12|22|22 wedding highlights

I don't know if you can be prepared for your wedding day. From the beginning of our wedding plans, I could never wrap my head around how people put so much stress and effort into planning for one day - and for all other brides with cultural traditions that have weddings span over multiple days - Godspeed.

I am a type B personality, so planning for a wedding was not something I was necessarily thrilled to do, but I was excited for the journey to begin. But if I'm being honest, from the day I got engaged, I only had one goal: to be married to my boo. More specifically, I was looking forward to December 23rd, 2022, the day after, when I would wake up as Ricardo's wife and find ourselves back in our favourite place to be, on our couch watching tv with our good, bad boy, Moses.

Well, we made it to that day. I couldn't believe how fast the year went by. We caused our families some stress in the beginning, lol. We originally wanted a destination wedding since we knew our wedding date would be in the Winter. However, as the communication with the destination wedding coordinators progressed, we realized we needed to get the best bang for our buck. So, as fun as a vacation somewhere hot with all of our people would have been, we decided to bring our plans back home and return to the drawing board. Do I regret this decision? Not at all. Was it cold on our wedding day when we had to take our pictures outdoors? Obviously, lol. But we forced smiled through it, and the photos turned out great! Not all, but most.

It doesn't matter how many times people told me to "cherish the day," there was no time for it. First, it was 6:00 am, and I was spending time with Jesus, and then the next thing I knew, it was 2:30 pm, and I was putting my dress on for our first look!

And so the day went on, and suddenly we were married. I say all this: the day came, and then it went. Just like any other day, but it was a beautiful one. I learned throughout the planning process (thanks to my mother-in-love, mrs. B) whether you're type a, b, or c, don't sweat the small stuff, and if you have people in your life that love you, USE THEM. As I look back at our wedding photos, I can relive those moments, and I'm so happy they were captured. But I also was able to look at the details that were missed, and I'm in awe at how everything turned out. The day wouldn't have been as unique if it weren't for all the hands that played a part. Especially, my mrs. B. Use your people - you only get married once! (hopefully, lol)

Mrs. Bowen (Sr. lol) and I. This is the first time I saw her dress, she looked stunning!

If I were as extra as I want to be, I'd be sharing all 1005 of our wedding photos here. Luckily for you, I'm not. But I couldn't resist sharing some highlights and shoutouts from the day, so here goes!

If you couldn't tell from my type B personality, I'm a very "less is more" type of gyal. Some people get it, and some don't. Either way, the mood was giving what it was supposed to give. Having only candles and baby's breath as the decor sets the tone for a romantic evening. And because it was Winter, the days were starting to get shorter, which allowed the dimness and ambiance to take over the night - which I LOVED.

For the processional, we had the bridal party walk in one after the next, bridesmaid after groomsman, until Ricardo was the last to walk out. While waiting to walk out after, I heard everyone cheering and applauding him. I loved that for him, lol. He deserved his moment too! It was nice to see - or hear, everyone rooting for him. This is my favourite shot of Ricardo ❤️

Not many people know that I wore my mommy's wedding gown. Her and my dad got married in '99. After one visit to the cleaners just two days before the wedding, the dress looked brand new. More on that in a later post!

We chose a unity candle element to add to our ceremony. The unity candle ceremony involves lighting two individual candles by the bride and groom, followed by the illumination of a larger "unity candle" using the flames of the two separate candles. This symbolizes the joining of two individuals into one, representing the merging of two lives, two families, and two sets of traditions into a unified whole. The individual candles represent the separate lives of Ricardo and me, while the larger "unity candle" represents the new life we are creating together.

This photo needed its own moment.

After the ceremony, I changed out of my mom's dress, stepped into my reception dress, and changed up the shoes and lippy. I wish I had stayed in my mom's gown a bit longer, but the dress was so tight that I could barely sit in it. I was also worried that I would make a mess of it while eating, but with all the excitement going on, I hardly ate the whole night.

Thankfully, we had tasted the food months before, so we didn't miss much. We were glad to hear good feedback from our guests about the dinner. But there's something about a moody room with a great table setting that makes the food taste even better. Here are some pics of how the reception decor and other small but significant details turned out:

You can only switch up your wording in Pinterest and Tiktok so many times until it gives you what you're searching for. At some point, I got fed up when I kept seeing the same things and realized the rest was up to my own imagination. So, for many of these details, I owe credit to @lavenderstudiosto for our sexy "'tis the season to be married" welcome sign and mirror table seating chart, as well as @createdby.rach and my auntie Charlene for simply understanding the assignment and coming to our rescue for candle placements and running the show behind the scenes.

Our beautiful sweets table and cake setup, courtesy of our auntie Elaine also deserves a moment!

Also, a special shoutout to my boo for baking over 300 cookies for our wedding favours. And thank you to our Best man, Jordan, and Bridesmaid, Natalie, for coming through and helping to package them up. The guests that know about Ricardo's cookies scavenged the tables for the cookies that got left behind, lol! IYKYK, and if you snooze, you lose.

I never was worried about whether our wedding would be fun or even one for the books. I just wanted the vibe to be love and was hopeful that energy would radiate throughout the night because this night had multiple promises of God attached to it. Years ago, when I knew I wanted to marry my husband, I also knew I wanted to have my biological father and his other children - my siblings, be in attendance. Years of working towards and nourishing a relationship with my birth father and my new siblings would serve as a testimony on my wedding day. I wanted to reach a place where I could have everyone I love under the same roof - I knew there wouldn't be a better day to do this than my wedding day. Purpose realized.

Part of my wedding planning included several tough but necessary conversations with my parents. All three of them. Like I said earlier, some people get it, and some don't - not all of my half-siblings made it to this day, and I respect the boundaries put in place. What matters is being able to live a life with no regrets. And I did exactly that. We always make things out to be bigger than they seem. Easier said than done, but when we learn to let go of fears and biases, it allows life - better yet, God, to do what He does best and turn something messy into a beautiful one. Such is my life; a beautiful mess.

Nuff love & blessings,

Just a few more faves!