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Bubba Wallace and Amanda Carter are starting the new year as husband and wife!
NASCAR driver Darryl Wallace Jr., 29, and his longtime love exchanged vows in front of 250 guests at the JW Marriott in Charlotte, North Carolina on December 31.
“Getting married, and starting a new life together, I’m so happy to have a good life in my corner,” Wallace tells PEOPLE. “We have a lot of fun together.”
For their “intimate and romantic” ceremony, planned by Amazingly Created Events, the couple – who got engaged in July 2021 after five years of dating – opted for all-white flowers with green accents and candles. did
“We wanted the ceremony, (which was held on the fourth floor of the hotel), to be formal, and then when you come down the stairs for the reception, we wanted the whole mood to change,” says Carter. “The flowers change from white to vibrant to pink, purple, red, with lots of glitter and sparkle in the room. We wanted the reception to feel like a New Year’s Eve party.”
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The bride wore a Madame Borco Couture dress and Lola Cruz shoes for her walk down the aisle, while Wallace chose a custom dark red velvet tuxedo designed by Stitch by Mitch.
After the couple exchanged handwritten vows, they joined their guests for a cocktail hour with an open bar and a selection of tuna tartare, duck meatballs, pork spring rolls, blue crab croquettes and whipped ricotta. including spent hors d’oeuvres.
When it came to the main course, the couple knew they didn’t want a formal setting.
“We don’t do sit-down dinners with more than 200 people,” Carter says. “We wanted to make sure we had time to meet everyone. And sit-down dinners can really take away from being able to talk to everyone.”
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Instead, the newlyweds chose four different tapas-style stations with some of their favorite dishes including Italian, Asian stir-fries, burgers and tacos.
“The food is going to be really exciting,” Carter said before their wedding. “We really wanted it to be a fun atmosphere, not stuffy, although everyone would dress up. We wanted a very casual dining setting since it was late in the evening. And then at 1 in the afternoon when the party was over. A McDonald’s food truck is coming to serve chicken nuggets and French fries.”
While Wallace doesn’t eat desserts, Carter is a big fan of sweets so the couple ditched the traditional wedding cake for a variety of treats including a traditional pretzel wall, cake pops, sugar and chocolate chip cookies, banana pudding shooters and fruit. gone And almond flavored macarons.
Related video: Bubba Wallace says dealing with racism as a young race car driver ‘motivated me to do better’
As for the evening’s music, Wallace and Carter made sure their playlist for the DJ was perfect for the occasion.
“We were on a road trip recently, and the whole four-and-a-half-hour drive we were just rocking and picking songs,” Carter says of their playlist, which included classics, ’90s hits, hip-hop and EDM. .
“I love dancing. It has to be the right atmosphere,” adds Wallace.
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To end the memorable evening, the crowd danced on the holographic checkered flag floor counting down to midnight and celebrated with a sparkler and champagne toast when the clock struck midnight.
Now happily married, the couple plans to fly to Bora Bora on their honeymoon before Wallace returns to racing when the new NASCAR season begins in February.
“We just have such a great relationship. I love the time we spend together. We sit together all day every day and we never get tired of each other,” Carter says. “And he’s also handsome and charming,” Carter adds.
