Marcus and Jasmine’s love story reads like the beginning of a Young Adult romance novel.
Jasmine shares “We met in high school! I was exiting the cafeteria with my friend who happened to be his cousin, and she saw him and made a quick introduction. It was very casual, and I thought nothing of it. Over [our high school] years, we began to cross paths more often since Marcus was friends with my younger brother. However, we never dated while we were both in high school. As Marcus puts it, ‘I thought you were out of my league.’ Especially since I was a year older.”
It wasn’t until Jasmine enrolled in college that they forged a true romance. Jasmine attended Clark Atlanta University and Marcus attended Morehouse to ensure he could be close to his love. They dated throughout college and even made the cover of the college newspaper AUC Digest.
Years later, Marcus proposed on Christmas Eve in front of family and friends, and they began planning a fabulous southern wedding.
Even though the couple relocated to Texas, they knew they wanted to have their wedding in Georgia. Their summer nuptials took place in Buford, GA at a secluded museum full of modern architecture, floor to ceiling windows, and natural lighting. Jasmine shares, “Since we wore yellow to Marcus’ high school prom, he wanted us to incorporate the color into our wedding. So I decided on a spicy mustard and ivory color palette and a Summer wedding theme.” The ceremony was filled with sentimental moments, including a foot-washing ceremony, and guests swag-surfed and let loose on the dance floor during the reception.
Read more about Marcus and Jasmine’s inspiring love story and see all of the special moments from their wedding below.
- Couple: Jasmine Saxon Jones and Marcus Jones
- Wedding date: June 8, 2019
- Wedding location: Buford, GA at the Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center
Quick Facts
- Bridesmaids and groomsmen gifts: Bridesmaids were gifted with personalized Floral silk robes and wedding day jewelry. My Maid of Honor went above and beyond to help us pull off planning a wedding in 5 months and kept me sane so she received the aforementioned items plus a Michael Kors wallet, Fenty Beauty gift set, and Nipsey Hussle Vinyl record. Groomsmen received whiskey glasses and a pocket square to wear with their Tuxedos.
- Gifts for one another: We did not even think about giving each other a tangible gift on our wedding day since we knew nothing could top gifting one another with a lifetime of commitment and becoming “One”!
- Ceremony entrance song: The O’Jays x “Forever Mine” (Saxophonist performance) and Johnny Gill x “My, My, My” (Saxophonist performance). Bride entered to Stevie Wonder x “Ribbon in the Sky”
- First dance song: “Adore” by Prince
How did you meet?
We met in high school! I was exiting the cafeteria with my friend who happens to be his cousin and she saw him and made a quick introduction. It was very casual & I thought nothing of it. Over the years we began to cross paths more often since Marcus was friends with my younger brother. However, we never dated while we were both in high school. As he puts it, “I thought you were out of my league.” Especially since I was a year older.
I graduated and went off to college but we remained in touch from time to time. One day he found the courage to randomly ask me to promise to attend his senior prom with him although it was like a year away! Not sure what led me to agree (mind you, I’m a college student at this time!) but eventually I promised to go with him when the time came. Honestly, I wondered what I got myself into, but I stuck to my promise and attended … we really enjoyed ourselves! From then on we became close friends and he really won me over, but I recall my Mom once said “sometimes you end up marrying the very person you least expect,” I laughed and said “Me, marry Marcus?! Yeah right”!
At the time I did not know that he planned to apply to Morehouse College so that he could be close to me since I attended Clark Atlanta University! He got accepted on a full scholarship and the rest is history! We dated all through college and even made the cover of AUC Digest (our college newspaper–that sort of backfired because Marcus was on the football team at Morehouse and his teammates plastered the cover all over the locker room one day! LOL!).
Tell us about the proposal.
We live close to Dallas, Texas so we took a long road trip to Georgia for Christmas in 2018 to spend the holiday with our families since they both live in the same city. He stayed with his family while back home, and I stayed with mine. On Christmas Eve, he came by my Mom’s house while my entire family was over and hung with us for an hour or so, but he seemed overly chipper and kind of nervous at the same time. Then he told us about a local Christmas light show that was taking place downtown and asked me and my family if we wanted to go. We agreed and once we got there I was amazed at how beautiful everything was … the lights were breathtaking and holiday music was playing all over! We all walked around and enjoyed the show and music. At one point he stopped walking and started telling me how grateful he was to have me in his life and what I meant to him and then he got on one knee and proposed in front of my family! His brother was there as well! Everyone was so excited and it meant so much to me that he proposed while we were home for the holiday so that my family could be there!
Describe your wedding style.
Wedding Style: Since we wore yellow to Marcus’ high school prom, he wanted us to incorporate the color into our wedding. So I decided on a spicy mustard and ivory color palette and a Summer wedding theme. The wedding took place in Buford, GA at a secluded museum full of modern architecture, floor to ceiling windows and natural lighting. Our ceremony was very elegant and romantic with an 8 foot ivory floral wall and thousands of white roses lining the aisle alongside tall gold centerpieces with ivory, spicy mustard and greenery floral arrangements. While guests arrived we had the soothing backdrop of an indoor waterfall with our monogram projected onto it which was a nice touch.
Wedding Attire, Bride: My wedding style was very glamorous! I wore an ivory mermaid wedding dress with a sweetheart neckline. The bodice featured thousands of Swarovski crystals and beaded embroidery. It also had a tiered skirt, V-back trimmed with crystal buttons and beaded “cold shoulder sleeves”. For the reception, I changed into a bold antique silver Halston gown. It had a metallic sheen, V-neckline, high slit, and small cutouts on the sides. At first, I was on the fence about wearing something so flashy during the reception but knew I’d regret it if I didn’t, so I went all out!
Wedding Attire, Groom and Bridal Party: The Groom and groomsmen all wore double-breasted suits. The groom stood out in a custom Navy double-breasted tuxedo with slim peak lapels. He paired it with a large velvet bow tie and velvet loafers. Groomsmen wore black double-breasted tuxedos with spicy mustard bow ties and boutonnières. Initially, the Bridesmaids were supposed to wear a spicy mustard dress, but we could not find a nice dress that would be ready in time (5-month engagement) so we decided on elegant light gray gowns and incorporated the spicy mustard into their bouquet. It came together perfectly!
Wedding Shopping Experience: My experience was unique. I went alone with the intention of trying on a few dresses at a couple of local bridal shops to see if the mermaid dress style would fit me well. From there, the plan was to fly to Atlanta, so I could go dress shopping with my Mom and some of my bridesmaids. However, I ended up finding the PERFECT dress at the 2nd store I visited and was able to negotiate a significant discount so I bought it! I was concerned about buying a dress alone, but the clerks at Pence and Panache let me know that was a sure way to know it was exactly what I wanted since I was not looking to please anyone other than myself.
Did you incorporate any culture into your wedding?
We are both Christians and wanted to center our ceremony around our Faith so we opted to include a Foot Washing and Unity Cord in our Ceremony. Foot-washing represented our commitment to humbling ourselves and serving one another for a lifetime. The foot-washing also represented mutual submission. The Unity Cord (Ecclesiastes 4:12) symbolized our Oneness with Christ in marriage and how much stronger we are together with God at the center of our lives. We also jumped the broom, which is a tradition rooted in African American history.
What is your best memory from your wedding?
Groom: My favorite memory was the foot-washing ceremony. It represents service to one another. I believe it is a key ingredient for a lasting marriage so including it in our ceremony was important to me.
Bride: The reception was my favorite memory. We live far away from our family and close friends so I wanted it to be one big party with the people we love most! And that is exactly what we got! Everyone had the largest smiles on their faces, we had a super lit Swag Surf and it was the happiest, most fun day of my life.
What is the best wedding advice you can give to engaged couples?
Strongly consider a “First Look” before your wedding starts so you can capture a ton of photos beforehand because maaaan does time fly on your wedding day. No matter how much you prep, there will be delays along the way and they all add up! I was very adamant about not seeing each other until the ceremony and it resulted in us having very few pictures of our entire bridal party together, and we had to rush through most of our couple images since we were trying to make up for lost time.
Vendors
- Photography: Jeckyl Photo
- Wedding Venue: Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center
- Day of Coordinator and Design Execution: @DesignsbyNAMI
- Chair rental: @SweetSeats
- DJ & Photo Booth: @DJGlassDee
- Saxophonist: @BigMikeSax
- Bartender: @Partinis_
- Florist: @OrnateEvents
- Coconut Ivory Floral wall: @atlflowerwallco
- Gold Hembree Centerpiece stands: @LindseyWiseDesigns
- Caterer: @BeyondDetails
- Bakery/ Wedding Cake and Wedding Favors: www.thedessertbarsc.com/
- Makeup: @Melibabyyy and @Artistryiseverything
- Hair and Bridal Party Makeup: @ShePlaysNot
- Hair: @DopeItsDej
- Wedding Dress: @MaggieSotteroDesigns
- Bride Reception dress: @Halston
- Groom Tuxedo: @Indochino
- Groom Accessories: @TheBlackTux
- Bridesmaids Dress: @AzazieOfficial
- Groomsmen Tuxedo and Accessories, Groom Shoes & Accessories: @TheBlackTux
- Groomsmen Bowties: @FoxandBrie
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