Vows: The Love of A Lifetime
When Sagicor Bank Personal Banking Officer Ruchelle Chin met Data Operations Engineer Duen Reid, neither of them knew that a customer experience would result in their exchange of vows on November 5, 2016. Vows takes you back to the beginning.
THE INITIAL ENCOUNTER, AS TOLD BY RUCHELLE
In December 2015, my cellphone fell and shattered and was sent overseas for repairs. It came back not to my liking, so I decided I would attempt to get it fixed locally. I visited Duen’s previous employers, Quantum Concepts. He was very friendly and charming, but I wasn’t very interested at the time. I left my number for him to call me as soon as the phone was fixed. I got a text message from him one day, and since then we began talking every night. As the months went by, I grew to love and appreciate him more, and not long after, we decided to make things official. Six months later, we decided to get married. He sent for the ring overseas but had a problem importing it, so he asked me to get help from my contacts at Jamaica Customs. Duen is very simple, so the proposal was done at home in bed during our nightly cuddling sessions.
THE CEREMONY
The ceremony began on the lush lawns of Caymanas Golf Club with the strains of Nathan Skyes’ Over And Over Again in the background, as Ruchelle’s bridesmaids made their way up the aisle dressed in blush pink one-shoulder gowns from Petals & Promises. They were escorted by the dapper groomsmen who were decked in brown two-piece suits and blush pink bow ties from Beautiful Brides and Mr Tux. At the altar stood an eager Duen, dressed in a light brown three-piece suit accented with a blush pink muffler scarf tailored by Spokes Apparel. Ruchelle, accompanied by her mother Valerie Chin, was a vision of elegance in a strapless embellished fit and flare gown, also from Petals & Promises. She made her way up the aisle to the strains of Beyoncé and Marc Nelson’s After All is Said and Done. The ceremony was officiated by Reverend Silvera Castro and included the blending of sands ceremony — symbolic of the joining of the two families — and a musical interlude by saxophonist Kemroy Bonfield.
THE RECEPTION
Wedding guests and the bridal party danced their way to the reception venue of the Gold Club to Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk. They were followed by the elated newly-weds who made their way in to Pharell Williams’ Happy. Luxe Event Design CEO and event stylist Patrice Dehaney was responsible for the couple’s garden-chic fairy tale-themed décor which featured shades of blush, ivory and champagne. Master of Ceremonies Ian ‘Ity’ Ellis invited guests to be seated as the couple took to the floor for their first dance to Christina Perri’s A Thousand Years. Formalities continued with the cutting of the three-tiered vanilla rum butter-flavoured cake by KukUpKreations and a sumptuous three-course meal catered by the Caymanas Golf Club.
