A bride wore a sparkly, black dress with detachable sleeves for her fairy-tale wedding

Jess Nicole, 26, and Landyn, 28, both grew up in Bakersfield, California.

They lived nearby each other as teens, with Jess Nicole attending football games at Landyn's school and one of Landyn's moms even watching Jess Nicole graduate from high school.

Despite orbiting each other, they didn't meet until they ended up working at the same café in 2020. Jess Nicole said Landyn was flirting with her by her second shift.

"We were friends and then very quickly went from friends to more than friends and have been together ever since," she told Insider.

Landyn proposed to Jess Nicole in September 2021, and they married on November 4, 2022.

Today, they live in Bakersfield together, where Landyn is a pre-med student and Jess Nicole is a full-time content creator and digital marketer.

The Webbs considered eloping in Ireland, but they ultimately decided against it because Landyn is an only child and his moms wanted to see him tie the knot.

But they still wanted their nuptials to feel unique, and when Jess Nicole stumbled upon a photo of a wedding with a forest-green, black, and gold color scheme on Pinterest, she "fell in love," as she told Insider.

They quickly settled on the darker wedding aesthetic.

While discussing their wedding, Jess Nicole joked to Landyn that she could wear a black wedding dress.

"He was like, 'please, please do,'" she said. "He just knew that it's a way to march to the beat of my own drum."

Jess Nicole went with Landyn's moms to Cocomelody in Los Angeles to shop for a wedding dress, though she was a little apprehensive about finding a black gown that fit her vision.

"I grew up loving 'Say Yes To The Dress.' It's, like, my favorite show of all time," she told Insider. "When I was watching it when I was way younger, it was an unknown thing to have a black wedding dress, and they all were not that great looking. So I didn't know if there was really a market for black wedding dresses."

"That was my only stress," Jess Nicole added. "Because I still wanted to feel like a bride."

She chose a Cocomelody ball gown that had a strapless neckline, corset bodice, and a full skirt covered in sparkles.

Jess Nicole describes herself as indecisive, so she had to try on her dress twice before she knew it was the one, almost buying a different gown.

But when she put it on for the second time, she knew.

"I had the moment of crying," she said. "So it almost wasn't the dress. I almost panic-picked something else and luckily, I went home and was just drooling over the pictures."

"I always wanted a ball gown for my wedding dress," Jess Nicole said, so the gown's full skirt was perfect for her.

She also told Insider she loved that a layer of tulle covered the sparkly material, making it look more elegant.

The gown had detachable, off-the-shoulder sleeves made of sheer, black tulle.

Jess Nicole had always pictured her wedding gown with dramatic sleeves, so they were the perfect addition to the dress.

"I wanted sleeves so bad," she said. "They were just so big and puffy. The sleeves and the sparkles absolutely sold it for me."

The newlywed told Insider she has always gravitated towards princess-inspired looks, enough so that her entire family anticipated she would wear a crown to her wedding.

She selected a rose-gold crown from Shadow Cat Charms, as her engagement and wedding rings were also made of rose gold.

"I went back and forth about getting a black veil, and I almost got one," she said. "I think it was my mother-in-law or one of my maids of honor were like, 'it's gonna hide like this long sparkly back of the dress, and I was like, 'that's a good point.'"

"I'm very, very glad I didn't do a black veil," she added.

Emma Paulsen styled Jess Nicole's hair with the crown. She completed her outfit with green shoes from ForeverSoles, a necklace from lolabeanjewlery, and earrings from delezhen.

Like his wife, Landyn wanted to wear something slightly different than the typical groom, and they were both drawn to photos they saw online of a velvet, green tuxedo.

But they were having trouble finding a suit to buy, so the groom's mothers suggested he wear a custom tuxedo to the wedding.

Landyn ended up working with Enzo Custom in LA to make the suit.

Like the scrunchie, the tuxedo was made of emerald-green velvet.

The lapels were black, as was the shirt and tie Landyn wore with the colorful look.

Both the jacket and vest of the tuxedo were lined with a pattern of wine bottles.

"I love wine, and me and my husband have shared a bunch of wine together," Jess Nicole said. "Part of our centerpieces that were holding the table numbers were wine bottles he and I had shared together throughout our relationship."

So Landyn surprised Jess Nicole with the lining on their wedding day.

"He was like, 'it was one of the only prints that made me think of you and I thought you would like it,'" she said. "It was really sweet."

Landyn loves plants, and his favorite nursery is Cricklewood Secret Garden. The Webbs wanted to take some of their wedding photos at a location that was significant to them, so they asked the nursery owners if they could take some shots there.

They happily agreed, giving them their greenhouse for an hour.

Both Jess Nicole and Landyn were emotional when they saw each other's wedding attire for the first time.

Only their photographer Jacob E. Tovar and their videographer John Michael Photography were present for the intimate moment.

Although they were legally married at the altar in front of their loved ones, the Webbs wanted to exchange intimate vows with only their photographer and videographer present.

"We had talked about eloping," Jess Nicole said of why they wanted to do personal vows. "I'm also like, 'This is for us. I'm marrying you. I'm not putting on a show for everybody.'"

"We still wanted that moment of feeling like we eloped before everything," she went on to say. "We still did personal vows at the altar, but they were just a little more lighthearted, a little more condensed. The personal vows were for each other."

"I wanted to do a whole family first look, especially because my husband's moms were so involved in the wedding process," Jess Nicole said. "I wanted everybody to have that moment, and not just my mom, not just my dad. I wanted all the families to feel included."

The family first look became even more meaningful when Jess Nicole walked in and spotted her sister. She lives abroad, and Jess Nicole didn't think she would make it to the wedding.

"We love to surprise each other, and she had let me know it was impossible for her to come back," she said. So her attendance was even more of a surprise.

"Somebody stepped to the side and my sister popped out," Jess Nicole said, adding that she started crying as soon as she saw her sister.

"It was really, really special," she added.

Jess Nicole and Landyn got married at the Randall House, and both their ceremony and reception were outdoors. Flowers from Bakersfield Flower Market decorated the space.

They were also surrounded by trees, which was important to Jess Nicole when picking a wedding location.

"When I was looking for a wedding dress, I was like, 'I wanna feel like a fairy princess running through the forest,'" she said, and the venue was perfect for that.

Landyn also proposed to Jess Nicole on a hike in a forest, which made the venue feel even more special.

Caesar's Deli catered the event, and the bakery Sweet Surrender provided their wedding cake and cupcakes.

The entire reception was decorated in black, gold, and dark green, fulfilling Jess Nicole's Pinterest dreams.

They rented their decor and linens from Walker-Lewis Rents and used Zazzle for their stationery.

Pantomime Kyx was their DJ, and they also had an audio guestbook at the reception from After the Tone.

Jess Nicole said the "intimate" time with Landyn made a huge impact on her.

"I recommend that to anybody," she said of exchanging personal vows. "It's a moment before the craziness."

"The private vow is your moment together, not for anybody else," she added. "That's what marriage is: just you two."

"Just tune out people's opinions," Jess Nicole said.

She went on to say that what you and your partner want is "all that matters," which she reiterated in a TikTok that has over 300,000 views as of July 2023.

"The only people that are gonna be looking back at your photos a million times are yourselves," she added. "Just boldly go with who you are and you won't regret it."

"I think one of the biggest things that I love is our willingness to not just grow as individuals, but grow together and make space for each other," she said of her marriage.

Jess Nicole incorporated that idea into her wedding vows.

"I was like, 'I'm vowing this version of me to this version of you, but I know that there's going to be a million versions of ourselves," she said, adding that she wrote her vows in a journal full of empty pages.

"I said 'I'm giving you this book because I'm vowing that I will rewrite the vows for every version that we become because I don't wanna stick with just this version of you,'" she said. "I'm vowing that we will continue to always evolve and grow together and adapt to the different versions and seasons of life.'"

"We are equals," she said. "We are partners. But we also know that we're gonna change. We're gonna grow, and we will support each other, push each other to be the best we can be, and chase our dreams as individuals hand-in-hand."

If you wore an eye-catching wedding dress and want to talk to Insider for a story, get in touch at sgrindell@insider.com.