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Real Wedding | Mahogany + Troy





Tell us a little about yourselves!



We are both attorneys. During law school, we both served on a regional board for the National Black Law Students Association. While serving on the board, we got to know each other and developed a close connection and bond. We started as friends: supporting each other from different states, which eventually blossomed into more. We live together in beautiful Colorado with our puppy, Oakley.


When we’re not working, we love exploring everything Colorado has to offer – hiking, biking, camping, and snowboarding! We also love to travel.  Our favorite home away from home is Santa Fe, New Mexico. We also enjoy traveling abroad and together we have visited eight countries. Finally, we are such foodies. Trying new foods in the places we travel is one of our favorite things. 



Why did you decide to get married where you did?



We have been talking about doing a destination wedding since before we got engaged. Some of our best memories are from our travels to Spain. We love the people, the food, the wine, the hospitality, and the culture. It’s such a unique and welcoming place. When we thought about a place where our family would feel comfortable, have special life experiences, and eat and drink well, Spain was absolutely the perfect place. 


Our amazing wedding planner sent us this lovely, one-of-a-kind venue and we fell in love with it from the start. We were all able to stay at the venue together, in luxury accommodations. We loved wandering through the forest grounds and exploring everything it had to offer. The Andalusia region of Spain is gorgeous, the people are lovely, and the food and drinks were amazing – we incorporated Sherry into our wedding cocktails and regional seafood into the dining menu. We loved that the location also made travel there easier – the town had an airport. 



How many guests did you have?



We chose to keep our wedding intimate and only invite our parents and siblings. There were fourteen of us. 



What was your budget?



For the wedding day and pre and post events - excluding our attire and flights, we spent €55,000.



Tell us about your outfits.



Mahogany knew going into dress shopping that she wanted something unique with some volume! Her sister, mother, and future mother-in-law travelled to Denver to shop for dresses with her. The Aspen dress from Rish was everything she wanted and more: it had blush underlayers so it wasn’t a stark white, the sleeves were unique and detachable so she was able to switch up her look between the ceremony and dancing, it was light and easy to move around (and dance) in, the detailing was botanical but not floral, she’d never seen anything like it, and both her mom and future-mother-in law cried when they saw her in it! She wanted a dramatic veil and wore a cathedral length veil from Sara Gabriel. Both were purchased from A&Be Bridal in Denver. Blush (pink is her favorite color) heels were a necessity, though she changed into white platform Vans to dance in!


Troy has been working with Bridgett Mbanusi for custom clothes for years. It was a no brainer to work with her to design a custom look for the wedding and the events leading up to it! It was important for Troy to look dapper, but also unique. A simple black tux for our wedding was immediately ruled out. Instead, Troy went with a plum dinner jacket, white shirt, velvet black bowtie, black trousers, and black velvet loafers. He absolutely looked dapper and unique, so mission accomplished! Bridgett also incorporated some additional personalized touches by adding our names to the paisley pattern of Troy’s jacket liner and a stitched patch on an inside pocket that had our wedding date. Bridgett always has Troy looking his very best and she most definitely did for our wedding and pre-wedding events too!



What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding?



It was most important to us to celebrate our untraditional love story in a way that was uniquely us, sharing it with those we love. Our top considerations in doing so were design aesthetic, food and drink, and an intimate setting against a backdrop of authenticity! We wanted a beautiful, fun wedding, steeped in culture—local music, food, wine. We also really wanted our families to be able to enjoy our wedding, the time all together, and also have a grand time.



Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?



We wanted the whole thing to be an experience, not just a wedding, and a celebration of our love story. Opi ( Open The Door Events) helped us think about everything - including the food, ambiance, sounds, texture, scent, and the décor that would make it unique to us, special, and an event that would be truly unforgettable! We wanted to immerse ourselves in the culture: we ate Spanish food and drank Spanish wine and lots of Sherry (Andalusia is where sherry comes from). The food and drink had to be good – we are such foodies – and it truly was amazing. Music was very important to Troy. We had an amazing quartet for the cocktail hour and an incredible DJ for our after-party.


It was also important for us to write our own vows. We wanted to describe our love and our journey in our own words. It was important to us to make promises that really meant something to us, to each other. As people who write and public speak for a living, we painstakingly worked to make our vows perfect. And, while we worked on our vows separately, when we finally exchanged vows during our ceremony, they were perfect and so fitting and so us.


We also wanted our family to feel included in the day, so we gave everyone special, meaningful tasks. Some were bigger than others, but all were meaningful and meant the world to us and we are so grateful for our loving family and the roles they played in our special day. The speeches were heartfelt, and the poems and readings were great, on point, and inspirational.



Any tips for couples getting married?



Be present. Take it all in, soak it all up, it’s your special day and all about you and your partner. Fix your gaze on your partner and your beautiful surroundings, sing to your partner while you’re slow dancing, laugh, look around at your loved ones, enjoy those special dances. These memories will last a lifetime (and it goes by way too fast).


Your wedding planner matters. The better the wedding planner, the better the wedding. It’s a fact. We’re speaking from experience because we had the best wedding planner and there isn’t a single thing that we would do differently.



Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?



Truly, everyone nailed it. We could rave about our wedding planner and vendors all day and couldn’t more highly recommend each and every one of them.


Our wedding planner Opi of  Open The Door Events, designed something that truly felt like it was out of a fairy tale. We couldn’t have dreamed of something better. She took every idea we had and made it look, sound, feel, and smell a million times better than we could have thought of.


Our photographer Joy Zamora and our videographers, Lucia and Jose of Anker Prod, made us feel so comfortable when they were directing us and then seamlessly blended into the background when they weren’t: capturing our love, joy, and our families perfectly. All three were such a good vibe and we loved working with them. The final products are to die for, as well.


Canela + Clavo, our caterer, was truly out of this world. Pepe and his staff kept our guests full and happy and we’ve never had such amazing food at a wedding. The food and service were truly top notch.


We are so grateful that we were able to have live music during the cocktail hour. Our quartet sounded just as good in person as they did in the samples we heard of them!


Our DJ, Ruben Gomez, was amazing. He kept our guests, ranging from 30s to 70s, dancing all night, even in the rain!


Fenton, our celebrant, was truly so special. He led us through a meditation during our ceremony that really helped us (and our guests) feel present, grounded, and gave us time to reflect. He also incorporated a one-of-a-kind ritual that we loved and felt unique to us and our love story.


Irene Taviel de Andrade, Mahogany’s hair and makeup artist, made her feel so beautiful for the wedding. She felt like an elevated version of herself. Irene’s staff also did the hair and makeup for most of the women in attendance and they all looked and felt gorgeous.


All of the other venders really helped to execute the vision and it wouldn’t have been as beautiful without their talents.


























































Photographer: Joy Zamora @joyzamoraphoto | Videographer : Anker Prod @ankerprod | Ceremony + Reception Location: Private Estate Jerez De La Frontera | Celebrant: Fenton @livingwell.andalucia | DJ: Dj Ruben Gomez @djrubengomez | Styling + Planning: Open The Door Events @openthedoorevents  | Hire: Crimsons @crimons_rent_event | Flora: La Esencia De La Flor @laesenciadelaflor | HMUA: Irene Taviel de Andrade @irene.tavieldeandrade | Catering + Beverages: Canela + Clavo @canelaclavo | Cake: Aquarela Cakes @aquarelacakes design by Jasmine Rae Cakes @jasmineraecakes | Stationery: Loveratory @loveratory | Lights: Luces De Cuento @lucesdecuento | Mahogany's Dress: Aspen by Rish, found at A&Be Bridal Denver @aandbe_denver | Troy's Custom Tuxedo: Virtue Clothing @_virtue_clothing, Styled by Bridgett Mbanusi | Engagement Ring: Custom Helzberg Diamonds @helzbergdiamonds | Wedding Rings: Marrow Fine @marrowfine | Mahogany's Shoes: Badgley Mishka @badgleymischkabride | Veil: Sarah Gabriel Donna from A&Be Bridal Denver @aandbe_denver | Earrings: Untamed Petals, Star Gazer Drops A&Be Bridal Denver @aandbe_denver


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