Tell us about you and Antwan as a couple.
As I told Antwan in my vows, he has outgrown every title he’s ever held: friend, boyfriend, and fiancé. He’s my family. We are best friends and he is easily my favorite person on the face of the earth. Antwan and I met some 12 years ago, while we were both in college, me in Colorado and Antwan in Georgia. We quickly fell for each other, first love. We dated long distance for a while. This was before the days of FaceTime and Skype, meaning we routinely ran out of minutes on our phone plans and had to wait until after 9 pm to talk. After graduating, we went our separate ways until three years later. I had moved to Brooklyn a few months earlier and was sitting in my new favorite coffee shop when Antwan walked in. As would soon find out, Antwan had also moved to Brooklyn just a week earlier. We have been inseparable since. We can both agree that we challenge and push each other to be better and to pursue our passions. We have so much fun together and one of our favorite things to do is travel. It doesn’t matter where, as long as we get to do it together.
Describe each other in three words.
I would describe Antwan as: generous, brilliant, and thoughtful
Antwan’s describes me as: passionate, thoughtful, hopeless romantic
How did he propose?
Antwan proposed during a trip to the west coast. After a couple days in LA, we decided to drive to the Bay Area. Unbeknownst to me, he planned to propose on that road trip during one of our stops at a specific lookout. Before we could get to that point, we came to a road closure due to a landslide. We ended up taking an inland detour, which annoyed Antwan for reasons I would later find out. He had to come up with a plan B! The next morning after breakfast in Oakland, we went for a hike in one of the stunning redwood forest parks. And just before leaving the park, Antwan got down on one knew and proposed.
Tell us about your wedding! Was their a special reason you chose Saint Martory?
Our intimate wedding ceremony took place in the late afternoon under shade cast by a 16th century chateau in the South of France. It was the perfect backdrop for about 45 of our closest friends and family to gather and celebrate a union long in the making. It was so romantic and there were all around good vibes all day. Of course, we credit our wedding planner, Julie Francis, for a lot of that, but there was also the perfect synergy of lots of love and all the right people in attendance. I think we all managed to shed a few happy tears during our written vows. The reception was lit by candles and fairy lights that hung from above. After heartfelt speeches and a delicious French dinner, the dancing started in a major way, going well into the early morning. we made our exit through a hall of sparklers and cheers. Unforgettable.
We chose Saint Martory by chance! We knew we wanted a smaller, intimate wedding abroad. We landed on France after hearing about a friend’s great experience getting married there. Once we found our wedding planner, the rest went pretty quickly. She sent us several gorgeous venue options, most of them castles, but Saint Martory checked all the marks. The chateau is stunning, it would sleep our immediate families and bridal party, and it was set in the most charming village. We didn’t appreciate just how adorable it was until we visited about a month before the wedding. It was just perfect.
When did you know the Louvienne ‘Orla’ gown was the one?
I tried on the Orla dress on my first day of dress shopping. It was one of four dresses I put on. I was pretty sure it was the one, but thought it would be crazy to buy a dress during my first appointment. So I took a few days to think about it and came back to Lovely. Again, I tried on a few dresses, but once I put on the Orla dress, it was an easy decision. I loved that its a pretty simple, yet classic and elegant dress. I felt amazing in it.
What was your favorite part of the wedding? What do you think you’ll remember most in 10 years?
Our favorite part of our wedding is the fact we both actually had a chance to enjoy every bit of it with family and friends. We were so connected throughout and felt so much love from everyone that was there. It was the best feeling. The thing I’ll remember the most a decade from now is just how right it all felt. Marrying Antwan while surrounded by the best people felt like the most natural thing ever. And I’ll never forget just how loved and lucky we both felt. It was such an emotional day in the best way possible, so much joy.
Antwan adds, “In 10 years, I’ll most remember how beautiful you looked.” (aw!)
