'Patriotic' Michigan couple throws MAGA-themed wedding on Fourth of July in tribute to Trump
A Michigan couple has become the talk of the internet after they threw a MAGA-themed wedding as a tribute to President Donald Trump.
Audra Johnson and Jeff Johnson of Kalamazoo tied the knot on the Fourth of July and were originally planning for the occasion to be patriotic-themed. But then decided they would make a political statement instead and changed the theme to #MAGAPatriotWedding, according to CBS News.
In pictures posted on her Instagram page, Audra can be seen showing off a white dress decorated with sparkly red lettering down the front that spells out Trump's popular campaign slogan: "Make America Great Again." The skirt of the fishtail dress was branded with the word "TRUMP."
Jeff, while not sporting anything Trump-specific, did also ensure that he kept in tune with the theme. A Marine veteran, he donned his dress uniform, even posing with a gun in some of his photos.
The theme extended beyond the bride and groom. Complimenting Audra's red and white were the bridesmaids who were wearing blue. Several of the other guests also wore patriotic gear, with many taking turns posing with guns.
"Being a patriotic wedding, we really did encourage people to do whatever they felt comfortable with, if they wanted to open-carry, if they wanted to conceal-carry," Audra said.
The switch from a plainly patriotic wedding into one that announced the couple's support for the president was one that came to be after Audra reached out to designer Andre Soriano who's made quite the name for himself with his Trump-themed dresses. In fact, two artists wore his bold creations to the Grammy Awards this year.
Audra and her friends traveled to Washington D.C. to meet with Soriano to work out the design for her wedding dress, and she said it took the designer four days to put it together.
But despite the 'MAGA Patriot' theme, Audra said the wedding was inclusive and that there was no pressure to conform, revealing that her maid of honor was a Democrat.
"She said, 'You know I love you, but I don't feel comfortable wearing a MAGA hat,'" she said. "I said, 'That's fine, we can find you a plain red one to wear.' We were able to compromise on that. We can believe differently but still very much love each other."
The wedding has been the talk of social media, but not necessarily just in a positive way.
"It's been absolutely crazy," Audra said. "Amazing patriots said they love the dress and support us. But then there's the other side, where we've gotten threats, and there's been really nasty comments."
"A lot of the comments are 'It's a racist wedding.' I'm the granddaughter of a Filipino immigrant, my husband's black,'" she continued. "I think what I want people to take from this is there's a stereotype of Trump supporters flying around out there and maybe some of them are like that, but most of us aren't like that."