“I’m just so grateful to have Sabrina in my life," Shalita Grant told PEOPLE

Shalita Grant is a married woman!

The former NCIS: New Orleans star, 29, wed her girlfriend, commercial director Sabrina Skau, in an intimate ceremony in San Francisco on August 8.

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“We’re so excited,” Grant told PEOPLE just days before the nuptials. “I’m just so grateful to have Sabrina in my life.”

After exchanging vows in front of 25 guests at San Francisco’s City Hall, chosen in part because it was the site of California’s first legal same-sex marriage, the newlyweds celebrated with a fun-filled reception at a private home in Palo Alto.

“Games will be a really big part of the wedding,” Skau said. “We’ll have lawn games and then after a chef cooks a five-course dinner, we’ll play some party games like Taboo and Telestrations.”

“The most important thing for us is that it would be a day for us to connect with each other,” said Grant. “We’re not a traditional couple, so it was really important for us to do something that represents us and our relationship.”

Grant and Skau began dating in October 2016 after meeting on a dating app, and were long distance for a year while Grant filmed in New Orleans. On Christmas Eve 2017, Skau popped the question.

“I thought it was coming, but it was a surprise,” said Grant. “We had bought matching onesies and she proposed while we were wearing our matching onesies. And then we played card games. It was sweet, intimate, joyful and playful.”

Now, the couple is looking forward to the future — and starting a life together.

“She’s someone I feel really safe with,” says Skau. “She’s so self-possessed and supportive and we can always be honest with each other.”