When Shanti Hinton and Tiffany Rae watched “Bridgerton” for the first time in 2020, they immediately fell in love with sumptuous regency drama, which brought them closer as they reminisced over the first stages of their own love story.
Little did they know that four years later, Netflix would throw them a wedding where they would be gifted their own regency-themed crest and get to meet some of the “Bridgerton” cast.
Just like “Bridgerton” season three leads Penelope and Colin, Hinton and Rae had a friends-to-lovers romance. The pair became friends in 2011 when they were at high school in New York, after Rae offered to help Hinton with her science homework, they told Business Insider. Romance blossomed during Hinton’s senior year when she was about to go to college.
“She asked, ‘Oh, who wants to jog with me before I leave?’ And that’s how it all started,” Rae said.
The pair told Shondaland.com that they dated long-distance for the next four years while Hinton attended college in North Carolina and Rae stayed in New York for a dance course at Queensborough Community College.
“It wasn’t, like, crazy serious, it was puppy love, but we knew our energy gravitated towards each other and that we were going to be with each other,” Rae, 28, said. “I mean, that first year, we talked about marriage. We were so young!”
Things started getting more serious in 2016 when they moved in together and met each other’s families. They got engaged four years later, but then COVID hit, putting their dream wedding on hold.
“We was like, ‘Are we just going to elope?'” Rae said. “Our families will kill us if we do that. And we really want a destination wedding.”
She added: “Something in our spirits told us, ‘Just wait because something’s going to happen.”
While waiting for the right moment, Netflix contacted them on social media. They were already on the streamer’s radar after attending the Queen’s Ball an immersive “Bridgerton” pride event held last June in different cities worldwide.
Rae and Hinton said the event gave them an excuse to dress up.
“We just like to do crazy silly things,” Rae said.
A Netflix representative noticed their regal outfits and asked to take their picture, which was shared on the event’s social media.
“They took a picture of us because they loved our outfits,” Hinton, 28, said.
In November 2023, another Netflix representative reached out, explaining they were looking for “Bridgerton” superfans to throw a themed wedding for.
“I was like, ‘Oh, girl, this has to be a scam,'” Rae told Shondaland.com of her first thoughts before agreeing to go through the interview process.
In January 2024, Netflix chose Rae and Hinton, promising to provide them with a luxury wedding planner who would accommodate their requests.
“We were shocked,” Hinton told BI. “We were like, ‘Wait a minute, this is real?’ And we started hugging each other and crying, and it was just like we were still in shock.”
Rae said the fact it was a “Bridgerton” wedding was the “cherry on top” of the opportunity.
“We love ‘Bridgeton’ so much. We love the time period,” Rae said. “It fits with who we are. We love to dress up.”
Hinton and Rae said Netflix catered to their every request
The wedding was planned in a flash. A month and a half after being told they’d won, Netflix flew Hinton and Rae to London for their big day.
Rae said they wanted to keep Netflix’s involvement a secret, so they didn’t tell their family and friends until after they had agreed to fly to London for the wedding.
“We just told them that we were getting married, and they pulled up for us, period,” she said. “And then after, once they confirmed that they were coming, then we said, ‘yeah, by the way…'”
Rae said Netflix paid for the couple’s flights, outfits, and hotel, but their guests were happy to pay for their own tickets and accommodation to support their dream day.
“We love our family and friends because they came for us,” Rae said.
Netflix also hired Alice Wilkes, a luxury wedding planner based in the UK, to help organize the event. Rae and Hinton said Wilkes helped make their vision a reality.
That included an ice sculpture at their reception, which featured two winged beasts surrounding a unique family crest made for the couple, similar to those on “Bridgerton.”
“Like the ice sculpture, we was like, ‘I don’t know if she’s going to be able to pull that off.’ And she’s like, ‘Oh yeah, we got you. Let’s write it down. What else do you want?'” Hinton said.
While planning the wedding, Hinton and Rae also met “Bridgerton” stars Golda Rosheuvel, Adjoa Andoh, and Kathryn Drysdale, who helped them decide on their food and outfits.
In the YouTube video of the couple’s meeting the cast shared by Netflix, Hinton and Rae cried while talking about how much they relate to Queen Charlotte (Rosheuvel) and Lady Danbury’s (Andoh) journey.
