Cami & Jonathan’s Wedding: A Radiant Tribute to Black Love and Culture – Beragampengetahuan

Black love and culture took the cake at Cami and Jonathan’s beautiful wedding in Rhode Island, which was featured in MunaLuchi Bride magazine, Issue 33!

Cami and Jonathan’s paths first crossed the summer before their freshman year at the University of Pennsylvania. Their friendship deepened during their junior year after bonding over an obscure Christian folk song Cami posted on Facebook. Though they dated and even got engaged in 2013, they eventually parted ways—only to find their way back to each other.

Jonathan’s second proposal was even more meaningful, despite taking place in one of Cami’s least favorite places: an escape room. As she and her family solved the final puzzle, she discovered a cherished book, The Princess and The Goblin, which they had bonded over at a college presentation on living a life of faith. Inside was a letter addressed to Alese from David (their respective middle names and how they always addressed letters to one another), leading her through a trap wall.

Cami recalls, “Much like the princess in the book I held that had meant so much to us over the years, the princess who followed a thread through a wall in a castle to find her best friend trapped and in need of rescue, I, to my surprise, found Jonathan behind the trap wall of that escape room, waiting with a ring and a proposal.”

Faith and Black culture were at the heart of their wedding at Glen House Manor in Portsmouth, Rhode Island.

With expert planning by Muna Coterie member Cheryl Yiadom of Lotus Event Management, Cami and Jonathan crafted a celebration that was “moody, romantic, and unquestionably Black.” From hiring Black vendors to incorporating traditions like jumping the broom and a “Black Love Liturgy” featuring excerpts from Black literature, music, and film, their wedding was a radiant tribute to Black love and culture.

Keep scrolling for more details on their love story (captured by Muna Coterie Member Linda McQueen Photography).

*Pre-order a copy of Issue 33 on our Muna Shop.

• Couple: Cami Alese King & Jonathan David Howard
• Wedding Date: July 7, 2024
• Wedding Location: Glen House Manor, Portsmouth, Rhode Island
• Photographer: Linda McQueen Photography

Quick Facts (from the Bride):

• Wedding flowers: I just told my florist I wanted shades of purple, mauve, and black, and unique/interesting flowers. I don’t know what was in my bouquet, but she definitely hit the brief.
• Favorite item on the menu: Our signature cocktail – Boulevardier
• Bridesmaids/groomspeople’s gifts: I gave the girls custom jewelry for the big day, Purple Love candles from Harlem Candle Co., matching getting-ready outfits (equipped with scrunchies because we’re 80s babies), and Tricia Hersey’s Rest Deck (because we want to be whole queens). The groomspeople’s gifts were custom socks, ties, and pocket squares for the boys and custom jewelry for the girls.
• First dance song: PJ Morton’s “How Deep Is Your Love” (the live version with Yeba)
• Advice for brides: Hire a videographer, especially for the ceremony. I didn’t think of how much I’d miss because I walked in last, but it was a lot. I’m so thankful to my family members who captured precious moments throughout the day, especially during the ceremony. The day really flew by, and we watched videos shared with us over and over in the weeks after. My younger brother was the real MVP because he had a front-row seat and did a superb recording of our vows, which we treasure.

Tell us how you met and all about the proposal.

We met in college at the University of Pennsylvania during the summer before our freshman year. We both participated in a Pre-Freshman Program where we came to campus a month ahead of New Student Orientation to ease in matriculation. 

Although this is when we met, we became the best of friends during our junior year of college after I posted a line from an obscure Christian folk song in a Facebook status, and Jonathan was thrilled to know we might share a faith commitment. 

We dated after graduation and were first engaged in 2013 before calling it quits a couple of years later, going our separate ways (sort of), and finding our way back.

As for the proposal (the second one, although the first one was really good): 

During the Christmas holiday, Jonathan had my older sister, Ashli, invite my parents and siblings on a family outing to an escape room. For anyone not familiar, escape rooms are amusement venues where people pay actual money to be imprisoned until they solve arbitrary puzzles to win back the freedom they paid to surrender under the pressure of a timer.

And, if you cannot tell from that description, I absolutely hate escape rooms (ever since their boom in my twenties during the years I pastored churches filled with college students whose small groups managed to find their way into an escape room for “bonding” every single year and I was forced to join). 

Deeply disinterested in the entire activity, I mostly snacked on various snacks stored in my purse and provided comic relief to my family from the sidelines while Jonathan and his parents, along with all the venue staff, watched from the staff monitoring room. 

This went on until we found ourselves at the last puzzle of the room with me holding a very familiar book (“The Princess and the Goblin” – more on that later) and reading the last “clue” – a letter addressed to Alese, from David (me and Jonathan’s middle names respectively and how we’ve always addressed letters to one another) that invited me to push through a trap wall to freedom. 

Much like the princess in the book I held that had meant so much to us over the years, the princess who followed a thread through a wall in a castle to find her best friend trapped and in need of rescue, I, to my surprise, found Jonathan behind the trap wall of that escape room, waiting with a ring and a proposal.

How did you know they were “the one”?

When I first met Jonathan (literally – the first day we ever spent time together), he told me I was going to have his babies. It’s a wonder I ever spoke to him again, as I did not intend on having children and found his “game” in need of improvement. But his awkward humor grew on me after a while.

According to Jonathan, he knew for certain I was the one after two things happened.

The first was when we were out and about in his hometown of Philadelphia one day during college, and a bearded Philly Hotep on a street corner told him (very loudly from a soapbox) to pay attention. What he actually said was something to the effect of, “This you, young bull?” – motioning toward me and inquiring about the nature of our relationship. An inquiry to which Jonathan replied, “Nah, she’s my friend.” 

In response to what was apparently an unsatisfactory answer, the street prophet declared, “That’s a good woman right there. She’s better than rubies and gold! Rubies and gold!”. That wise man was still up to his sage-like albeit patriarchal antics when we walked past him later that day, as he yelled at Jonathan from across the street, “Remember, rubies and gold! Rubies and gold!”. After realizing later the reference was a scripture from Proverbs about finding a wife, Jonathan says he looked at me a little differently from that day forward.

The second happening was at a college retreat during our senior year, where we sat together and listened to the speaker give a talk about living a life of faith.

In it, he referenced a children’s book (George MacDonald’s The Princess and The Goblin). The story was about a princess named Irene who followed a magical thread attached to a ring her “Great Great Big Grandmother” gave her on an unexpected and harrowing journey of courage, curiosity, endurance, and faith. She was driven onward by her grandmother’s promise that the thread would always lead her back to her grandmother’s love and care. 

As the message came to a close, and the speaker encouraged all the students in attendance to follow their own threads (unbeknownst to me for a long time after that day), a small black thread fell from my shirt and onto the pages of Jonathan’s open journal. He says he quietly received, at that moment, an invitation to begin a journey of love and faith with his best friend and the one his heart secretly desired. My husband is very much a romantic.

As for me, I am much less of a romantic, and I don’t know that I believe in “the one.” But what I can and often say is that Jonathan is my person, and he is “the one” I choose.

I chose him then, and I choose him now because he is my best friend. There was less a moment and more an accumulation of many moments over more than a decade of his constant presence in my life as one with whom I shared deeper emotional, intellectual, and spiritual connectedness than I knew possible, that persuaded me.

Did you incorporate any culture into your wedding?

On the first day, I met our wedding planner, Cheryl, and she asked how we wanted our wedding to feel. I told her we wanted our wedding to feel unquestionably Black (which I later found out was not descriptive enough for all the decisions we had to make regarding venue, meals, and decor). 

In some ways, I did mean I wanted an all-black wedding (a plan which was altered slightly to accommodate Jonathan’s desire to wear a green suit), but mostly I meant that I wanted it to be clear that a Black American, Afro-diasporic community, was celebrating that day and for the beauty of blackness itself to be centered in our midst. 

In my own work as a clergyperson, I am sensitive to how blackness is imagined, intentionally or otherwise, with negative associations. Jonathan and I don’t hold those negative associations. And we didn’t want a white wedding – we wanted a black one, in form and function.

We tried to pull from our culture and our heritage every step of the way. When choosing a venue, we knew we wanted our ceremony to take place in view of the Atlantic Ocean because, as descendants of the Middle Passage, we locate our coming to be in the Atlantic Ocean, born of a people carried in the wombs of slave ships. 

I wanted a venue that felt old and historic (which aligns with my own personal aesthetic. However, we were very careful to ensure we checked the history of the venues we found to make sure we weren’t getting married on a former plantation. This proved to be a difficult task as we initially wanted to be married in the South, where I am from. 

We were also intentional, whenever possible, to hire Black vendors in an effort to support Black businesses.

Also, because of the cultural perspective, we knew they could bring – from our wedding planner to florist, to DJ, to make-up artist – we wanted folks who knew what was up.

We did our best to integrate culture into our wedding ceremony by having a fairly traditional Black church wedding ceremony. I am the child of an AME/Baptist preacher from the South, after all. Our guests also read a “Black Love Liturgy” we prepared using excerpts from Black novels, songs, and movies that felt like cultural touchstones (read in a call-and-response style, of course). 

We integrated a ritual to honor our ancestors and elders before we began our ceremony and jumped the broom to conclude it. We also had Black music flowing throughout the day with familiar songs culturally and familially playing from start to finish to set the vibe.

The Ceremony…

Describe your wedding dress and your favorite wedding accessory.

My wedding dress felt like it was made just for me. I wanted something unique, classic, and elegant, but unexpected, and fashion-forward. When I described what I had in mind and the elements I liked from different dresses I’d seen to the sales associate at Pantora Bridal, she told me there was only ONE dress in their line that would work. She was confident it was perfect for me. And she was right! It was the only dress I tried on there in what I thought would be my first day of many days of dress shopping. I purchased it that day. And if I remember correctly, no bride had worn it at that time.

My favorite wedding accessory was my earrings – they were my grandmother Jeanne’s (we called her Mama). She gave them to me back in 2013 so I could wear them when I eventually married Jonathan. She passed away ten years ago, but putting them on definitely made me feel like she was with me on my wedding day.

What is your best memory from your wedding?

Our vows, by far, were the best part of the wedding. I didn’t want to write personal vows, but Jonathan was really set on them. In the end, we both agreed that they were the best gifts we gave to one another at our wedding. Jonathan also compiled a “Black Love Liturgy,” which was read call-and-response style during the ceremony and was a huge hit with our guests. 

My personal best memory, aside from our vows, was during the lighting of candles at our ancestor table, where we set up framed photos of dear loved ones who’ve transitioned. We began our ceremony this way, and at the moment I lit a special candle in honor of my youngest brother, who died in 2020, a lone boat floated by and lingered in the harbor for just a moment before going on its way. My brother loved fishing, and a boat was his favorite place in the world to be, so it felt like him letting me know he was there with us on a day I missed him terribly.

Describe your wedding style:

I’d say our wedding style was moody, romantic, and unquestionably Black. We wanted Black culture to flow through our wedding, so it was unquestionable that folks were at a Black wedding. I personally love dark, moody, romantic color palettes these days and am a sucker for vintage treasures and brought that to our wedding aesthetic as well.

I knew I wanted a black (color) wedding, and because Jonathan was set on a green suit (custom-made to perfection – it was a great choice!), I built the color palette around that. Purple is a special color to me as a black woman, and I love muted mauves and dusty roses, so shades of purple felt like a great pairing with the green.

What is the best wedding advice you can give to engaged couples?

If you can, write your own vows and find ways to integrate your personality and story into the ceremony, especially if you’re having any kind of traditional wedding. Our personal touches – the vows we wrote, the Black Love Liturgy we compiled, and even our cocktail napkins containing various chapters of our love stories were what people remembered.

Aside from that, if you can afford it, hire a wedding planner – and a good one! I am a very creative person, usually tasked with planning all the parties and events in my family and friend group, but a wedding proved to be a whole other thing. Our wedding could not have been without our wedding planner, Cheryl of Lotus Event Management (pictured below!).

And hire a good DJ. The night flies by, but the DJ sets the vibes in a real way from start to finish. Ours, DJ Exeqtive, was amazing! He and his Emcee made sure our guests had the time of their lives – they are still talking about the party all these months later.

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