A love story 20 years in the making gets its picture-perfect ending as business proprietors David Thomas and Shawna-Lee Solomon wed on January 24, 2016 at the Andrews Memorial Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Vows brings you the magical moments.

Their story

David and Shawna-Lee were childhood friends, growing up in the same community. They would often while away the hours on Saturday mornings watching cartoons together at Shawna-Lee’s house. It was on one such morning that David declared that he was going to be Shawna-Lee’s boyfriend, and she shyly agreed. From that point on the two were inseparable. As they entered adolescence and began high school their innocent relationship began to bloom into something more. Though Shawna-Lee’s parents did not approve of her dating while so young, the two refused to part and began dating in secret. With each passing year Shawna-Lee and David became more enamoured with each other, and on Shawna-Lee’s 22nd birthday David popped the question. Of course, she said yes. As so often happens, life intervened. A month after the proposal the couple learned they were expecting a child. With a little one on the way there wasn’t much time to plan a wedding, but Shawna-Lee and David still dreamed of their perfect day after their son was born. In 2013 they welcomed their second bundle of joy, a daughter, Jada-Lee Thomas. Shawna-Lee and David then decided to wait until she turned two before walking up the aisle.

The ceremony

Through Saturday morning cartoons and shy teenage kisses, David and Shawna-Lee never stopped loving one another, and so surrounded by their family and friends at the Andrews Memorial Seventh-Day Adventist Church they cemented their bond in marriage. The bridesmaids, in red dresses with embellished asymmetrical straps appeared to float up the aisle to the strains of Christina Perri’s

A Thousand Years. Shawna-Lee was radiant in her gown, an ivory creation with a crystal embellished bodice and a sweetheart neckline, from Bliss Bridal. Her mother Doreen Francis escorted her up the aisle to Celine Dion’sThe Colour of My Love. Pastor Samuel Lewis presided over the ceremony, blessing the couple and the assemblage, guiding David and Shawna-Lee through their vows. The couple also performed the candle-lighting union ceremony with three pure white candles. As they signed the wedding register, Shawna-Lee and David were serenaded by saxophonist Tafane Buschaecad.

The reception

The ceremony over, the guests and wedding party headed for Waterfalls, Liguanea, to really get the party started. The team from Petals and Promises took the wedding’s red and white colour scheme and created an elegant atmosphere of crisp snowy white and bold crimson. The wedding party entered to Whitney Houston’s

I Wanna Dance With Somebody, after which David and Shawna-Lee danced their way in to The Black Eyed Peas’ I Gotta Feeling. Guests enjoyed a touch of love in their meals, savouring a menu prepared by a joint force of the couple’s family. Emcee Ryan Dixon handled his duties with aplomb, ensuring that a good time was had by all; especially when he called for a sing-off between the newly-weds that ended in a win for the twice-lucky David. When their dance floor moment arrived, Shawna-Lee and David showed off their expert choreography, taught to them byDancin’ Dynamite judge Kerry-Ann Henry, to Ed Sheeran’sThinking Out Loud. After cutting the cake, a four-tiered fruitcake with red and white fondant designed by the Petals and Promises team, the newly-weds were treated to a musical performance by local reggae trio One Third.