Images by NiahRose Photography

We got married, y’all! I am so excited to finally sit-down to tell the full story. My husband and I were engaged a little under four months. We hadn’t really done any concrete planning after looking at the outrageous prices of everything that we wanted for our wedding. We were torn between investing a ton into our big day which meant pushing it back to 2020 or saving for our future home instead which meant a small, private ceremony. But God!

Aside from the expensive costs of the wedding, we were struggling to abstain from sex although we had a burning desire to please God. It was hard, y’all. Hard to wait to have sex, hard to acknowledge that we were failing although trying and hard to find the funds to make a wedding happen. Despite all of the above, we knew that we wanted to honor God.

We would cry out to God for a solution constantly, knowing that He was the only One that could help us. We’d felt God carry us as we buried two family members, visited both of his parents in the hospital and dealt with the heaviness and depression of death throughout our engagement, which was a little under four months.

I’m talking about four months of trusting God to make you want to get out of the bed to keep going. Trusting Him to keep track of your tears and looking at the one person who has your back through it all going through it with you.

Can two walk together, unless they are agreed? Amos 3:3 NKJV

We were tried in the fire during that period, but God kept us. At the beginning of the year, our church had a weekend revival where a visiting minister came to speak life into us. This is where things start to look up!

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:3-9 NIV

The Prophesy, January 5th

On the first night of the revival, the visiting minister prophesied to me concerning the weight of losing my grandfather and the stress of money. It amazed me the God would care about my feelings towards these things because I’ve always known Him to be so big and at times far. He, meaning God aka Jesus Christ, knew that and revealed Himself to me in a new way.

The minister told me to release the heaviness of whatever was weighing on me. Y’all have you ever lost someone you loved and wished that they could just be there for one last night, one last big moment? That’s how I felt about my grandfather. It was difficult to think about him suffering for his last months on Earth and the fight that he put up to look strong. But that night at revival, I felt a huge weight released from my shoulders as we prayed.

Then the minister asked me what the money was for that I wanted. I got a little embarrassed because we couldn’t afford a wedding and we didn’t want to ask for help. Oddly enough, I told him that it was for our wedding and he said don’t worry about it. I’m paraphrasing, but in short, he told me that it would be handled. I left the altar with smiles and light in spirit.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV

Faith + Works, January 5

Later that night, we began to pitch wedding brands to be a part of our big day. I mean, we sent out at least 20 emails with information about our love story and our areas of expertise with hopes that someone would pour into us. This went on for about two weeks with no leads. We chose to keep pitching because we had faith in what the minister had spoken.

14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. James 2:14-17 NKJV

Entering the Competition, January 8

I entered the Unbridaled Wedding Competition Sweepstakes without much thought because it was such a crazy idea. I mean, we’d never get married live at a wedding expo with less than two weeks noticed, right?!

I forwarded my fiancé the sweepstakes email without any details, his response was “You wanna do it? What are the details?” Then I said, “I’m down! I’ll look into it. Lol I wasn’t expecting that response!”

Then we carried on with our days without even discussing the competition. It never registered in my mind that we would win and actually go through with it. I don’t think we would have with through with the spontaneous wedding without the prophesy of confirmation. However, I did know that we were getting married in 2019 by any means necessary.

Confirmation January 16

Next thing I know, I’m at work scrolling through my emails and come across the following from Stephanie at The Pitch:

Hi Jasmine,

We would love to offer you the chance to get married at UnBridaled. This is very quickly coming up and we know its last minute (as is the nature of the whole thing and part of the fun of it!)

Ok so - details on the wedding should you want to say yes to us!

• 1 pm January 27- on stage at the Uptown Theater

• Calvin Arsinia will play the harp for you during your ceremony

• You may provide your own or we can provide an officiant we are anticipating 30 minutes for the ceremony, but it can be much shorter if you prefer

• You may invite up to 75 guests for no charge to the event- we just need a list ASAP (well, everything is ASAP isn't it?)

• We are asking you to provide your own flowers and attire for your boyfriend -whatever fits your taste. (No flowers are fine if you want to skip.)

• We are asking if we can interview you in advance for a story and if we can share the story with other local media for potential media coverage. (no promises, of course.)

• Guests will stand as you get married and the expo will go on, but we anticipate most people will be so excited to watch the wedding that it will likely hush down.

• We will have a DJ in advance of the wedding making various announcements such as don't forget to register for a free trip to Punta Cana (all guests can register and must be present to win) and the wedding will be at 1 and then introducing Calvin as he plays for 15 minutes on the hour. (maybe other msc. announcements.) And then he will take over after the wedding to ramp up the crowd. You may have a first dance on stage if you like!

Y’all!!! I just about jumped out of my seat but decided to play it cool and send the information to my husband. We texted about it ALL DAY then went to church. After service we did something besides talking to each other and getting everyone else’s opinion, we both decided to get quiet before God for direction.

Honestly, my mind was made up and I just knew that this was the answer to our prayers. However, I wasn’t going to force my fiancé to agree to anything and I surely didn’t want to be out of God’s will. In the end, we decided to go for it and the rest was history. We got married on the stage of Unbridled sponsored by our friends at The Pitch on Sunday, January 27. You can watch some of it here.

We couldn’t have dreamt of a more magical, yet economical way to get married. Our wedding day was beautiful, spontaneous and Christ focused. I think that’s what made the moment so special. We put God on display with our vows and chose to acknowledge Him throughout the entire process.

Special thanks to our amazing team of friends and family who came together to make our planning process and big day amazing. There are so many people who pitched in, from Vicki at LouRose Salon, B. Rich, Jordan Williams, Kirsten at Be Our Guest, Ciera Ellison, all of our siblings, our parents, grandparents, colleagues and more. Thank you, thank you!!

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Philippians 4:19-20 KJV

I pray that you have the guts, faith and will to step into whatever crazy ideas God is pulling you to. He is looking for those willing and ready to take leaps of faith because He said so, despite the disapproval of those close to you. Not everyone agreed with our decision, but we did what God told us to do and have not looked back.

Married life is amazing. I will be sharing more about marriage and my faith this year. Thank you so much for reading this post. I pray that it inspired you.

Ps. Drop any questions for me below and follow our marriage journey on Instagram @thejasminediane. Peace!