Top Weddings Of The Year - celebrity weddings

Ebony, Feb, 2000 by Joy Bennett Kinnon

FROM the island of Hawaii to the island of Manhattan, scores of prominent couples jumped the broom in the last year of the 20th century in wedding ceremonies that ranged in style from intimate and conservative to hip-hop house parties to citywide celebrations.

Double weddings were popular in 1999 with Rap stars Pepa and Treach and actress Vanessa L. Williams and NBA star Rick Fox marrying in intimate "couple-only" ceremonies and then later celebrating with formal weddings for family and friends. Sandra (Pepa) Denton and Anthony (Treach) Criss wed first in Lawrence, Kan., in a tattoo shop, and later at their New Jersey estate. Williams and Fox wed first on an undisclosed Caribbean island and later in New York followed by a posh reception at the St. Regis Hotel.

NBA star Christopher Childs and his bride, Maisha McGee, exchanged vows during a sunset ceremony in Kona, Hawaii, and then hosted a reception for family and friends at their new Georgia home.

Wedding gown styles ranged from the cool and casual styles to the classic and elegant lines of the most popular designer, Vera Wang, to the all-out-drop-dead-gorgeous styles of popular Black designers. July was by far the most popular month for weddings, with three of the celebrity couples--Grant Hill and Tamia, Treach and Pepa, and Sony executive LeBaron Taylor and his bride, Kay Lovelace--all marrying on the same Saturday, July 24. Christopher Childs and his bride, Maisha McGee, were also married in July.

Four-time Grammy-nominated recording artist Tamia and her superstar groom, Grant Hill of the NBA Detroit Pistons, managed to keep their wedding location a complete secret by marrying in a private ceremony at a private residence in Battle Creek, Mich.

A private affair was also the ceremony of choice for NFL superstar Deion Sanders when he wed model-actress Pilar Biggers in Nassau, Bahamas. The intimate wedding included only the couple's close family and friends.

Privacy was not on the menu for one of America's most eligible bachelors, New Orleans Mayor Marc H. Morial, who was serenaded by the entire city of New Orleans when he married New Orleans newswoman Michelle Miller in the city's grandest cathedral, St. Louis Cathedral, in the French Quarter. "Oh Happy Day!" read the headline of the local newspaper, the Times-Picayune, heralding the mayoral nuptials. It was the first wedding of an incumbent may bent mayor in New Orleans in 61 years, and the city celebration was second only to its Mardi Gras. More than 3,500 people attended the public reception for the couple at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, named after the groom's late father, the first African-American mayor of New Orleans.

Other notable weddings in 1999 included the unions of prominent Philadelphia couple, LeBaron Taylor, senior vice president of Sony, and Kay A. Lovelace, former associate superintendent of the Philadelphia School Board; Attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr.'s daughter, Tiffany Cochran, and the Rev. Kenneth Walker; and UNCF President and CEO William H. Gray III's oldest son, William H. Gray IV, and Jennifer Maria Quarles. Featured on these pages are some of the grandest and most exciting of the last weddings of the century.

NFL Superstar Deion Sanders married model-actress Pilar Biggers in a private, double-ring ceremony in Nassau, Bahamas, on Paradise Island that combined elegance and intimacy.

Vanessa L. Williams and Rick Fox are all aglow following their marriage in New York's Church of the Holy Trinity before approximately 100 family and friends. The bride wore a Vera Wang gown with a taupe satin bodice and a full tulle skirt for the intimate ceremony joining the singer-actress and the Los Angeles Lakers forward.

New Orleans Mayor Marc H. Morial and newswoman Michelle M. Miller were married before about 1,300 guests at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans' French Quarter. The bride's stunning wedding gown was designed by Black designer Harold Clarke Couturier Atelier. The off-the-shoulder, form-fitting creation was made of silk satin ivory organza, beaded by hand with thousands of iridescent sequins imported from Paris and also featured embroidered pastel flowers and leaves, detachable sleeves and a detachable 15-foot train. The veil was made of sheer tulle netting imported from London.

Detroit Pistons star Grant Hill married singer Tamia in a ceremony held at a private residence in Baffle Creek, Mich., attended by about 250 family and friends. The ceremony was officiated by the Rev. John H. Grant, the groom's cousin. The bride was radiant in a strapless Vera Wang ivory satin gown with a chapel train. The sparkling tiara headpiece and dress bodice were embellished with Austrian crystals and pearls. Hill's tuxedo was custom-designed to fit his 6-foot-8 inch frame by Richard Tyler of Beverly Hills.

Rap stars Sandra (PEN) Denton and Anthony (Treach) Criss (left) wed in a lavish ceremony on Denton's New Jersey estate and the reception was held in an open-air tent. The bride, of the hot hip-hop group Salt n' Pepa, wore a $15,000 ivory silk and satin wedding gown beaded with more than 1,500 teardrop crystals by Black designer Jerald Loud of Andasimo. The groom, of hip-hop's Naughty by Nature, presented his bride with a 12-carat ring. She presented him with a 6-carat band.