Nikita Horton and Andre Archer met at Clark Atlanta University in 2012, started dating in 2014 and got engaged on Sept. 28, 2019. They were going to be married on 10/10/2020, but the coronavirus pandemic had other plans for them.
So they put their plans on hold, and Horton went to work as a medical social worker at an Atlanta hospital, where she was either in the intensive care unit with patients or getting treatment for her own respiratory illness, Fox 5 News reported.
Fast-forward six months, and the couple tied the knot January 17 in a nearly six-figure wedding, complete with photos, flowers, food, music and attire. One thing was missing, though. The bill.
The lavish ceremony and reception were the gifts of about 20 Atlanta vendors, who wanted to thank an essential worker for their sacrifice during the pandemic.
The couple were nominated for the Dream Wedding Giveaway presented by Miss Milly’s, and after thousands of votes were declared the winner.
“This was meant to be, it was written in the stars, it was destiny,” Horton said, according to Fox 5.
“We can’t say thank you enough. We are really grateful and honored that you all gave this chance and chose us,” Archer added.
The couple’s photos — before and during the wedding — were courtesy of Glorious Moments.
Courtney Laramore, owner of Miss Milly’s Event Rental & Design, came up with the contest after a nurse detected a heart murmur in her young son.
The murmur turned out to be a congenital heart defect that was caught in time for treatment.
The contest was Laramore’s way of giving back.
“We don’t know who that nurse was; we want to pay it forward, and that’s why we’re giving away a wedding to an essential worker,” she said.
Check out more photos from the ceremony: