Tika Sumpter and former co-star Nicholas James met on the show The Haves and the Have Nots, which ran for eight seasons on OWN, and this weekend, the couple were married in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
According to Brides, Sumpter said of the marriage, “We’re excited to be together and continue the journey. We both walked down the aisle with clear eyes, knowing that the wedding wasn’t just for the party. It was really for us.”
The couple, who share a 5-year-old daughter, Ella, were wed at the Chileno Bay Resorts & Residences, Auberge Resorts Collection.
“[We wanted everyone] to have a good time and celebrate this long, amazing journey that we’ve had,” Sumpter told Brides in an exclusive interview. “I didn’t necessarily always want a destination wedding. It was just something that came to my mind. One of our first trips out of the country was Anguilla, and Mexico definitely has that beautiful, island vibe, so we were like why not do it in Cabo?”
The 42-year-old model and actress wore a dress by the celebrity wedding dress design studio Galia Lahav, and her groom donned a pale blue custom Franc Milton suit. The couple were wed on the sand just before sunset, and they held a private reception in one of the resort’s restaurants.
Sumpter said she believes the duo’s marriage “just cemented what we already are, and all of our friends were witnesses to that. It’s a continuation of the journey, but I’m looking forward to doing what we’ve been doing, which is making sure that we have a solid foundation.”
“My favorite part of the planning process was just looking at all of the names of my friends and family who were coming,” Sumpter told Brides. “Each one made me smile, so it made me even more excited to plan something beautiful. I wanted everybody to have a great time. I really had my friends, my family, my future husband in mind — it wasn’t just for me.”
“It was a real celebration of all the people who have held us up on this journey to make it what it is,” she added. “They’re really part of that thread. It was almost like a gift for them to really love where they are, love being together, and just overall having a really great time.”
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