Soul mates Kaelie and Andre met through a mutual friend and embarked on a beautiful journey of friendship that ultimately led to a tender love story, despite the distance between them. Andre proposed on a tropical getaway, and he and Kaelie were later married in a colorful ceremony in Barbados. Share their love!
“Being a petite bride — I’m 5’2” and 105 pounds — it was important to me not to have a dress that overwhelmed me," Kaelie, who wound up wearing this gorgeous “Muse” gown by Ian Stuart, says. “Early on I knew that my preferred style was going to be strapless, fitted and mermaid.”
“On our wedding day, we all had our hair done by Angela Sealy of Angela Sealy The Stylist, and Adzil Stuart did the bridal party’s makeup,” says Kaelie. “Angela is one of Barbados’ top hairdressers and I’ve been going to her since I was fourteen. I couldn’t imagine having anyone else help me get ready for my big day because she really is like family. Adzil is one of the island’s leading make up artists.”
Kaelie’s show-stopping accessory style really got us talking. These stilettos are a double hitter — they’re both stunning and unique.
“For the flowers, the focus really was to represent the bright vibrant colors that complemented our color scheme for the event, which was primarily coral,” Kaelie tells us. Christina Foster of Simply Flowers helped make Kaelie’s floral dreams come true.
“My bouquet was a posy featuring mango calla lilies and orange and coral roses,” says Kaelie. “I particularly wanted to have the stems wrapped and decorated with a jeweled adornment.” Mixing different hues of a bright color gives any wedding bouquet a modern feel.
The groom sure has a winning smile. Kaelie, we bet it’s one of the things you love most about him.
These beautiful pre-wedding portraits of lovely bride Kaelie and her bridesmaids were taken in the presidential suite of the Hilton Barbados, where the girls spent the night before the wedding.
“My big sister was my maid of honor,” says Kaelie. Their photographer gets an A plus for capturing this tender moment on film.
Here’s nnother birdcage veil we love. We’re seeing more and more brides skip the traditional wedding veil styles in favor of this vintage look that works with almost any updo.
André and his groomsmen went with a rather unusual pick for their boutonnieres; they were made with blood lilies, which turned out quite dashing, wouldn’t you say?
Kaelie strikes the perfect bridal pose on her wedding day.
Kaelie’s bridesmaids carried mini bouquets made of protea, orange gerberas, dark pink roses, pink spray roses and orange berries with lily grass. They’re so chic!
Both bride and groom wore matching smiles on their wedding day. What an adorably photogenic couple.
The bride, her proud parents, and her lovely cast of bridesmaids pause for a portrait on their way to the ceremony.
“Having my father walk me down the aisle was extremely special for me because I’ve always been a daddy’s girl, and I am very much the baby of the family, as there are just two of us girls,” says Kaelie. “I couldn’t imagine it any other way.”
André gives Kaelie a tender shoulder kiss in this sweet portrait.
“Our philosophy was that we both work hard and so we saved accordingly towards our wedding,” says Kaelie. “Since we plan to only do this once, we wanted our wedding to be everything that we dreamt of, no ‘I wish I had done x’ after the fact.”
The groom, his mom, and his bride share a sweet photo moment. We just adore this shot.
“André’s best friend, Dr. Darren Eastmond, was meant to be a groomsman but passed away suddenly just a few months before the wedding,” Kaelie tells us. “It was devastating for us both. On our big day, one of our bridesmaids was unescorted because we chose to leave Darren’s spot vacant, as he could never be replaced. We also had a tribute table set up at the entrance to the reception tent with a large sized photo of Darren accompanied by a written tribute so that all would know who Darren was.”
“For my bridesmaids, I always wanted each girl to have a dress that reflected her personality and was most complementary to her shape,” says Kaelie. “Since all of my bridesmaids were based in Barbados, we went to one of the island’s top designers, Pauline Bellamy of Pauline Bellamy Designs. The only direction I gave Pauline and her team was that I wanted each girl to have her own unique look but I still wanted the bridal party to have an overall cohesive look too, and Pauline definitely accomplished that.”
“André asked his dad, George, to be his best man,” says Kaelie. “It’s somewhat of a Holder family tradition. André’s granddad was his father’s best man and his uncle Hendy’s too. George graciously accepted and stood by André on our big day.”
The bridal party stood by on the sides of the aisle helping to welcome beaming bride-to-be Kaelie and her father into the church.
“We had a traditional Anglican ceremony at St. Matthias Anglican Church,” Kaelie tells us.
“As beautiful as Barbados is, and as tempting as it was to have an outdoor ceremony, it was more important for us to have our wedding ceremony in a church of our faith,” says Kaelie. “We were both raised in strong traditional Anglican homes and wanted to honor that.”
“We incorporated the lighting of the unity candle into our ceremony and had our moms participate in this part of the ceremony,” Kaelie tells us. “For us, it really represented not just André and I becoming one, but also our respective families becoming one.”
It’s kissing time!
St. Matthias Church, where the couple held their ceremony, was André’s childhood church. He served as an altar boy there for many years and he and Kaelie always attend service there when they are home for the holidays. Their officiant, Reverend Murrell was also André’s childhood priest.
Kaelie and Andre pray together at the altar during their emotional ceremony.
The church itself was originally built in 1848 and is a beautiful and charming traditional 19th century building with limestone brick walls.
“Being from Barbados, everyone expected that we would have thrown a beach wedding, but we just wanted to do something modern, elegant and classy yet fun that really reflected us,” says Kaelie.
After the couple’s heartfelt ceremony, their guests were invited to a cocktail hour on the lawn of the Pollards Mill estate with a live steel pan player while the bridal party took photos.
“We did a lot of the ground work ourselves by sourcing all the various vendors we wanted to use. To ensure seamless execution on the day of, we enlisted the services of two Barbadian planners — Claire Sargeant and Diane Prescod,” says Kaelie. “We used Events Unusual for the reception décor, IGM did all the lighting and Island Caterers did our catering.”
“Since half of our wedding guests were traveling from other countries (USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and other Caribbean islands like Trinidad, St. Marteen, Jamaica and St. Lucia), we planned several activities to ensure that they got to see and enjoy as much of Barbados as possible,” says Kaelie. “We hosted a Bajan themed welcome reception and took them on a pre-wedding island tour.”
The reception venue, Pollards Mill, is a former Barbados sugar plantation built in 1712. The property is nestled amongst sugar cane fields with stunning sea views and 2.5 acres of beautiful tropical gardens. “We just fell in love with the property’s grounds and gardens as well as the fact that on the grounds there were the remnants of the property’s original windmill,” says Kaelie.
The cocktail hour was followed by a formal sit down dinner inside of a tented marquee on the grounds that held their 300 guests.
“We used Dj Soljie of Icecrew International to ensure that there was definitely a full-on party vibe during the reception,” Kaelie tells us. “Also, as a complete surprise to me, André arranged to have a popular local calypsonian named Mr. Dale appear and perform a few of his top calypsos, and that was really well received by our guests.”
“I always knew that for the décor inside the tent I wanted it rather clean and modern; hence we went with a primarily white color palette (tablecloths, linen etc.) with gold accents,” says Kaelie. “Using lighting and the centerpieces we incorporated the color theme of the wedding.”
Cheers to the happy couple!
“During the reception, our ‘KA’ monogram that we used in our stationery was projected onto the roof and walls of the marquee,” says Kaelie. The couple’s lighting looks absolutely stunning from afar, setting a romantic tone to their outdoor tented reception.
It looks like the new Mr. and Mrs. Holder really know how to party. Let’s hear it for the happy couple.
Join us in congratulating Kaelie and André. We wish them a lifetime of happiness. Leave your well wishes for the happy couple below.
