Amar’e Stoudemire married his longtime girlfriend and mother of his four children last December, but ponied up for a lavish wedding at the Vizcaya Museum & Gardens in Miami last month. The New York Knicks power forward and his new bride, Alexis Welch, shared the exclusive photos and details of their beautiful wedding with Essence magazine.
According to Essence, Alexis gave birth to a baby boy just five weeks and four days before slipping into a gorgeous J’Aton Couture wedding dress. “That was a special moment for me,” said Alexis. “Seeing my dress fully done for the first time. Since I was pregnant for most of the time between our engagement and our wedding, I didn’t really get to try it on.”
“I’m not into flowers,” explains Alexis. “So that was one of the things I told the wedding planner. I wanted mirrors and candles and crystals.”
According to Essence.com, “Because the Stoudemires practice the Judaism, they recited the Ketubah vows during their ceremony under a Chuppah, a canopy under which Jewish couples are married.”
“We chose our cake because we wanted something royal and regal,” says Alexis of her red velvet confection. “In magazines I’ve always seen cakes with gold trim or gold accents, but never a fully gold cake. We wanted our cake to be something completely different.”
“It felt like I was a king in the ancient times of Abraham, especially with all of my groomsmen standing by my side,” says Amar’e who stood amongst six bridesmaids, 11 groomsmen, Alexis and three of their four children. “My friends and my family look up to me, and we are all extremely close. When I was standing up there with everyone surrounding me, I knew that I was making the right choice and that everyone supported us.”
Absolutely beautiful.
See more wedding photos at Essence.com.