Misty and Solomon say "I Do" in sunny Dominican Republic!

Bride: Misty Lashae Mitchell, 30
Groom: Solomon Jappa, 31
Occupations: Mitchell: project manager; Jappa: IT technician
Homebase: Virginia
Wedding Date: August 9, 2010
Wedding Location: Dreams Punta Cana Resort & Spa; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Mr. Telephone Man: “Solomon and I met the summer of 2007 at a Sprint telephone store in northern Virginia, recalls Misty. She continues, “I was there trying to get myself an upgrade for free even though I wasn’t eligible [laughs] and he was reprimanding one of his employees on the sales floor.”She was trying to get something for free! I was not thinking we would be anything; not even go on a date,” admits Solomon with a chuckle. But as fate would have it, Solomon ended up giving Misty a free upgrade on her phone — after some self-professed begging — and soon after the two began hanging out regularly. Solomon elaborates, “About a month later when I got to know her better and saw what type of person she was, I realized I was falling in love with Misty.”

Homecourt Advantage: “Along the way we learned that we have a lot in common, including our passion for dancing, fashion, and especially the NBC series Heroes,” shares Misty. “And we were shocked to find out that our parents live in Roanoke, Virgina — just three blocks away from each other!” She adds, “We even began traveling down to Roanoke together to visit my parents and his mom. Every part of our courtship was fun and the time seemed to fly by.”

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[All images by Nicole Koester of Orange Anchor Photography.]

A Modern Brady Bunch “Solomon has a great relationship with my daughter (from a previous relationship) and that meant the most to me. He invested more time in getting to know her than he did with me,” confesses Misty. She adds,” He explained if she didn’t like him, we would never work. That’s when I knew I was in love with him because he not only loved me, he loved everything I brought to the table.” However Solomon has two daughters from a previous marriage who live thousands of miles away and the couple both admit it has been a challenge. Says Solomon, “It is hard to deal with the fact that all of us are not together.” “There are moments in their lives that we miss, like plays and pageants, and this can be very hard on Solomon,” Misty admits. But she knows they have what it takes to make their union work. “Coming from troubled relationships like I did, when you find someone that shows you true love, you never want to let them go. I knew I wanted Solomon to be my husband and never leave my side.”

Destination Dream Just a year after they began dating, Solomon popped the question to Misty on Christmas morning. “He presented me with a customized comic book of the show Heroes,” Misty reminisces. In it, I was a super hero and I had to find “the gift” that would change my future. That gift was a beautiful blue engagement ring. The duo decided to tie the knot on 8.9.10 (Misty was obsessed with the date) and their wedding planning began with the help of Ebony Sparkes of Sparkling Events & Design. Sparkes designed the couple’s thematic boarding pass invitations and passport save-the-dates for the Caribbean nuptials. “We knew we wanted a destination wedding and decided on the Dominican Republic. Cost was a huge factor because we wanted a resort where our guests were comfortable with the prices but still received top notch service.” The couple’s 35 guests had a blast and Misty and Solomon even experienced a trash the dress shoot before leaving the island. Solomon’s sentiments about his new union to Misty? “We’re awesome! Go Team Jappa!“

Misty’s tips for saving money on your wedding day!  

Be a Realist: Develop a budget and stick to it. “I had a budget worksheet that we used as we made purchases to make sure that we were in line with what we wanted to spend,” says Misty.

Determine “Wants” versus “Needs”: “Sit down with your partner and determine what the wedding “must haves” are,” advises Misty. She continues, “For me it was photography so I didn’t want to budge on how much we spent on pictures, but I cut other things like expensive centerpieces…Communication with your spouse-to-be makes the process much smoother.”

Avoid the Debt Trap: “Make sure when your wedding day is over, everything is paid for. You don’t want to have extra bills trickling into your marriage because you decided to have an event you really couldn’t afford,” Misty advises.

Take a look at past Tie the Knot Tuesday features here.

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