After a year long engagement, Nekeisha Hayward and Ian Cameron began to consider a destination wedding. Then something dawned on them. “Why are we looking to do this overseas when we live in Bermuda?” The now Mrs. Cameron says, recalling the catalyst for their April 18, 2009 wedding. Opting to keep the wedding in their tropical home turf, the Camerons began planning only four months prior to the big day.

“There’s always a million reasons why you can’t do something, so we just said we would go ahead and do it,” the now Mrs. Cameron says. She and Ian have now been together four years. The couple owns a home in Pembroke and lives with their newborn son, Kaden, and Nekeisha’s daughter from a previous relationship, Alaiyah.

She and her fiancée took all the planning upon themselves. “We wanted to keep it simple but classy and elegant,” Mrs. Cameron says. “We were hands-on with everything. We knew right off the bat what we wanted.”

The Camerons pulled through the typically stressful process without a scratch. “We were kind of waiting for the horror moment and it never came. We both have very similar taste, so it wasn’t a big deal in terms of compromise. It was like, ‘Okay, we both want this, we both want that.’ Both of us are pretty laidback,”
Mrs. Cameron says. “The most stressful point was probably two weeks before the wedding. I had ordered invitations online and they hadn’t come yet.” This was amended with a rush order and the invitations arrived on time.

Nekeisha and Ian wondered if they were cutting it close with such a crunched planning period. “It all came together,” she says. “We couldn’t have asked for it to be any more perfect than it was. Everybody really loved it; they had all positive things to say. We look back to see what we’d have done differently, and if we had to do it all over again, I would have done it the exact same way.”

Keeping the numbers down was tough. Having a ceremony in Bermuda allowed full access for both of their large families. A guest list beginning at 400 people was pared down to the 100 closest friends and family members.

“It was nice because it was so small. It was great to be surrounded by our closest loved ones,” Mrs. Cameron says.

Before heading to the alter, Nekeisha prepared for her big day with the help of Cheryl from J’Anauzi to do her hair and Alana Dowling for her make-up.

They were wed at the Old Christ Church in Devonshire. “It’s really quaint,” Mrs. Cameron says. “It’s got a really old feel to it. It was just nice and intimate.” Her daughter was the flower girl.

For the reception, they moved to the Coco Reef Hotel. “There’s an amazing view and the people are really helpful,” Mrs. Cameron says. “They were very accommodating. I basically told them exactly
what I wanted and they made it happen.”

For the nuptial meal, Mrs. Cameron chose one of her favorite dishes: a traditional Bermudian codfish and potato breakfast. The wedding service took place at 9 a.m. to accommodate a brunch.
“Coco Reef took care of the food. It was one way to keep things simple,” Mrs. Cameron says.

Dessert was another way the Camerons merged simple and elegant, traditional and experimental: They favored wedding cupcakes over a typical cake, with red velvet and coconut pineapple selections prepared by Karsten Krivenko at The Barefoot Baker. “She does everything from scratch, so she actually made up the recipe for these coconut pineapple cupcakes. They had a little infusion of pineapple in the center. They were amazing,” Mrs. Cameron says.

DJ Bubbles facilitated the day’s joyous atmosphere by spinning “a little bit of everything,” Mrs. Cameron says.

Zeudi Hinds was the Camerons’ photographer. “She did an awesome job,” Mrs. Cameron says. “She kept us all on pace. She was really good at organizing everybody and keeping it all flowing.” Mrs. Cameron’s favorite new-husband-and-wife photo is a cozy one of the two sitting on a bench together.

Phil Woolf at Designer Flowers arranged the floral side of the wedding. “We gave him some of the ideas for our centerpieces and my bouquet,” Mrs. Cameron says. “I love orchids, so I wanted something that centered around them. Phil was able to do some amazing centerpieces with cylinders and orchids in them with water and glass beads in the bottom. Everything was perfect in terms
of our vision for what we wanted.”

Was there an ultimate moment for Mrs. Cameron on the day so many women dream of since childhood? “The sigh of relief right before I walked down the aisle, knowing that it was the culmination of the last four years and the planning we had done had led to that moment,” Mrs. Cameron says. “To be standing there and seeing Ian looking at me and the look on his face – that’s a snapshot. I put it in my mind; it’s stored away.”

She loves being married. Although some wedded couples say things change and some contend it all stays the same, Mrs. Cameron says her relationship has “gotten even better.”

“It just cements what it is that we’ve had all this time,” she says. “We woke up the next morning and were like, ‘That was amazing. Can we do it again next week?’”