Regina, a Zeta, and Ramondo, a Kappa, found love after a chance encounter through mutual fraternity and sorority friends. It only took three months for him to realize he’d found the one. See their romantic “I dos” and share their love. (Just wait until you see who performed at their reception!)
“To save money we first looked at friends we knew who could provide the services we needed,” says the lovely bride. “My long time girlfriend Robin Dove did my hair and my bridesmaid Zanyette Mitchell who once worked for MAC did my makeup.”
“This might sound excessive but I had three pairs of shoes,” Regina admits. “My first pair was wedding wedges because my ceremony was in the grass and I wanted to be comfortable standing at the altar. For my reception entrance and first dance I wore a pair of Rene Caovilla shoes my friend gave me before she passed away. And for my dress change, I put on a pair of six-inch heels I completely covered in crystals myself. They were so stunning people asked me to make them a pair. As for my jewelry, my mom found a beautiful costume jewelry set that went with my gown perfectly.”
“My something borrowed were broaches my friends and family gave me,” says Regina. “For myself I wanted a broach bouquet but I wanted to make it. I asked family members to donate broaches they had and I bought the rest. Sixty five broaches later, it was gorgeous, and just how I pictured it.” We love a non-traditional bouquet!
Regina’s niece was delighted to be her flower girl.
Ramondo and his frat brothers had a good time posing for the cameras.
“I call him my bear because if you were to see him on the street you would probably thinks he looks mean, but he’s so sweet and gentle, unless he’s hungry, and then you must beware of the bear,” Regina jokes.
“We had a budget but it got thrown out the window at the beginning when we realized how many guests we both wanted to invite,” Regina admits.
“Her beautiful smile makes me smile and that’s worth its weight in gold,” says the proud groom.”I knew eventually I would find true love. The very first thing I said to Regina when I met her was, ‘I’m going to marry you,’ and of course she thought I was crazy, but here we are.”
“I wasn’t looking for it, I was perfectly okay by myself and then he came along with all his love, messing everything up,” says the bride. “I wouldn’t change one bit of it.”
“Our theme was music,” says Regina. “One day while riding the subway to downtown Philly Ramondo found three high school students playing orchestra music at the station. After hearing how beautifully they played, he gave them a big tip and asked if he could hire them to perform for our wedding ceremony. The two violinists and cellist (who happened to have a purple cello) were the perfect touch to our outdoor wedding.”
“My dad walked me down the aisle,” says Regina. “I have always been his baby girl so there was never anyone else I would have considered.”
“I always knew I had to walk down the aisle to Esperanza Spaulding’s version of ‘Tell Him’ by Lauryn Hill,” says Regina. “Thankfully my sorority sister Shakera Jones, who sings in Atlantic City, volunteered to sing it for us, and at the last minute her phenomenal bass player Nemrod came too. It was so amazing!”
“Being a groom felt like it was a dream that I didn’t wake up from,” admits Ramondo.
“Our wedding was a family affair, we wanted to surround ourselves with those who truly love us, so when we picked an officiant we went straight to our pastor (and Ramondo’s Masonic brother) Rev. Joe Williams,” Regina shares.
“I love purple and I knew from the start my bridesmaid gowns would be a deep, dark eggplant, however my eight bridesmaids were different shapes and sizes so I needed to find something that fit each of them uniquely,” explains the bride. “After days of sifting through Etsy.com, I found a the most beautiful knee length infinity dress, which was basically a skirt with two long pieces of material that could be twisted and stretched to fit all of them on top. Every girl tied theirs differently to express their own personal style.”
“We wrote our own vows but for some reason we never actually said them,” Regina recalls of one of their wedding bloopers. “Instead we looked into each other’s eyes and recited what Rev. Joe told us to say.”
“Neither one of us cried,” says Regina “I was hoping he would but we teased each other so much before the wedding about who would cry first I think neither one of us wanted to be the sappy one.”
“As a child playing with dolls I remember wondering who I would one day marry, and here I am with more than I ever hoped for,” Regina gushes. “God is so good and his blessings for me have always been bigger than my dreams.”
“We had a non-traditional ceremony where we saw each other during our picture session outside before the ceremony,” Regina shares.
“It was never one thing that made me want to marry Regina but rather a combination of reasons,” says Ramondo. “Just looking at her, she’s striking, bautiful and very stylish. She has her own interesting take on fashion and anything else you can think of. Regina can talk about everything from sci-fi to classical musical, and as much as she drives me crazy taking forever to pick out an outfit, she’s also the first to pitch a tent or go rock climbing.”
“Ramondo and I are resourceful and we both knew we had talented friends who could provide the services we would need so we planned the whole wedding together and learned a lot about compromising in the process,” the bride shares.
A custom cake topper made the couple’s cake style sweeter than sweet.
“We walked into the reception hall to Beyonce’s ‘Standing On the Sun,’ which is a fast song,” Regina explains. “This is how I know this man loves me because I’m kind of hyper, and I can’t do slow songs, so he actually danced with me as I dropped it like it’s hot. Our guests loved the high energy entrance and before we knew it everyone was dancing.”
“Our first dance song was ‘All Of Me’ by John Legend,” says Regina. “We had him there to perform it which was mind blowing!” (Jealous? We are too!) So sweet!
“Our theme was music so we spent most of our money on just that,” says Regina. “We had live orchestra music for our ceremony, our favorite band from DC, Familiar Faces, our close friend DJ Jazzy Joe for the reception and musical guest John Legend sang his hit song ‘All of Me.’”
“It was truly a family affair and having everyone come together for our big day gave the whole affair a positive energy filled with love,” the bride shares.
Sweet treats, anyone? We love a delicious cupcake stand.
“Regina wanted an outdoor wedding so we were always looking at parks,” Ramondo explains. “Blue Bell Park in Philadelphia came into play when we started looking for a close alternative just in case it rained. Our pastor suggested we get married in the park across the street from the church, so if it rained guests wouldn’t have far to go.”
Join us as we congratulate the newlyweds on their romantic “I dos.” Leave them a little comment love below and tell us which of their details was your favorite. Want to see your wedding featured in Bridal Bliss? Email us now!
