After four and a half years of courting, and a beautiful baby girl, Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) Geographic Information Systems Officer Josette Smith wed her Property Manager colleague Kerry Scott at the University of the West Indies, Mona Chapel on July 26.

Vows joins in the celebration with Kerry and Josette.

How they met…

Kerry and Josette met on the job. He was the supervisor at the JNBS New Kingston branch, and she, the geographic information systems analyst. As avid sport fans, they were both enrolled in extra-curricular sport activities. Josette became the manager of the JNBS netball team, and Kerry was in charge of the sports programme.

Starting a relationship was inevitable, and the two became friends very quickly. It may have been a kiss under the mistletoe that urged a commitment. After ushering in a New Year together, Kerry and Josette realised that they had formed a romantic connection. They began dating on Valentine’s Day 2011.

The proposal…

“We had been talking about getting married for a while,” Josette stated. “One night at home he said to me, ‘Are you serious about marrying me?’ I answered by saying, ‘Are you proposing?’ He said, ‘yes’. I said, ‘I will marry you’.”

The ceremony…

The midday ceremony saw a host of loved ones and well-wishers convened inside the UWI, Mona Chapel to witness Kerry and Josette’s nuptials. The sides of the pews were lined with clusters of green and yellow paper rose petals.

Kerry wore a three-piece slate grey suit with a yellow bow tie, and black shoes, while the groomsmen wore light grey pants and vests and yellow bow ties, with yellow and white boutonnières and black shoes. The bridesmaids entered wearing bright yellow skater dresses, belted with a cream waistband, complementing their cream and yellow calla lily bouquets.

As soon as Christina Perri’s A Thousand Years started, the anxiety heightened and all in attendance stood to acknowledge the bride as she entered. Escorted up the aisle by her brother Ido, Josette wore an exquisite figure-hugging, sweetheart-neckline gown designed by Essence of Australia.

The full-lace ivory dress was cinched by a pearl-beaded waistband and flared into a fishtail skirt. Her locked hair was styled in a pompadour with pearl hairpins. She carried a bouquet of yellow roses, white calla lilies and yellow hydrangeas and anthuriums, surrounded by solidago buds.

Guests laughed as Josette’s younger brother, Ido, sprang up in excitement when father of the groom and officiating minister Pastor Dalton Scott uttered: “Who gives this lady to be married?” Satisfied, Pastor Scott continued the proceedings. Saxophonist Lorenzo Small played N’Sync’s (God Must Have Spent) A Little More Time on You during the signing of the register.

Kerry and Josette, after being pronounced husband and wife, recessed in a cloud of bubbles to Ellie Goulding’s Love Me Like You Do. Guests then referred to the back of their fans for directions to the reception venue.

The reception…

The Ethiopian colours were of great significance to Josette as she was raised in the Rastafarian religion. Guests stepped into a red, green and gold-transformed venue at Pollyanna Caterers. They knew what to expect when DJ Garfield Brown kick-started the festivities with Pharrell’s Happy.

Emcee Wesley Scott then invited guests to stand in welcoming the wedding party. Armed with their dance partners, the bridal party poured into the reception in pairs, followed by the newly-weds, who shuffled to the dance floor for their first dance as husband and wife to Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud.

Guests later enjoyed a scrumptious meal catered by the team at Pollyanna’s. Mothers of the bride and groom Chalette Smith and Primrose Scott unveiled the three-tiered vanilla peach-flavoured wedding cake by Dkis’s Sweet Treats.

After dessert, the wedding party performed a dance medley of the Cupid Shuffle, Wobble and Syvah, after which everyone hopped on the dance floor and danced the night away. Kerry and Josette spent a week at Secrets Resorts and Spas, Montego for their honeymoon.