Congolese American Forest Lodge Wedding

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We’re feeling a bit nostalgic these days, swooning hard for vintage gowns & remakes of past generations’ wedding dresses (did you see this gorgeous gown worn by three generations in Chicago?).

Today we trek to the mountains of Montana, where Rebekah & Likom celebrated their lodge wedding filled with Congolese traditions, whimsical forest vibes & featuring a redesign of Rebekah’s mom’s own 1970s wedding dress.

Also hailing from Chicago, Rebekah & Likom chose Montana as their wedding destination for its natural beauty & who can blame them? The couple did everything they could to show off the breathtaking views with an outdoor meadow ceremony beneath the Rockies & oodles of cute golden-hour forest portraits with Honeybee Weddings.

Our Love Story

We met through the dating app Coffee Meets Bagel. We met in person for the first time at our first date at The Map Room in Chicago.

Likom’s best friend had recently taken a new job and Likom told Rebekah that everyone would be getting together to have a drink to celebrate. So, after work on a Thursday, Rebekah threw rushed out of the house to meet up with Likom not suspecting anything. The bar they were going to was right across the street from the bar where they met.

The Uber pulled up outside The Map Room, and still not suspecting anything, Rebekah went to cross the street. At that point, Likom stopped her and got down on one knee and proposed outside at the same location we said goodbye on our first date. When we went inside, all of our friends were there to celebrate.

The Dress & Attire

Rebekah’s dress was a re-make of her mother’s dress worn originally in 1977. We worked with a local seamstress over the course of 18 months to re-fit and design a new bodice to go with the dress. The veil was the original veil.

We knew we wanted a classic and sharp design image and so we selected black tuxes from Men’s Wearhouse for Likom and his groomsmen. Rebekah’s bridesmaids wore dresses from David’s Bridal.

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The Destination

For us, our wedding was an opportunity to bring together our families who otherwise would never meet and to celebrate our love and marriage. We wanted to honor our traditional roots and throw a great party. Since we live in Chicago, it was important to us that our destination wedding in Montana paid justice to the beauty around us. We went for a classic and fun atmosphere and accented our magenta color scheme with emerald accents.

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Favorite Moments

We loved having the opportunity to integrate our families and share different traditional dances and celebrations together.

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Family Heirlooms & Traditions

We integrated Likom’s family tradition by having the groomsmen incorporate African wax print ties during the reception. Similarly, the bridesmaids wore wax print earrings to match. In addition to using Rebekah’s mother’s dress, Rebekah also wore her late grandmother’s emerald ring. Likom and the men in his family all wore an African bead bracelet.

The most fun tradition we incorporated was the traditional African money dance where we danced and our guests threw dollar bills at us (and all over the dance floor).

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The Flowers

Our flowers were sourced through Agile Goat Flower Farm.

The Cake

Our wedding cake was made by the sister-in-law of the bride, Ruth King. While we wanted a somewhat traditional cake, the groom’s cake design was an homage to Likom’s love of the Chicago Bulls.