Bridal Bliss: Rheonna Was A Queen With A Crown And Scepter And Keith Was Her King For Their Fairytale Wedding
Rheonna, an army veteran who served in Iraq, was made to feel like the queen she is alongside her king, Keith, during their summertime nuptials in Chantilly, Va.
When Rheonna first encountered Keith, a network architect, on her first day of work as a senior business advisor, she knew that he would be her husband. She was so sure that she told her new co-workers he was “mine” so that they would back off. Everyone knew — but Keith. She was crushing so hard on her co-worker that for more than a year, she couldn’t muster up words when he would come around.
“I did not speak to him for 18 months but I told everyone he was mine so they wouldn’t date him,” she tells ESSENCE. “I knew from the moment I saw him that he was mine. I had a crush on him so when he would speak to me, for 18 months, I would blush and walk away. He thought I was weird.”
When she finally got up the nerve to say something in April 2018, choosing to compliment Keith’s sweater one day, she thought she blew her chance to shoot her shot based on his reaction.
“Instead of saying thank you or even responding to me face to face, he walked away,” she says. “I felt so confused and thought that I had offended him in some way.”
Soon after though, to her surprise, Keith sent her an IM. It read “quit playing,” which let her know he was just as interested in her as she was in him.
“From there we have been inseparable,” she says.
After 18 months of playing coy with one another, Rheonna and Keith became an item and their relationship progressed quickly. By July 2019, he proposed. The couple officially said “I do” on July 2, 2021 in a celebration in Virginia meant to mimic a royal, fairytale wedding, with the bride wearing a crown and carrying a scepter. And despite all of the things the pair came up against as they fell in love, got engaged and planned their big day (like COVID-19 and Rheonna dealing with disabilities caused by injuries incurred during her service in Iraq in 2010), the end result was the perfect fête for this queen and her king.
“We made it through the death of a close family friend. We made it through a pandemic planning a wedding. We make it through daily with my disabilities. It is my hope that it is in God’s plan that we continue to prosper despite any adversity we may face in our marriage,” she says.
See their gorgeous photos, and learn more about their love, as well as what it took to have their fairytale wedding, below.
Want your wedding to be considered for feature in Bridal Bliss? Email us a few wedding photos and the story of your big day, with a few quotes, at bridalbliss@essence.com.
01
A Dress Fit for a Queen
The bride’s stunning gown was made by Maggie Sottero Designs.
Nafa Adadevoh/Judah Avenue Photography
02
How the Groom Knew He’d Found the One
“I realized I found the one when I saw her level of commitment to having a relationship with me,” Keith says. “She was willing to rearrange her schedule to make me a priority.”
Nafa Adadevoh/Judah Avenue Photography
03
How the Bride Knew She’d Found the One
Rheonna suffered nerve damage from an injury sustained during her deployment in Iraq (her neck vertebrae was replaced with silicon and titanium and she also experienced a brain injury). While she could have been made to feel self-conscious about it, Keith was nothing but loving about it.
“I realized I found the one when he stated that my disabilities made him love me even more and he appreciated all the effort I put in to ensure that I provided a full life for myself and my kids,” she says.
Nafa Adadevoh/Judah Avenue Photography
04
The Groom and His Guys
Before he took the leap into married life, Keith was captured having a last drink with his groomsmen, all wearing suits by Vera Wang.
Nafa Adadevoh/Judah Avenue Photography
05
The Bride’s Favorite Moment
“The best memory of our wedding for me was the first look,” she says. “We both had envisioned this moment for so long and we could not stop smiling once we saw one another.”
Nafa Adadevoh/Judah Avenue Photography
06
The Groom’s Most Memorable Moment
“The best memory of our wedding for me was the reception entrance,” he says. “It felt like we made it through those doors to the next level of our lives together.”
Nafa Adadevoh/Judah Avenue Photography
07
The Wedding Party
We love this regal photo of the bride and groom’s tribe! Both the bridesmaids and groomsmen wore Vera Wang.
Nafa Adadevoh/Judah Avenue Photography
08
The Royal Theme
“Once in a while in the middle of an ordinary life love gives us a fairytale,” Rheonna says. “From the day Keith and I started dating he addressed me as queen and every single day from that day to this one I wake up to him greeting me with ‘good morning queen.’ So the regal look and feel seemed like a given. My florist almost had a fit when I informed her and the wedding planner that I would not carry a bouquet but a scepter.”
Nafa Adadevoh/Judah Avenue Photography
09
The Proposal
“The proposal was on a date night in July 2019,” she says. “In the middle of me telling him about my bad day, he told me that he wanted to make my days better and would be with me through all my bad days. He got down on one knee, unzipped the pocket of the jacket I was wearing and pulled out my ring. I was wearing the engagement ring in his coat pocket that he had given to me during dinner when I was cold.”
Nafa Adadevoh/Judah Avenue Photography
10
The Venue
“We chose the venue at first sight,” Rheonna says of The Bellevue in Chantilly, Virginia. “We knew with the grand staircase and chandeliers we found the perfect place. As a couple we wanted to support local minority and female businesses during the pandemic and curate a fairytale experience for our guests. All vendors except for one were a minority or a female.”
Nafa Adadevoh/Judah Avenue Photography
11
A Couture Cake
The beautiful, towering cake was crafted by Couture Cakes by Sabrina.
Nafa Adadevoh/Judah Avenue Photography
12
An Intimate Affair
“We had always planned for an intimate wedding,” Rheonna says. “We have a very small circle of friends, and our families were big enough to take up a great deal of the wedding count and it worked out perfectly. The guest count was 75 and it was perfect. At the time of the wedding [Virginia] allowed 100 people inside of venues beginning July 1, 2021, and our wedding made the date being July 2, 2021.”
Nafa Adadevoh/Judah Avenue Photography
13
Floral Fun
Halima, The Floral Guru, was behind the stunning floral designs set up around the venue.
Nafa Adadevoh/Judah Avenue Photography
14
Married Life
According to Keith, the transition from dating long term to being married has been pretty simple.
“We moved in together right as the pandemic started, so the adjustment to married life has been easy,” he says. “Making it through 2019 -2020 made us close and very family oriented.”
Nafa Adadevoh/Judah Avenue Photography
15
Let’s Dance!
The newlyweds shared a sweet moment on the dance floor as saxophonist Connell Thompson went to town.
Nafa Adadevoh/Judah Avenue Photography
16
Gathering the Garter
Keith put on quite the show to get the garter belt from Rheonna’s leg.
Nafa Adadevoh/Judah Avenue Photography
17
A Queen and Her King
Rheonna got to feel like the queen that she is on her big day. And she deserves to be showered with love. She was in the U.S. Army from 2003 to 2013. We’re grateful for her service and to share her fairytale love story.
