Wanting to do something out of the ordinary, Mr. Grande proposed at Dreamscape, a virtual reality attraction in Los Angeles. He also wanted it to be a surprise. So he told Mr. Leon that the cluster of friends and family he had invited — who included Mr. Grande’s mother and sister and Mr. Leon’s aunt, Carolyn Pinto — were there to celebrate Mr. Grande’s four-year anniversary of becoming sober on June 16.
As their avatars wandered a virtual forest, banners reading “Will you marry me?” dropped from the trees, and Mr. Grande, and his avatar, to one knee.
“It was a crazy amount of emotion,” Mr. Leon said. “All this happiness came rushing in.”
The couple had originally planned to marry at Walt Disney World on May 7, but changed course because they were unhappy with the company’s initial response to a Florida state education law that critics call “Don’t Say Gay.”
“They didn’t come out against it until it was too little, too late,” Mr. Grande said.
On May 4, they were wed at the Grande family’s home in Boca Raton, Fla., before 50 guests, all of whom had taken Covid tests. Joan Grande, who became a Universal Life minister for the occasion, officiated after Mr. Grande walked down the aisle with his maternal grandmother, Marjorie Grande, 96, and Mr. Leon with Ms. Pinto and his mother, AnneMarie Pinto.
Their new date had its benefits. May 4 is “Star Wars” Day, which the couple nodded to by dressing their dog, Appa, who served as a ring bearer, in a Darth Vader costume. “The Imperial March” was also a part of the wedding day soundtrack.
“It gave us the chance to wink at something nerdy,” Mr. Grande said. “May the Fourth be with you.”
