Porsha WilliamsandSimon Guobadiaare celebrating their love two times over!
The day began at a Methodist church filled with 350 guests, including fellowHousewivesstarsKim Zolciak-Biermann, Monyetta Shaw,Kandi Burruss, Drew Sidora andCynthia Bailey. Comedian Rickey Smiley,Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta’sKarlie Redd,Married to Medicine’sQuad Webb,Basketball Wives' Jennifer Williams and musician T.I. and wife Tiny Harris were also in attendance.
As Williams walked down the aisle in a white lace Frida ballgown with her brother Hosea Williams III, singer Tasha Cobbs Leonard sang “For Every Mountain” with a gospel choir and 40-piece orchestra.
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“I definitely want the Lord to be in the place,” Williams told PEOPLE ahead of her nuptials. “I want the Holy Spirit to usher us into being a husband and wife. I’m from the south, so I love being in church. I’ve never been married in a church, and Simon’s never been married in a church, so it’s going to be a new experience for both of us.”
Though they also had a ceremony the night before, the couple waited to exchange their wedding bands until they met each other at the altar on Saturday.
In order to win the “silent bet,” Guobadia said he’s going to bring “sunglasses” with him to the altar.
“Crying? No, that doesn’t happen to a Benin man!” joked Guobadia, who grow up in the Benin City of the Edo State of Nigeria.
Williams' daughter Pilar Jhena, 3, with ex Dennis McKinley and Guobadia’s children also had a special role in the ceremony. (Guobadia has kids Quentin, Nicole, Christian, Benjamin and Ximena from previous marriages.)
“Pilar is going to be a flower girl, and her dress is so cute, I could’ve copied it for a wedding gown,” Williams said. “Then my niece, Baleigh, my sister’s daughter, is going to be another flower girl. Our daughter, Ximena, is going be a junior bridesmaid. Our sons, Christian and Benjamin, are going to walk my grandmother down the aisle. Simon’s oldest son, Quentin, is going to walk him down the aisle.”
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Williams said the cake at the reception was going to be “so tall” that she’d need a “sword” to cut it.
“If extra was a bride, it’d be me,” she said with a laugh. “I promise you I did not know that I was this extra.”
“I thought, ‘Why not? It’s my last wedding forever,'” she said.
Like they did on Friday, the couple asked for guests to go unplugged for the duration of the celebration.
Ever since they announced theirengagement in May 2021after one month of dating, Williams said she “knew” she wanted “to honor” Guobadia’s culture at their wedding.
“I looked up different things about an Edo bride, about the Benin culture, about their ceremonies, just so that I would not be totally green,” she said. “I wanted to make sure that I was as respectful as possible because I didn’t want to not do anything that wasn’t within tradition, within their culture. So I had to be very, very serious, and I was very adamant that each detail was going to be authentic to their culture. I learned a lot.”
Guobadia said it all came naturally to Williams. “For starters, I was so excited and, quite frankly, surprised that she wanted to do the traditional way, because it’s not something you hear every day,” he said. “To embrace my culture and want to be married in that fashion is something that blows my mind. I think some of the folks we brought on to help us go through the whole ceremony and that whole process were surprised that she knew so much already about the outfits, the clothing, the names and all of that. She’s immersed herself in the culture, I’d say in the last year.”
As to what she’s most excited for about married life, Williams said it’s getting to officially call Guobadia her “husband.”
“It’s just going to be like, ‘My husband, my husband, my husband,'” she said. “I’m going to irritate everyone! It’s our last marriage, okay? We belong together. That is it. It’s a blessing to be able to find your person. It doesn’t happen often.”
Before forever, though, comes the honeymoon — the plans for which Guobadia is still keeping under wraps as a surprise to Williams.
“He will not tell me where we’re going,” she said. “All he told me is that we’re going to be gone for about 10 days and that it’s somewhere hot. He said that my assistant knows how to pack me, and that’s all I need to know. I was like, ‘Okay!'”
source: people.com
