Nathalie and Marlon’s Beautiful Love Story Wedding

Hello! I’m Antonio, an award-winning wedding photographer and founder of White House Wedding Photography. Last October 2022, I had the pleasure of capturing Nathalie and Marlon’s love story as they celebrated their love and commitment to each other with their loved ones.

Nathalie and Marlon are the perfect couples with a sweet love story and an equally beautiful dream wedding. Furthermore, Nathalie is a wedding planner. She was creatively involved in planning every aspect of her dream wedding. So I decided to get the skinny from Nathalie on how she met her forever love and how she pulled it off!

Here we go:

Photog. How did you two meet?

Bride. We are a Covid Couple. I was quarantined at the very beginning of the Pandemic and had time to go through my phone apps. After being on a couple of Dating Sites, I kept only one profile active and deactivated the others. Anthony did not match my profile, but the Site Match.com has a category called Extras ( that is where he was). So, I made sure to include that I am a Seventh Day Adventist on my profile, and he messaged me You Had me At Adventist. to which I responded Did I Now!! And the conversation continued.

Photog. How did Anthony propose?

Bride. Anthony planned a trip to his home country Jamaica. Everything was a mystery except that I needed my passport, my Vaccination card, and a covid test result. It was like pulling teeth trying to figure out what to pack. Imagine trying to surprise a control freak planner. I did quite a bit of breathing exercises and asked a lot of questions to help alleviate my anxiety without forcing his hands :).

Anthony booked a Resort in Montego bay and made sure they were ready for us. Then, he planned a romantic private beach dinner with the resort. He chose the linen colors and all! I was told on the day of the dinner, of course, and it was on a deck in the water (beautiful views ocean views while keeping me off the sand that I dislike) he thought of it all.

Anthony chose the menu “steak,” my ultimate favorite. I thought this vacation was for my I birthday because my birthday would have been 3 days after our trip. Nevertheless, when the desserts were served, I noticed writing on mine. However, I didn’t pay much attention to the text on my dessert. Instead, I grabbed my fork (I mean, it was Chocolate Mousse cake, MY FAVORITE) and began to dive in when the letters caught my eye. With my heart pounding and thoughts of proposals flooding my brain, I froze in mid-flight to my chocolate mousse. That’s when I saw that there was no “B” for my birthday, but an “M” was written in Chocolate Fudge Syrup, and it said, “Marry Me.” I SAID YES!!!

Photog. What did you envision your wedding being before planning?

Bride. My wedding has been planned since I was 13 years old. I had a different plan for each month of the year, depending on the wedding date.

I just updated them according to the trends and styles throughout the years. I envisioned a family reunion with minimalistic decor. Anthony envisioned a small intimate affair. I WON.

Photog. What were your color palette and your style vision?

Bride. My favorite color pallet is anything to do with Burnt Orange. I went with the colors of the fall leaves. Burnt Orange, Terracotta, Rust, Brick Red, Copper, and Gold minimalistic decor with an over-the-top atmosphere. Simple flowers on the guest’s tables enhance my environment, not overwhelm or change it. I wanted to make sure my guests felt what we felt. Joy, love, and family. We are both from the Caribbean, so I wanted to ensure we felt like we were home with our venue and decor.

Photog. What unique elements or DIY details did you include?

Bride. We had a Private First Dance. Well, it ended up being semi-private, but nonetheless. We wanted a little “just us” time for a bit. I tend to be a consummate hostess, and I knew that “just us” time would be a bit nonexistent, so we opted to do a private first dance. I also ensured my vendors had a decorated table to sit at and enjoy their meals.

In terms of concept, I’ve always considered Anthony the Angel in our relationship and me the Devil. So naturally, we welcomed our Guests to the Garden of Eden (before, during, and after). This commenced with an all White ceremony representing the garden of Eden before the fruit was eaten. Ivory and peach Cocktail Hour with a bit of transition to represent the time of temptation. Finally, we used the colors of the fall leaves to represent the aftermath (fire/hell essentially) burnt orange, copper, and rust with a bit of yellow.

Photog. What was your favorite moment?

Bride. I had two. The first was when we did a video call with my God Daughter in Haiti, who couldn’t make it to the Wedding. So she got to see me first, and we had a good cry. My second was during our private first dance, I realized my Husband had a song written for me.

Photog. Tell us about your flowers, gown, favors, cake, etc.

Bride. Calla Lillies are the only flowers I am not allergic to. However, Connie and Natalie from Chirife Floral Design understood my allergies perfectly. They took all the necessary measures to ensure that I only had flowers that would not trigger my allergies. My bouquet was a tight bunch of Orange Callas with a bit of yellow to look like flames. My bridesmaids’ bouquets were white Callas. We went with small trees with white flowers down the aisle for the ceremony. Orange and red Callas, baby Callas, Tiger lilies, and peonies on the Guest Tables in Cylinder vases. At the end of the day, everything represented fire.

We did not want to give favors that would remain behind or end up in a corner somewhere. So instead, we decided to give Personalised Key Chains. Each Guest has a key chain with only their name on it. We didn’t want to put our names and wedding date on our guests’ gifts because we wanted them to be theirs and they would either remember where they got it or they won’t. But it’s their gift. We also had a cigar roller who provided freshly rolled cigars as favors.

My cake was a gift from two of my cousins. It had one eatable tier, and all others were just decorations. They baked the Haitian sheet cake for the guests. A dessert table, a gelato cart, and a coffee station completed the sugar fest.

Photog. Tell us about your dress, style, designer, where you bought it, etc.

Bride. My gown was purchased and completely altered. So Custom! lol

My dream dress did not exist yet, but components of it in multiple dresses did. Claudia Giraldo Bridal heard my theme and knew at least one dress that might work. It was called the flame dress.

After one full year of alterations and fittings, once every three months, I ended up with a Trumpet sheer top shoulder dress in off-white crepe with a detachable 13 feet train – lave to mimic flames on the bodice, train, and detachable train. No details in the front skirt.

Photog. Tell us about the groom’s suit – style and where he bought it?

Bride. The groom’s suit was a custom suit from Garcon Couture. He wanted a simple suit with simple cuts. However, he ended up with a beige suit with a brown vest that matched his groomsmen and a dark brown bowtie.

Photog. Describe your wedding day in your own words

Bride. It was a family affair – one merging into another. I wanted a family reunion, and I got a family reunion. It was a day full of Joy, laughter, reunion with those we haven’t seen since COVID, and Love.

Photog. What is one piece of advice that you could give brides-to-be?

Bride. Plan for your perfect wedding. Focus on the feelings more than the looks. Plan for the day to go as it wants to and enjoy it. At the end of the day, it is still your perfect wedding.

Photog. Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Bride. My wedding day will always be special to me for a couple of reasons. 1. I got married, of course, lol, and 2. my father walked me down the aisle even while he was in excruciating pain. That day was the last time he walked without assistance.