Disable DS:
is_singular( 'article' ): 1
Article video enabled.
jwplayer :
brightcove :
youtube :
has_no_video_inline: 1
has_video_meta:
Article has no inline video. Maybe insert in the mid
p_count embed_count gallery_count splitter: 0, 0, 35,
mid: 17
Place within the gallery.
Believe it or not, a Twitter hashtag brought newlyweds April and Donte together. Read how a simple tweet could lead to love and see their fun Maryland wedding style!
“my beauty team was great,” says April. “These ladies made me so beautiful the day of!” Agreed — she made quite the lovely bride.
We love to see brides go for custom keepsakes on their big day. The “Mrs” hanger is a classic move that wows every time!
“I knew he was the one early on,” says April. “On our first date he brought my favorite flowers, and I had never even told him which kind that was.”
“My first time trying on dresses, I made sure to try on every style,” says April. “My mom knew she wanted to see me in a mermaid dress, but I wanted to make sure it fit my body type. I made sure to try on every style.”
“My wife is drop dead gorgeous!” says Donté. “She is God-fearing, loving, caring, honest, passionate, funny, respectful, family oriented and just an all-around beautiful soul.”
“The first thing I bought was my shoes,” says April. “I knew I wanted yellow shoes to go along with my wedding colors. I honestly think I spent more time searching for shoes than for my dress.” We love the casual and modern looks she choose for her big day.
“We used yellow and white english roses,” says April. “They are beautiful. I wanted peonies originally, but they weren’t in season. The English roses still gave me that full romantic look I wanted. And to top it off, I had bling pin accents in my bouquet.”
Adorable flower girl alert! The bride’s little cousin did her the honor. Isn’t she the cutest?
“Don’t be afraid to give love a try,” April insists. “If someone would’ve said I would meet my husband on a social network I would’ve never believed them! If your girls cancel on you, go to happy hour anyway. You never know where your life partner may be waiting for you.”
“I planned pretty much all of my wedding,” says proud bride April. Well, done, lady!
After their wedding, the bride and groom posed for romantic portraits on the University Of Maryland campus.
“Liz Fields designed my bridesmaids dresses,” April shares. “I knew I wanted the ladies in yellow and the guys in grey so that both colors would be shown. I gave the girls a splash of grey with their sashes and the guys had yellow bow ties.”
“I knew that I wanted to make April my wife on a random Monday night when I was almost hit by an out of control car while letting her into the passenger’s side,” says Donte. “I had to dive from the back our car over the roof to not get crushed. After that, I knew that I could not stand to live without this woman as my wife.”
“My alma mater has a gorgeous wedding space,” April shares. “They picked me as the winner for a contest they were having, and I was able to have my wedding there with no charge. It was such a blessing.”
Donté’s side of the bridal party looked mighty dapper in their grey suits.
“We did hire a wedding planner,” says April. “Her name is Sophie, the CEO of Events by Sophie. She made sure I stayed on a timeline and executed everything the day of. She was definitely needed even though I knew what I wanted. You still have to have someone who you can trust with your vision and someone who can execute it flawlessly. And, she and her team did more than that.”
Even April’s smallest bridal party member knew how to pose to perfection on the couple’s big day.
Even their silliest portraits captured our hearts. Kudos to their photographer for capturing their fun-loving essence perfectly.
April was an absolute vision of beauty on her big day. Her bridal glow shined through every single photo.
Make way for the flower girl! So precious.
“When I walked out I only looked at him my entire walk down the aisle,” April admits. “I couldn’t have told you whether it was 1 or 100 people there at that moment. It was everything; a feeling I can’t even explain.”
“My mom’s pastor married us,” the bride shares. “He and his wife have been nothing but great since we met them. He recently relocated to North Carolina and his last duty in Maryland was marrying us. It was definitely bittersweet.”
April and Donté completed a cord ceremony at the altar. “Basically there are three colored strands and one represents God, one the bride and one the groom,” she explains. “He held the ring and I braided it. The thought is that if you have God in the center a cord of three strands it is not easily broken.”
“Looking into April’s eyes at the altar I felt nervous, overjoyed, scared, elated and like the absolute luckiest man in the world (cliche I know) but that is how I felt and that feeling will never wear off,” says Donté.
Donté couldn’t wait to seal the deal at the altar with his new wife April.
The University Of Maryland College Park campus provided the perfect backdrop for April and Donté’s wedding day portraits.
The bride was all about sharing the love on her wedding day.
After entering their romantic reception party to Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s “On The Run” April and Donté slow danced to Anthony Hamilton’s “The Point Of It All” for their first dance.
“When I planned my life out as a teenager, I thought I’d be married by 24 and done with kids by 27, but that wasn’t in my plan,” says April. “Thank goodness I didn’t give up on love because it didn’t happen by the time I thought it would. There are people finding love all ages and all facets of life. Embrace it let love in!”
The couple’s reception party looked like fun, fun, fun!
A gorgeous cake for a gorgeous couple!
When their big day finally arrived, April and Donté weren’t about to skip any wedding traditions!
University of Maryland mascots were on hand for fun photo opps and the couple’s reception party.
Join us as we congratulate April and Donté on their big union. Leave them a little comment love below!
