II Dope Chics's Podcast

II Brides Share How They Planned A Guest-First 3- Day II Dope Wedding Weekend That Felt Like Magic

• II Dope Chics • Season 1 • Episode 3

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 51:13

What if a wedding felt less like a schedule and more like a fairy-tale story you get to live inside? We pull back the curtain on our II Dope Wedding Weekend, where romance met real planning and every choice served our guests and our values. From a smart, transparent prenup to a black-tie experience that started the moment the elevator doors opened.

We begin with the heart: why we signed a prenup and how respect, honesty, and children made the decision straightforward. Then the design journey: turning a standard ballroom into a white-carpeted, architectural ceremony space inspired by Crazy Rich Asians, complete with an 8x12 water wall that set the mood and stole every photo. Our guests arrived through a “mini museum” of our history, received personalized acrylic keys with QR-coded seating, and stepped into cocktail hour highlights that felt like us. A confessional booth, yes, a confessional booth, that captured raw reactions, a free merch station with premium gifts, and a custom unisex fragrance bar we built note by note.

The emotional center of the day was intentional. We chose to walk down the aisle together after a mid-aisle pause that symbolized partnership, while Musiq Soulchild’s live vocals shifted familiar lyrics into something new. Inside the reception, a clean, linen-free white palette framed the drama: a 15-tier cake brought in from Detroit by cake designer FlourHouse Cakes, revealed with theater and delivered with real flavor. Sorority serenades brought legacy to the mic, a confetti misfire made for legendary photos, and wardrobe changes reset the energy right before surprise performances by Keke Wyatt’s vocals and then Juvenile turning the party into a full-on celebration and concert.

We close with roots: a New Orleans second line complete with umbrellas, beignets and Indians, honoring family and home in a room of nearly 200 people moving in joy. Along the way we share behind-the-scenes grit, late-night edits, vendor traffic jams, airport chaos solved by an overnight drive and how each challenge became part of the magic. If you’re dreaming of a wedding that puts meaning first and dazzles without copying tradition, this one’s your blueprint.

If this story resonates, follow the show, share with a friend who’s planning, and leave a review with your favorite moment so we can keep building experiences you love.

Why We Chose A Prenup

SPEAKER_06

Welcome back. Thanks so much for joining us again. I am Chine, Miss Party Life of Party Life Productions, wedding planner and event designer for the two dope chicks, Attorney Millicent and Shantae Pride Daniels. Thank you so much, guys, for sharing so much about your Two Dope Wedding Weekend and love story. We've talked about your welcome party and we've dabbled a little bit on Welcome Day. We talked about you getting scammed, and we've been pretty candid so far. I need to go back to where we left off. A prenup? We want prenup. All right. So help help me a little bit with a little bit of um myth busting because there's there's a lot of um some positive, some negative connotations with um prenups, and it's something that you guys are loud and proud about. And um I just love to share some of that knowledge.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I think that you know, at the end of the day, that although we love each other in love, is uh sometimes uh relationships don't work. And so really the purpose of the prenup is to make sure that everything is appropriately addressed just in case the worst thing happens is we both know the terms of what we're left with and what to expect so that there are no surprises. So it's it's it's it's prudent. It's prudent, it's wise and it's and it's good business.

SPEAKER_10

Children involved, so prenup was a no-brainer.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, and it doesn't mean it's not a it's not an indication that you don't love the person that you're with. Um absolutely not. It's just that you respect each other enough and um are transparent enough with each other um to make sure that each person is well protected.

Last-Minute Signing Drama

SPEAKER_06

I think that was really important to share. Um I the the joke behind it is just that we were doing it or you guys were doing it in the lobby. In the hotel lobby. On, you know, Friday night hours before your welcome party. But if you've been a part of our past couple of episodes, you know what their day-to-day life is like, and that's pretty normal.

SPEAKER_10

Um and we, you know, had some some changes that had to take place and had to be um addressed. And you know, we were working with um our attorney, and it was just like, okay, we really need to address this. And the wording still was off and not right, and so we look up and it's Friday night. Yes, Friday night, six o'clock. And and we're still trying to address some of those things because I was like, uh, no ma'am. Oh no, ma'am.

Wedding Morning: Calm Vs Chaos

SPEAKER_06

Meanwhile, the wig was waiting. The wig was waiting, the yeah, it was a lot, but the prenup has been signed. It has been signed, and we are the two dope chicks, and we're not going nowhere, are married, we are happily married. Um, so thank you so much for sharing that with you guys. I wanted to talk a little bit about the wedding day experience. Um, and of course, we know how important that was, and I have lots of details to share, but I want to just start with the guest experience from that moment when they walked through the door, um, when they first arrived. Or actually, if we can rewind a little bit, even where your mornings started, how how your days went, how you felt um in your suites. We, you know, we decorated a little bit, had a little you know, a little jazzy situation going on so that everybody could feel comfortable. There's TikToks, there's behind the scenes footage happening. Talk to me about your wedding morning.

SPEAKER_10

Well, my wedding morning, I woke up and I was like, I miss her. Ain't so happening, hey Percy.

SPEAKER_05

They do this very often.

SPEAKER_06

Whenever they have to be separated.

SPEAKER_10

We had to be separate. Well, we didn't have to be separated, but we decided that we felt like we needed we.

SPEAKER_06

Was it we? She decided. Yeah, I was I I had to interject very much.

SPEAKER_10

Whose side are you on whose side are you on?

SPEAKER_06

Well, well, in this moment, Mill's right. Um, that was not a we decision.

SPEAKER_04

It was very much a she decision.

SPEAKER_06

Uh she decision for that. It was very well known to me at least, that Millicent saw no need to separate um the night before. And like you said, you woke up and you said, I miss her.

SPEAKER_10

I mean, let's let's do this and remember this. We were only apart probably for maybe five, six hours because after welcome party, we went out with some of our guests. Craziness. We did not get in until like two. Oh, day three in the morning. She came to my suite. We sat there and talked or whatever. She left my suite at about 3:30-ish.

SPEAKER_06

Oh, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_10

So, yeah. That was wedding day. Yeah, pretty much wedding day. So we slept maybe two hours and we were right back into the day. But I think I missed her more during the course of everything. And so I was having my moments of like just thinking about what was she doing in her suite, who was in her suite, you know, helping her, that sort of thing.

SPEAKER_04

I miss you too.

SPEAKER_06

How would you describe your wedding morning though?

SPEAKER_04

It was super peaceful. It was really, really peaceful morning. My suite was just makeup artists was there, um, hairstylist there. Um one of my best friends to consider her my sister was there and present um the whole time, just helping. Uh, one of my uh big sisters, uh, who's one of my sorority sisters, she came and was really, really helping me out. So it was just super peaceful. A really nice, peaceful experience wedding morning.

SPEAKER_10

I'm glad y'all was in there like your room's pretty turned too. Oh, my room was on 10. We went in like this. So my room was on steroids. I mean, I had the hairstylist in there. Um Kimmy, a makeup artist, she was in there. Family was going in and out.

SPEAKER_06

Can I tell them about the call I got?

SPEAKER_10

Yes.

SPEAKER_06

Because I got a call at some point in this, you know, busy morning and getting ready where uh we needed a little assistance, a little intervention. Um come get all these people out of my room. And so while Millicent was having a piece of beautiful morning, it was and you know, not to be mean, I just needed a moment.

SPEAKER_10

I mean, I was still tweaking my vow, so I never could find the moment to just really think. And then I had um all these vendors coming in. So they were coming in to decorate the suite, and then the other ladies were coming in, they were steaming my dress, and it's like everyone that came in, they were coming in in pairs. And then pairs turned into two by three, and then they have assistants, then they have assistants, and then it started being three by three, and then four by four, and I was like, oh, this too much. Yeah.

Building The Venue From Scratch

SPEAKER_06

So Millicent, from your room, I believe you had a view of the ceremony setup. The the for those of you um many may not be aware, the host hotel and the wedding venue were literally next door to each other. So you can see, um, I'd requested that she had a room where she could not see what was going on. Of course, attorney Millicent Daniels uh overrode that one. But it was a beautiful view, it worked out really well. But um you were able to see a little bit of what was going on?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I was able to see a little bit, and it was it was super exciting, you know, getting up and going to that window, and I was like, oh my goodness, they're building, I'm watching them build this beautiful structure for us, you know, for us. So that was just amazing, amazing, absolutely amazing to witness this this beautiful creation um and progress for us.

SPEAKER_06

Definitely for you guys. So I saw cars. Yeah, Shantae didn't have a view. Um just cars. But speaking of building for you, I wanna I wanna talk just a little bit about the process of how something like this gets created. Um, so even though right now we're talking about Saturday morning, the load-in for this wedding began at 8 a.m. the day prior. Um, so we set up from 8 a.m. until midnight on Friday and started again around 7 a.m. on Saturday and up until wedding time that later that afternoon. Um within that, um one of I think the most memorable uh transformations um that we made was changing the carpet in the ballroom to white. That was my biggest ask. My first big ask. And um these ladies so wonderfully said yes to everything.

SPEAKER_09

Yes to the dress.

The Water Vision Becomes A Fountain

SPEAKER_06

Yes, yes to the dress, yes to the carpet, and it was all worth it. But those things take time. Um, and so transforming a ballroom's flooring, and so many people ask, you know, what venue is this, and where are you? And I assure you, it is um in its in its natural form, um, beautiful, but not what you're seeing. Um we completely changed everything there. Um, and so even there was a 20-foot uh wide rose petal chandelier um made of fabric in the ceiling that most people could have assumed was a part of the venue initially. So these are the things where there are multiple lifts going on and wall carpet is being put down. That's happening in the ballroom while uh another team um is starting with floral um breakdown and production. And um we had a 40-foot acrylic aisle runner that went up to their uh stage, two-foot stage with the 14-foot structure on top of it, um in where multiple people asked me, Do you think that's too high? No, it's it's fine. So it took me a little second to get up there. It was beautiful. It was it was it was wow for them. But one of my favorite elements, do you remember? This was our very first phone call when we discussed your vision, um, what you gave as one of your um favorite TV moments that you wanted to reference.

SPEAKER_10

I wanted to reference crazy rich Asians. That's my favorite movie. I love the wedding scene, and I was like, I got to have water. I want water. I don't care what y'all gotta do. I haven't asked for much throughout this entire I didn't ask for much, and so I wanted water. Okay. Actually, I wanted to walk down to the walk on water.

SPEAKER_04

Be honest, you wanted to walk on water, you wanted to be.

SPEAKER_10

Well, you know, when Jesus did it, I said, Miss Party Life has done a lot of things. It must be reprocate, reciprocating, walking.

SPEAKER_06

Walking on water was not one of them, but um, I'm I'm very proud of the suggestion that I made instead of creating apple water.

SPEAKER_09

It turned out it was beautiful.

SPEAKER_06

Um, we ended up with a 8-foot by 12-foot um water fountain, waterfall, water wall. Um that was the first thing that guests saw when they entered the ceremony space, and it served as the perfect backdrop. Um, for all of their photos, there's water behind them. It really felt like water was everywhere. And so I try and remember as much as possible from that first phone call that's usually when people tell you what you really need to know about them, and that was a really, really key aspect. Thank you. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_04

And I really want to highlight, listen, you did a fantastic job. Is this wedding actually we got started with it, what, back in January, February of last year, and uh so much work had to be done uh to get to that point because we started very late with the planning. Um, but you did an incredible job of pulling everything together. I mean, vendors from all throughout the country pulling in Thursday, Friday of wedding weekend. And that was just amazing to see.

SPEAKER_06

It was impressive. Impressive. Well done. And and people who you know really cared about what happened with you guys. But speaking of keys, we will start with the guest experience. First, tell me a little bit about how your gr your guests were dressed.

SPEAKER_10

Uh guests were asked to wear all black, formal, um, and they executed that very well. Our guests looked amazing, they were beautiful. Everyone, I think, I don't remember anyone being out of dress code, so everyone respected our wishes. It was one. I saw one. You saw one, but I think that was kind of fixed before. Well, then I saw two.

SPEAKER_04

You saw two, yeah. Yeah, and it was resolved. I forgot. Yeah, it was resolved.

SPEAKER_10

Um, but everyone looked amazing.

SPEAKER_06

That is that was that was really great. Um, we did have someone come with a little pop of color, wanted to be different. Not not today.

SPEAKER_10

Um today is not today.

Guest Dress Code And The Golden Key

SPEAKER_06

Today is you're starting your too dope experience, and we're doing it in all black formal. And so um we got rid of that pop, and it was beautiful. So when guests arrived, um we wanted to welcome them to the Too Dope experience. You guys talked a lot about the Too Dope experience. Wanting to give people as much of you as possible. So tell them a little bit about uh what they received when they walked in.

SPEAKER_10

They received a personalized key that had their name on it and a QR code, and the QR code was to allow them to find their seating during reception for the reception. But that key was like the golden key when they received it. Everybody was so excited about their key, and it had their name on it.

SPEAKER_06

So their golden ticket, if you will. The golden key. But we did we had three different color acrylic keys. So, in place of escort cards that would typically tell the catering team what each person is eating, um, and in place of a traditional seating chart, so of all the things that you would see at a typical luxury wedding, one of them would be a huge seating chart display. Um, we skipped that. And that's where that QR code shared with all the guests where their um seating was.

SPEAKER_10

Because we told you from the beginning, nothing about us is traditional. So we didn't want anything to look like anybody else's. Like anybody else's. We wanted to be unique, we wanted to be different because that's us. Dope and different.

SPEAKER_06

So I know you all didn't get to spend a lot of time at Cocktail Hour, but we did make sure that um you you had a chance to understand what your guests were experiencing. Can you tell me? I don't and I don't know if you'll have the same answer what your favorite element was from Cocktail Hour.

SPEAKER_10

One of my faves um that I loved is the confessional booth.

Cocktail Hour Confessional Booth

SPEAKER_04

Step inside the confessionable. Tell us what you think so far. What's been your favorite part? We can't wait to hear what y'all say.

SPEAKER_11

We'll see you in the pool.

SPEAKER_07

Hi, Chantay and Mellison. This is my confessional. This entire weekend has been amazing. It has been such a expression of love, of strength, of glam, of all the things that's possible with love. I am going to um admit that the moment Millicent walked down the aisle, I started crying. And Shantae, when you came down the aisle, I was just overwhelmed. Um, the love was awful. Um, this has just been an amazing weekend. I can't pick a favorite part because every part has gone higher and higher. I thought last night was epic. But so far the wedding has been phenomenal. I'm so happy for you guys. I love y'all so much. I'm so appreciative of being able to share in this moment with you guys. And here's to many more years, decades, lifetimes of love, laughter, everything, everything your heart desires. I love y'all.

SPEAKER_08

Reporting live here at the Two Dope Chicks Wedding. Let's start off with Friday's night recap. Now, it was amazing. Capital A M-A-Z-I-N-G. And they had 112 there. All I kept thinking is, oh my god, how are they gonna top 112? How are they gonna do it? So who were your thoughts? When I saw love on basically the menu, the program, I said it has to be music soul child. It has to be. Okay, so before you saw the program, what did you- I had no idea. I said maybe one 112 again. I don't know. Or who else we like, you know, okay, which no, I wish to jump and music soul child top tier. Top tier. No, I don't like it. Don't say I'll I like the end. Bye. Don't forget. I'll give it a try. Alright, we'll see you guys for the rest of the wedding. Because we're let me get my chart called. We're gonna keep you guys updated with the latest here at the tooth delta wedding.

SPEAKER_05

Congratulations on the line.

SPEAKER_08

Thank you for taking care of our baby out of y'all.

Merch And Custom Fragrance Bar

SPEAKER_00

Amazing for me to be here with my number five with Webster with Webster. All millions, so many things that I could choose to go into. Um, but let me just summarize it. Thank you for including me. In 2017, when you um celebrated Sunday's birthday in Fort Lauderdale, I'm so glad that I had the opportunity, even just for the evening, to experience your then, you know, somewhat new partner. And to be able to be here today. Thank you for including me in your joy for me to be able to be someone who can be a testament to your love. To have been there for both of your confessions. This is only the second wedding that I've been to that made such an impression of me. Because of the vow. And also just because of you.

SPEAKER_01

Oh my goodness. And just to piggyback off that, what an incredible, incredible experience. Everything was beautiful. We love you both. The dresses, all of your print material, we felt like an immersive experience. The ceremony was stunning. Your vows, everything touching, your outfits. Phenomenal. Yes. And we just felt the love. Thank you for, like you said, including us. And we are so glad to be a part of you. But this is just the beginning of a lifetime war.

unknown

Cheers.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_04

And what about you? Yeah, yeah. I think that I gotta A-menu on that. I thought that the whole premise of the confessional booth was just super dope of allowing people really to pop in the booth and give their thoughts and we'd be able to actually watch the recording after the wedding. I thought that was incredible.

SPEAKER_10

It made us feel like because we were not there, it had the opportunity to be there. Yeah. And it was so cute that on the confessional booth it had these are my confessions, all I could hear was Usher, These Are My Confessions. Just when I uh Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Confessional booth was amazing. Guys, your guests really enjoyed being able to talk about it. And the the funny thing is during cocktail hour, at that point, they'd only seen music soul child. They did not know what else was to come. So, you know, there's different stages of the feedback that we have in the confessional booth because some people went inside early in the evening not even understanding what was to come. Now, I think if we asked many of your guests, they would likely say their favorite was the merch station.

SPEAKER_10

Yeah, everyone loved the merch station. Um, I love the merch station. I mean I thought you were gonna say merch station. Uh the t-shirts, the tumblers, the umbrellas, the I mean.

SPEAKER_06

Let's see, shot glasses.

SPEAKER_10

Shot glasses, shoes.

SPEAKER_06

And it was all free.

SPEAKER_10

And it was free. You get a car, you get a car, you get a car.

SPEAKER_06

All two dope, um, branded, two-dope wedding, branded merch. Um, this was the heart and soul of my planning for quite a while. Um, coming up with inventory and how many for each and sizes and the different phrases. Um, I think one of my favorites for the shirts was um I came, I saw. It was too dope.

SPEAKER_02

It was too dope.

Ceremony Emotions And Live Music

SPEAKER_06

Um and guests really loved that. And even their bags, uh, we had customized gift bags with their faces on it. What I loved uh the most about you guys is I I had those bags and I just held on to them. And you never even asked me to see them when they came in. So it felt like everything could be a surprise for you that you were able to experience it just like your guest. And that was really special to be able to have those moments instead of you know having this, you know, log of all the things that are already going to be there. Um you pretty much had no idea for the most part, for a lot of things. Um in addition to the confession booth and to the merch station, we also had a perfume station where we shared the custom perfume um that you all created for all of your guests. And we'll we'll get more into that.

SPEAKER_10

Um my nose is still like recovering from that whole process. I blew That was fun though. We was fun, but I blew my whole nose out trying to develop a fragrance for a unisex fragrance for our guests.

SPEAKER_06

We had some rough moments.

SPEAKER_10

Some rough moments in between. But I mean, I think overall, I think the part for me, before I could even like really get to seeing how the guests really enjoyed cocktail hour, I was still just on a natural high from ceremony. Um ceremony was I could not contain myself. Like, all what was it, about 30 minutes, 35 minutes, that entire ceremony, I was well, Millicent was like, yeah, all right, yeah, let's do this. Come on. I got and I was like, okay.

SPEAKER_04

Very, very, very rarely have I seen you nervous. We were the total opposite that day. I was like, oh my goodness, she's nervous.

SPEAKER_10

And that never happens. Usually, if you're on five, I'm on ten. If you're on one, I'm on ten. If you're on six, I'm on ten. And ceremony was like, I think I started crying right there where the keys were. I'm talking to the ladies at the booth, and they're still giving somebody a key, and I'm standing there, and they're like, Don't walk up, don't walk up. She's about to come out, she's about to walk out. And I'm like, okay, so I'm standing back there, and I hear the song playing when the girls were going to walk down the aisle, so I could hear that song. And the tears just started flowing at that moment. And then after that, I heard the song that we were coming down on. So at that moment in my head, I'm like, okay. And that thing, of course, I think music is by music soul child. It was Love by Music Soul Child, which was the whole music soul child. Actually, by Music Soul Child Live. And so I was like, oh my gosh, she's walking down the aisle, and I could just feel my hand, like literally trying to hold my bouquet at this moment because somebody brought it to me, like, here, here's your bouquet. And I'm like, I can't hold it right now. But it was, I could just hear him singing the lyrics, and at that moment, the lyrics meant something totally different. It changed. It changed, yeah. And it was, and yeah, I'm like, I'm doing this, and she's halfway down the aisle. Now it's my turn.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I was halfway down the aisle, and of course we did it our way. I've I stopped halfway down and turned around and waited for my life partner. Give me your hand.

SPEAKER_06

And t tell them, tell them why you did that, because that was that was another one of our conversations and decisions that was made. It wasn't something that was just done.

SPEAKER_04

I think I think the symbolism of you know, we walk through life together. So even in that moment of to stop turn around and reach out my hand and wait for her. And then we walked the rest of the aisle together.

SPEAKER_10

And so it was just like a beautiful moment. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

It was a beautiful moment. It was. And the discussion about it around how we came to doing it that way, um, it really meant a lot to see it happen. Yes. Yeah. Because it I knew it was exactly what you wanted and the way that you guys planned for that to be.

Walking The Aisle Together

SPEAKER_10

And the arguments that was going on in the background about who's gonna walk you down the aisle. Because my dad passed away in 2021. Um, so it was all these discussions about who's gonna walk you down the aisle and who's gonna. I'm like, we're gonna walk each other each other down the aisle. We got this. No worries. We had it. We had it too.

SPEAKER_06

It turned out beautifully. Um and and speaking of, because I didn't get to see you in that moment when you you know saw the keys, but that was the expectation for guests. When they stepped off the elevator, which had been customized with your photos, and they would walk right into these keys where they're handed a key to their two-dope wedding experience, and they walk down what we call during the planning process the mini museum of photos of you all in this through the years, through the years, and uh it you know, drapes um in this, you know, white draping, just a beautiful setting for a beginning. And then they step outside to this waterfall, and you know, we have everybody seated as we felt like a destination.

SPEAKER_10

Um it didn't feel like we were in Orlando. I felt like we were, I don't know, overseas somewhere, but it felt and it felt magical and you could feel the love as soon as, which was perfect when music started singing love, because I'm like, you can feel it. Like it's I don't know about everybody else, but I felt it. And just knowing um, I talked to some guest that was telling me, oh, the saxophonist, he was amazing. He played this song, he played that song, and I'm like, man, I can't wait till we, you know, get a chance to hear it. But everything kind of symbolized the we didn't even have a theme as far as, but we didn't need one because the theme. Two dollars wedding was the theme, but love just kind of took over everything.

SPEAKER_06

And that happens when you have the right guest in attendance. Also, um, because they help to create that moment with you.

SPEAKER_10

And then not to mention, we had um Meredith. Um, Meredith was, and I know people may see her standing up there, like, oh, they probably hired this lady. So no, Meredith, our officiant, has known us from the beginning. Um, she's known Millicent longer, but for her to officiate our wedding and to be there and everything that she said during the wedding, it was like, man, this is heartfelt. It was touching. So everything like that moment when you sang during your vows. Yeah, I was not going to do that.

SPEAKER_11

But the people really know what it means to really love somebody.

SPEAKER_10

It hit, was that planned? It was, it really popped in my head as I was walking down the aisle because you gotta know I was so concerned about my vows. And I had just handed them over to somebody and was like, make sure you get these to Meredith because she wanted our vows so she could have them up there for us. And I'm like, I'm asking, um, I think it was Kimmy, said, I got it, I got it. And after she had it, I don't know where it was handed off to. But as I'm walking down the aisle and we were thinking about love and I'm feeling the love, it hit me love, a word that comes and goes. But do people really know what it means to really love somebody? That was beautiful.

SPEAKER_09

She sung it in, oh the tears may fade away. I'm so glad you love stay. Let's see. So yeah, that was beautiful. That was such a beautiful moment.

SPEAKER_04

So as you were thinking about that walking down the aisle, I was thinking about just don't trip. Whatever you do, don't trip.

SPEAKER_06

Don't trip. And that X on the spot where you were supposed to stop. Exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_10

You did perfectly, so I mean, everything just fell into place because I know I almost lost it again after we said our vows, and it was time for music, um Soul Child, to sing again. And he started singing Don't Change. And I'm listening to those lyrics, and he was like, you know, I don't care. Your hair turns gray, I don't care if you gain a little weight, just as long as your love don't change. And it was perfect because I'm looking at both of us and I'm like, dang, when I met this girl, she was in her early 30s. Now all around hair is gray. I'm literally sitting there like, oh my God. What are you talking about? And I'm like, man, but I still love her the same way I did 15 years ago when all of this wasn't gray. And both of us, you know, we've both of us over the years, we've gained a little weight, we lose a little weight, we gain a little weight. But the love, if if it has changed, it's just that it grew. Yeah, it got deeper. It got deeper and more intense. Um, but just standing there listening to him sing that, and then the sun is setting behind us, and I felt like a little win. It was like, oh my God, I got chills up here because first of all, it's taken her 15 years to get us to this point. 15, 1, 5, F-I-L-T-E-E-E and 15.

SPEAKER_06

Well, since we're talking about 15, this is the beautiful part of 15.

SPEAKER_10

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06

One of the things that I waited. No. No. The one of the things that you all came uh to me with in the very beginning is that you wanted a 15-tier wedding cake.

SPEAKER_10

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_06

And I wasn't always certain that it was going to be the best move. Um, obviously, you know, mechanics and things like that, and looking at uh other examples and deciding where and how. Um talk to me about how you guys came up with that. Was that that was that wasn't you guys. That was Shantae.

SPEAKER_10

I was just about to say, I'm starting to feel a theme here. I'm starting to feel this theme. 15 tier cake. You know, I didn't again, I didn't ask for much during this wedding. I asked for the waterfall. No, no, you asked for water on the floor.

SPEAKER_04

You asked along.

SPEAKER_10

And so the 15-tier cake was like the only other thing that I asked for. And I said, I just want a 15-layer cake, uh tier to represent every year that we've been together.

The 15-Tier Cake Quest

SPEAKER_06

And oh my God. Yeah, we have to take a moment to talk about um the vendor that we ended up choosing to make this happen for us. Love I um sent you incredible. I sent the ladies a video um of his work, of it the cake looked very similar to what we were looking for. He was very far out of state. Um, so I was just showing it to her as a reference, and she said, Well, can we have him? If you can do this, I'm all him. Well, let's see. So uh we we pulled Flowerhouse Cakes straight on out of Detroit. Hey Lincoln! Hey Lincoln, all the way to Orlando, and it was nothing but a pleasure. Um the cake was good.

SPEAKER_10

And he's still our friend to this day. We still talk to Lincoln.

SPEAKER_06

And the I think the favorite part was that Lincoln sent over um tasting, uh, sent shipped it overnight, and it was beautifully packaged, very well done and delicious.

SPEAKER_10

You know, it's hard to find a cake that's delicious and beautiful. Beautiful. He executed that so well. And you all say that I asked for a lot, but then you went and did a lot with it because why did the cake swing have a whole reveal? Not a you know, people have gender reveals. We had a cake reveal, the whole box opened up to the point where people thought another artist was about to pop out of the box, and the whole time it was the 15 layer cake.

SPEAKER_06

You're too dope. Too dope. So, yeah, that was one of my favorite.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, that was a beautiful cake.

SPEAKER_06

That I was about to forget.

SPEAKER_09

As we were walking up, cut it, cut it, cut it, cut it. Beautiful.

SPEAKER_06

It was wonderful. All 15 tiers. Um, and did I say the cake was good? The cake. We know you love the cake, it was good. The design of that and and production, it was wonderful. Yeah, it was wonderful.

SPEAKER_10

And you know, I it's crazy because it's there's so it's a lot of footage around social media from the wedding. And I think it was your reel that I captured. Like Neil and I have like this crazy little handshake that we do every now and then. You actually caught our little handshake at the end of your reel where we're walking down from the uh we're just now they're announcing we're married now. We didn't jump the room, we just kind of danced our way down, but we danced to Music Soul Child once again singing buddy B-U-D-D-Y, because you my buddy for life. Like, you signed to death roll, like you in there, like you can't go nowhere. You my buddy. It was so just everything was so magical, and just thinking about that soundtrack, it was like who brings their own soundtrack to the wedding because that was part of the two dope experience. It's definitely an experience. But I got the key, baby. You have to unlock all of it.

SPEAKER_06

Magic unlocked. So now we have gone through your guests, have gone through the Museum of Youth, they've been to the ceremony, they've seen Music Soul Child perform three times. They've gone to Cocktail Hour, where there's of course wonderful, you know, food and beverage, but um the saxophonist and photo booth and confession booth and perfume stand and merch stand. They've been wearing it now about five hours right now. They about five hours in. It's it's time to head down to our you know next phase to get reception started. And we've we've talked a lot about Kiki um why it already, but of course, we begin the day with your first dance. And um we just a couple of entrances, of course, with your daughters. Did Miss Annie enter into the reception? I think she was gone by then.

SPEAKER_10

She did. She came in with Shemaia.

SPEAKER_06

Okay.

SPEAKER_10

Um, yeah, Miss Annie was starting to get her her sugar was dropping. Her sugar was getting a little low. She was ready to eat, but she was there. Um, just amazing. We came into the ceremony. Um, first of all, we were just overwhelmed from our first look of how the room looked, how it felt. Let's talk about that moment. You look up and the airless, she is just going around swinging from the ceiling.

Room Reveal And First Dance

SPEAKER_06

That's another thing, another moment that you all have never heard about. Um, where, you know, moments before that setup, the space wasn't adequate, and we had to make some pretty big moves in order to make that happen. So that was just another behind the scenes moment um that was going on. But I really enjoyed the room reveal with you guys because as I said before, you were so patient um and trusting where you'd seen minimal photos. Um, it was based on complete trust, and um I didn't want any tablecloths. We did all white tables, no table linens in sight, and they said okay. And that was it. And so we were so easy to work on so so easy, except when we needed an artist or 15 tier cake or um anything or to walk on water. To walk on water, yes. But um to see your faces in That experience, it was kind of like I feel like I mean, I know for me it was my first like breathe moment after we'd gotten through so many things. But to see you all be able to enjoy and not be moved so quickly, um, that is one of my favorite times of you know, any wedding to be able to do that, and you get really bomb photos that we'll we'll share with the people.

SPEAKER_10

We did that that first dance, and then it was like, okay, now I'm just I'm getting hot, I'm ready to get out of this, I'm ready to dance, but both of us are part of um the D9 family. We're both part of a sorority.

SPEAKER_04

So first, um the ladies of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and home already. I can't even say it's always say it. Always first, always first.

SPEAKER_10

I can't even say it. But yeah, you all did your thing. And during that, that was my first time probably seeing you really get angry. So what happened?

SPEAKER_06

What made you get angry?

SPEAKER_10

I was like, oh my god, look at Sean's stuff.

SPEAKER_06

Even so, I was really excited about that moment. Millicent and I are both members of Alpha, Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. And um, this, our beautiful D9 sister, is we'll let you tell the people. And what had happened in that moment, um, one of our later ads to the wedding was confetti, a huge burst of confetti. There was enough for it to go off two, possibly three times, and it was intended to um to go off the first time during juvenile's performance. I had been pretty clear on that, and so I thought. And as the aka's began to stroll, here comes confetti. Everywhere. And it made for a beautiful photo. It was a setup. One of my favorite photos. It was gross. It was a setup. In that moment, I was I don't even want to like angry is, you know, is it's just a part of the the, you know, the role. Oh, yeah, you were angry. I was angry.

SPEAKER_10

Okay. Well, um But it was beautiful, I give y'all that.

SPEAKER_06

And it and it also looked a little like favoritism. It was. Because I'm like, why would I do it during Millicent's and not during Shantae's? And Millicent's was first, and so it felt like okay, so do I do the second burst during hers?

SPEAKER_10

We didn't really need it.

Sorority Moments And Confetti Mishap

SPEAKER_06

But I don't want to waste the burst because I still need it for juvenile. And so uh a few people were able to catch my face, not those who were in the moment, but those who were watching the moment, uh caught that little sweat.

SPEAKER_10

It was beautiful. Um we made it work. The whole serenades of our sororities, I mean, it was special. Um I know mine almost broke down again crying because my baby, my legacy, she actually, Tatiana uh sang the lead solo part for the sweetheart song. And so I'm looking like, oh my god, um here I am at my 22 then year old is singing this song to me. I can't believe that we're here. Um, so it was it was definitely special. And now I'm like, I'm ready to party, I'm ready to go now.

SPEAKER_06

So from there, we um the ladies do change into their second looks. And shout out to Jay Bolin and Anthony Lamar. And we get the party started, and that's when we have the performance from Juvenile that we've already we've told you guys so much about it, but um it was just a really fun time. It it really changed the tone. Guests did not see this coming. Um, they they assumed that there would be a special guest because there was one on Friday, and so they saw Music Soul Child check, they're thinking it's done. Kiki Wyatt, they're thinking it's done. We had to softly keep some people from. Oh, I'm tired. I guess I'm gonna go. Don't, I don't think you wanna leave.

SPEAKER_10

Don't leave.

SPEAKER_06

And um, juvenile's team, I just have to say this this was, you know, during that, you know, government shutdown time and airport, everything was a challenge, and their entire team elected to drive from New Orleans straight to the wedding. They were tired and um they they pulled it out for us. They were tired though. A wonderful job, and so I was just so appreciative for that kind of love that night. But um after after juvenile, um, after all the partying, after DJ's you know turned you up, we that's when we had the second line band come in. And that has to be some of the most beautiful footage of the night because not only did Millicent want a second line band.

SPEAKER_10

Oh now Millicent actually wanted something.

SPEAKER_06

This is a Millicent band. And Millicent was pretty clear about this one. Um tell them what else you needed with the second line band, what was important.

SPEAKER_04

Yes, we had the beignets, you know, we had the whole the whole second line setup is the umbrella, the Indians. The Indians is what I was getting. Yeah, yeah, that was incredible that um the second line band brought, you know, Indians, which is the New Orleans tradition. So it felt really uh a bit like home, a celebration of of of my upbringing. So that was that was special for me.

SPEAKER_06

So with the the second line, it it was a beautiful way to pay homage to your family and your hometown and just celebrate where you're from. Um in this room filled with nearly 200 people. And one thing that I I want to mention really briefly is of those 200, you had one family member present. Is that right?

SPEAKER_04

That's right.

SPEAKER_06

Okay, so that that's something that we need to talk more about. Join us on the next episode. Thank you guys so much for being here.