Real Weddings Magazine - Summer/Fall 2018

eal weddings
VIVIAN &
NERIAH
PHOTOGRAPHY BY
2 GIRLS 20 CAMERAS
When she was 22, Viv needed some
“big strong men,” to help her move
one hot day in July. When her boyfriend
at the time declined to help,
her friends asked neighbor Neriah
to join in. “He agreed as long as they
provided beer,” she recalls. Although
he had gone to high school with her
brother and cousins, the two had
never crossed paths. With the encouragement
of her family, Viv soon
dropped the unhelpful boyfriend and
started a relationship with Neriah. “We had more
in common than I could have ever imagined,
and we share a love neither of us ever dreamed
of having,” she says. “I knew I wanted to marry
him the very first week we dated.” Their engagement
would come in 2015 on a snowboarding
trip to Nevada.
According to the bride, Neriah only cared
about one thing: not wearing a tux in 100-degree
weather. “He got his wish,” she says. “I always
knew I was lucky, but if I’d known all it would
take to end the drought in California was for me
to plan a wedding, I’d have done it much sooner.
Our wedding gift was an atmospheric river! I
think it poured for 10 days straight.”
They chose to contrast a barn setting at
Delta Diamond Farm with glam apparel, serving
Texas Roadhouse fare in sequins and black tie.
“The food was outrageous, and my guests raved
about it for weeks,” she says.
Viv shares she was overwhelmed at first
about the planning, but with two years to prepare
and the help of a wedding planning
binder, she paced herself and dug in.
“Before Neriah, I never planned to
get married, so I hadn’t been thinking
about it my whole life, which I think
caused me to be a little more realistic
about my expectations,” she says. “I
was always impressed by even the
smallest things that everyone else
seemed to just expect.”
She notes Neriah was also very
easygoing about it all. “I tried to channel
his attitude most of the time and ended up
telling most of my vendors, ‘Do whatever you
think is best, I trust you.’ That turned out great in
most cases, and the lack of stress that came with
that method was worth it in every case,” she says.
The bride’s favorite part of the day was just
after the two were married, in the courtyard right
before they took pictures. “We had a couple of
quiet minutes right before the madness began,”
she remembers. “There was a sense of calm,
because the most important part was over, the
nerves were gone, we were now husband and
wife, and anything that came after would be
easier to bear. He told me how pretty I was and
helped me with the mirror while I removed my
veil. He got to tell me a little bit about how his day
had gone, and we took a few sips of Jack Daniels.
We were surrounded by our closest friends and
family, and about to head into the biggest and
best party we’d ever thrown—and boy was it a
good party.” OO
— Darren Elms
150 | REAL WEDDINGS SUMMER/FALL 2018 REALWEDDINGSMAG.COM