"Hi There"

These two words are how it all began.

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Hi There, again!

Again, we are Samnang ‘n James.  As you may have read from the home, this section is dedicated to our backstory.  “Hi There” are the two words that began our relationship ‘n everything thereafter, including this company – Lucky Pride Designs.  It is an honor you came by to our digital footprint.
 

So, where do we begin?  Let’s start with the name origins of Lucky Pride Designs.  If you do a quick internet search for the meaning of Samnang’s name in English, you would discover the name Samnang means ‘good fortune’ or ‘lucky’.  Samnang is a gender-neutral name of Cambodian origin.  Pride celebrates our identity, especially for James ‘n his colorful personality.  Designs represent the idea of creating LGBTQIA+ inspired wedding formalwear.  Lucky Pride Designs was born from that dream when reality of the current wedding industry did not feel inclusive.

As far as a personal backstory, Samnang found James online via a dating app.  No, it was not Grindr.  Neither of us recall the name of the app either.  It was not important to us.  Anyways, Samnang messaged James with those two words – “Hi There”.  Unbeknownst to Samnang, James was milliseconds away from deleting the app when Samnang’s “Hi There” message came through.  James cancelled the app deletion process to see what this new person wanted.  Lucky for us!  Two days later, we physically met each other in a public location.  Day four was full of various emotions as James invited Samnang to a holiday work party ‘n Samnang went along with it.  With the exception of some work events that required an overnight that totals maybe six days over the years, we have been inseparable ‘n have been able to cuddle with each other every night for the near decade we have been together.

In recent years, we have filled time with hiring an inclusive LGBTQIA+ ally ‘n singer-songwriter, Derik Nelson, to compose a song for our wedding celebration.  The song single is entitled, LUCKY.  Lucky is based on our love story ‘n captures special moments of our relationship.  Derik’s questionnaire was relatively short but most certainly easy to complete.  Unsure if we would provide enough material for building a song, we completed the survey with a “novel”.  LOL!  Derik was able to incorporate several key moments of our lives ‘n mold our story into a beautiful song.  Derik Even surprised us with his sister providing duet vocals too.  We had our song, LUCKY, released on our original wedding date.  However, we opted to wait for the post-pandemic celebration to reveal the surprise to our amazing wedding guests composed of our family ‘n friends.  This thought process is very purposeful.  We did not want the public to know prior to our closest loved ones.

This mindset continues within our wedding planning too.  We did not share our LGBTQIA+ inspired wedding formalwear - The Alliduck - with anyone, including family ‘n friends.  It was another hard kept secret.  We opted we would host two primary surprises – our love story in song (Lucky) ‘n our wedding outfits.  Yes, we could have STARTED our brand sooner for potential income.  But it was extremely important to us that people nearest ‘n dearest to our heart would be the lucky ones to preview our expressions of love prior to sharing with the rest of the world.  All images ‘n videos displayed throughout our website capture the raw reactions ‘n new memories.

If the original wedding song – lucky – was not enough, James opted to surprise Samnang with another song - Again, Again, Again – as an anniversary gift.  This song’s title is a phrase mentioned on our wedding day when Samnang was a bit competitive with James during the ceremony.  Again, Again, Again is a continuation of our love story but more importantly a ‘thank you’ message from James to Samnang about acceptance, gratitude, ‘n pride.  No relationship is without its’ ups ‘n downs.  Ours is no different.  We aspire for perfection but understand we may be imperfect during implementation.
 

We could continue typing 'n having you read about every little aspect of us, but it may bore you.  So, we will come to a close of our “Hi There” backstory.  We would like to thank you, Again, again, again, for reading more into our love story.  At minimum, we hope our story provides hope, aspiration, ‘n admiration for others.  That was our intent with Lucky ‘n Again, Again, Again.  We yearn for our love story to continue beyond our short lifespan for many generations to come.

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Profound love, Samnang ‘n James

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