Tuesday Style Vows (TSV) introduces Abbigayle Rambaran and David Williams and shares their journey to the altar.

How we met…

It all started with an eye emoji on WhatsApp prompted by a search to find someone over the age of 21 (Florida’s legal drinking age) willing to buy drinks for a friend’s birthday celebration.

“I was 19, and had just moved from Jamaica to pursue my undergraduate degree at the University of South Florida. My dear friend, Josh Fray (who ended up being one of our groomsmen), suggested his college roommate might be down for the adventure. Fast-forward to later that night at the party, and many texts in between, David and I somehow found ourselves dancing the night away together in the apartment kitchen. As Ding Dong’s
Lowe Mi, Lowe Mi Nuh blasted through the party, I remember having a ladle in hand mixing ‘jungle juice’ and bonding with him,” Abbigayle tells Tuesday Style Vows (TSV).

“Though we have two different recollections of what happened afterwards, we became college sweethearts at the University of South Florida, and fuelled by our ambition, big dreams and commitment to pull the best out of each other, we effortlessly ticked many accomplishments off our list,” she continues.

“David became treasurer, then president, of the largest multicultural organisation on campus at our home away from home, the Caribbean Cultural Exchange, and I followed as his successor with both positions. I became Miss University of South Florida 2018, and was inducted into the Marshall Student Center Hall of Fame where I used my platform for a Christmas give-back on Fleet Street in Kingston, providing art and craft supplies for the kids. David became chairman of the Engineering Council, was awarded Student Leader of the Year and donated the proceeds to the New Day Primary School in Grant’s Pen. Our passion for each other only continued to blossom over the years as nothing makes us happier than seeing each other win,” says Abbigayle.

The proposal

“November of 2022, shortly after Thanksgiving and our trip to the Dominican Republic, we made one of our many trips from Orlando to Miami to visit family and friends. Though I suspected some anxiety from David during the four-hour drive with all the questions he kept asking and restlessness, I did not actually suspect a proposal. I was told to get ready for dinner with friends and at that time I had an inkling something was up because he has never helped me fix my hair or get ready overall,” she tells TSV.

“He told me he needed to pick up our friends which didn’t make sense as we were passing our destination to get them,” she continues.

“I still suspected nothing! Suddenly, as we pulled up to our friend David Mitchell’s house, he complained of a bellyache and needing to go to the bathroom, so I suggested waiting in the car since we were all about to leave. But he asked me to come with him, which was questionable but I went along anyway,” Abbigayle recounts.

Still none the wiser, she entered the house, and noticed Mitchell giggling, while pointing to the patio. “Confused as I was, I walked outside the patio doors to be greeted with a rose bouquet, a large LED-lit ‘Marry Me’ sign, candles, a heart made from rose petals and Hailey Reinhart’s rendition of Can’t Help Falling In Love. He took weeks to plan every detail with my close friend Kianna Coley, and made sure my sister, nephew and girlfriends were present as he knew that’s how I imagined it to be. Of course I said yes, I don’t even remember what he said because I knew my answer before he asked. He even got the exact diamond and setting I wanted, a marquise diamond in a pavé setting,” she shares.

The nuptials

With the Rose Hall Great House, a restored 18th-century architectural masterpiece, as their backdrop, the couple wed in an enchanting ceremony on Friday, January 5, 2024. “We toured about eight venues, but chose Rose Hall, particularly the great house because it truly captured our vision: timeless, enchanting and classy. Our vision was guided by an exhaustive
Pinterest board that I had started making at 16 years old, though my taste has matured since then. We opted for an outdoor wedding on a spacious property that provided a grand entrance, just enough flora, and a scenic backdrop of the island that first-timers to Jamaica would enjoy,” says Abbigayle.

“We wanted our guests to be engaged in our love story,” she continues. So they lined the walkway to the ceremony with staggered photos from their engagement shoot. There was, too, a custom-made wedding greeting sign and love ladder made by our florist Mary Blake. Other Instagrammable moments included a 50-inch LED sign featuring the bride and groom’s initials and wedding date, and a personalised photobooth by Booth Levels Jamaica which produced black and white polariods with the couple’s wedding logo. An audio guestbook and paint canvases allowed guests to create memorabilia that the couple will treasure forever.

All this before Abbie — as she’s affectionately called — even walked up the aisle.

Her entrance proved quite the tear-jerker. As the Accel String Quartet delivered its rendition of Young and Beautiful by Lana Del Rey (a song selected by David), Abbigayle swanned across the garden’s cobblestone walkway in a Mori Lee by Madison Gardner ivory long-sleeved, princess-style dress with Swarovski-beaded train, and a custom 13-foot pearl-embellished cathedral veil.

Paul Rambaran escorted his daughter up the double flight of stone steps which led to an open portico, where David waited. The emotional ceremony was officiated by Damion Austin of On Call Weddings.

It’s a celebration!

The reception, as the couple puts it, “went from zero to 100, real quick”!

“It was truly all the feels. If we weren’t laughing, we were crying,” says Abbigayle.

The couple’s first dance was to Video Games by Lana Del Rey. “There is a trend here as you can see,” she opines. “This has always been our ‘this is gonna be our first dance’ song since college. It represented so much for us. More importantly, we added an intro, which was a voiceover of the popular scene in the 2019 film Queen & Slim called ‘What Do You Want’, this really captured the relationship we have fostered, our understanding and deep love for one another,” she says.

After the mother-daughter/ father-daughter and mother-groom dance the festivities transitioned into dinner, catered by Tameka Beckford of Beckford’s Catering, then into a karaoke session.

Cake-cutting and bouquet toss aside, Abbigayle changed into her second dress, a bow detailed mini from Portia & Scarlett, and really got the party started. “It quickly turned into such a celebratory moment, of not only our love, but every relationship we have fostered over the years. It was basically a high school reunion for the Wolmerians, Ardenites, and USF Bulls, our alma maters. Having all our friends and family from different aspects of our life come together on the dance floor having an amazing time was truly a sight to see. If chairs weren’t in the air from that popular soca song or if their head wasn’t tilted back taking mandatory dance floor shots, they were dancing and pumping the air with Louie and Coco’s cut-outs or doing their best rendition of our favourite dancehall songs. It felt like we were 15 again listening to the best of the 2000s. Shout-outs to DJ Kofie and MC Tafari Forbes for really creating an atmosphere so full of vibes and good energy,” says the couple.

But the highlight of the evening remains the viral bridal party dance-off.

“Rumour has it on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok that the girls won! We may have cheated with the TikTok dance routines and the fact that some of us are professional dancers. So we think the true winners were the guys,” says Abbie. “I wanted to do the dance-off, as dance was a huge part of my life in high school where I was a member of the Wolmer’s Dance Troupe. My maid of honour and I became best friends through dance. It was just like old times,” she says.

The couple have yet to have an official honeymoon. “In true Abbie and David fashion we jumped right into moving to a new city, and both starting graduate programmes,” the couple shares.