watched Hot Ones together for years, and Wanda was always sure she could make it through every wing without a problem. Janiera decided to test the theory by proposing in the middle of it.

She recreated a personalized episode at home with a Mexican-inspired theme, since Mexico has become one of the couple’s happy places (they’ve traveled there together three times). Janiera hired an event designer, a private chef, a mixologist, and a videographer. She bought all ten sauces from the current Hot Ones season, plus the Truth or Dab game, and hand-picked the questions they asked each other.

The three-course meal featured some of Wanda’s favorite foods and elements of her culture, and yes, the wings were all flats. The cocktails used spirits from the couple’s own collection, including an engraved bottle of tequila from Mexico and their SirDavis, a symbol of how they pour into each other.

Janiera says she tapped out around sauce five. Wanda was still dabbing. The final card asked Wanda to answer any question for one minute, and Janiera used it to ask the only one that mattered: “Will you marry me?”

They chose the date, 4/4/2025, on purpose. Wanda’s angel number is 444.

Wanda Proposes Back

Janiera wasn’t going to be the only one with a proposal story. On August 23, 2025, at a celebration Janiera’s mom hosted to honor her accomplishments, including graduating from CRNA school the year before, Wanda surprised her. She had commissioned an animator in California to turn their love story into a cartoon. After the video played, Wanda gave her own speech and proposed.

They each got their moment, as they should.

The Vision: An Intimate Civil Ceremony Back in California

For their civil ceremony, Janiera and Wanda wanted something small that centered what matters most to them: their love, their commitment, and the community who have supported them. They also wanted to return to California, where it all began.

They invited the women who will stand beside them at their larger wedding, plus close family and friends, for an intimate marriage celebration weekend in San Francisco.

The Details: Pride Flag Colors

Guests were asked to wear the colors of the lesbian pride flag, each one symbolizing a different element of love, identity, community, and connection. The result was more than a color palette. Seeing their closest people gathered around them in those colors made the symbolism real: a visual representation of the love and community surrounding two women becoming wives.

Favorite Moments

Janiera: Before they even reached City Hall, the sun came out as they were picked up from the hotel, and their Lyft driver showed up dressed so sharply it felt like he knew he was driving two brides to their wedding. “A little wink from the universe,” she says.

She also treasures the moment she spread some of her father’s ashes at the Golden Gate Bridge. Her dad passed away just a few months earlier, on June 17, and bringing him into the weekend made an incredibly joyful day feel sacred.

Wanda: Her favorite moment was standing in a circle with their family and friends around them as they said “I do.” (San Francisco City Hall officially allowed six guests. The couple had twenty.)

What Their Wedding Meant

For Janiera and Wanda, the day was about choosing each other and honoring all the seemingly random choices that led them here. It wasn’t about the biggest celebration. It was about something intimate, intentional, and a true reflection of them: love, family, friendship, community, and the unpredictability of finding your person when you weren’t looking.

Their relationship has unfolded slowly and organically, with friendship first, then love, then building a life together. They are two women with different cultural backgrounds and individual ambitions who have always made room for each other’s dreams. There was no single movie moment when they knew. As they put it, it was a series of little moments that kept choosing them until, eventually, they chose each other forever.

Congratulations, Janiera and Wanda.