KANSAS CITY, Mo. - John Randle III and Kia Shant’e Breaux were meant to be together.

Although they probably didn’t know this when they first played together as children growing up in Kansas City, Mo., it was quite clear many years later when they had their first date.

Randle took Breaux to lunch one April afternoon last year and was stunned by her beauty.

‘‘When I first saw her, my mouth dropped open and I didn’t say anything for two minutes,’’ he recalled. ‘‘I thought ‘Oh my God, she’s beautiful, Lord please don’t let me say anything stupid,’ and that’s how I knew she was the one.’’

About eight months later, Breaux found herself telling Randle ‘‘yes’’ as he kneeled on one knee in front of the mayor’s Christmas tree and asked for her hand in marriage.

Then the wedding planning began.

Her mother and soon-to-be bridesmaids started coaxing her to look at dresses and after about two months, she found the perfect one.

It was a strapless white, princess-cut dress with intricate beading and rhinestones on the bodice. The skirt portion was tulle and had a cathedral detachable train that had beads and rhinestones to match the bodice.

‘‘I was very, very happy with her choice. A lot of them looked great on her but there was just something about the dress that said ‘Kia,’’’ said Breaux’s mother, Christella Jones. ‘‘She looked like a brown Barbie doll.’’

Breaux, who chose burgundy and white as her wedding colors, wanted everything to be perfect. She purchased two wedding etiquette books to help her with the Sept. 6 nuptials.

‘‘In terms of planning the wedding, I literally wanted to do everything by the book,’’ Breaux said.

But sometimes Randle would step in and playfully threaten to burn the etiquette books.

‘‘He reminds me to lighten up and keep everything in perspective and just relax,’’ Breaux said. ‘‘He would say ‘who cares what the book says? This is our wedding, we’ll do what we want.’’’

And they did.

Although Breaux planned most of the wedding, she hired a wedding coordinator two weeks before her big day to help alleviate the stress of bringing it all together.

It was important to the couple that those whom they treasured most took part in the ceremony. Randle’s brother, Eric Randle, was his best man and the groom’s nephew was the ring bearer. Breaux’s older sister was her maid of honor and her 6-year-old twin sisters were very cute flower girls who wore matching white dresses. There also was a lighted candle at the ceremony for an honorary groomsman, Breaux’s cousin Lt. Clifton Johnson, who was in Bahrain with the U.S. Navy and unable to attend.

The Rev. Henry Pace presided over the afternoon ceremony at Shalom Missionary Baptist Church in Kansas City. He has known Breaux since she was a teenager and met with the couple twice a month for six months before their wedding to talk about marriage.

Before the ceremony began, there was a Power Point presentation of pictures that chronicled Breaux and Randle’s lives, including one in which they wore large Afro wigs and funky clothes to a 1970s-themed birthday party.

After the presentation, candles were lit in the front of the church and a soloist sang ‘‘The Lord’s Prayer.’’ Then Breaux’s cousin, Kaisha Kelly, performed a touching interpretive dance to ‘‘Ribbon in the Sky’’ by Stevie Wonder.

Just before the bridesmaids and bride walked down the aisle, the flowers in the front of the church caught fire from the nearby candles, which were dripping with wax.

Several people in the pews began pointing frantically at the fire because the pastor, Randle and Eric Randle had not yet seen the flames.

‘‘When I turned around and saw the flames, I went over there and must have thought I was Superman or something because I tried to blow it out,’’ Eric Randle said.

With the help of the two Randle brothers, the pastor and the photographer, the fire was extinguished and the ceremony continued.

Breaux’s father, Clifford Breaux, beamed with pride as he walked down the aisle with his daughter, who had finished off her beautiful white dress with a tiara and a blusher veil.

‘‘I’m extremely proud of her. I really didn’t feel like I was giving her away, it was more like I was gaining a son,’’ said Clifford Breaux, who during the ceremony gave his daughter a quick kiss on the cheek before handing her to Randle.

Breaux and Randle both fought back tears as they exchanged traditional marriage vows.

‘‘It’s emotional, it’s so special and so sacred and overwhelming, us standing there looking into each other’s eyes and reciting the wedding vows,’’ Breaux said. ‘‘It was very intimate, we were there holding hands even though there were 200 people in the room, it was like it was he and I were alone together.’’

The couple also jumped over a broom, an African-American wedding tradition.

‘‘It’s something unique that we can do to celebrate our love for each other and to recognize our African ancestry,’’ Breaux said.

Following the ceremony was the cocktail reception at a country club, in which tuxedo shrimp, crab cakes and meatballs were served.

The cake topping on Breaux’s three-tiered cake included a replica of the bride and groom, as well as all ten members of the wedding party. The small plastic dolls even wore dresses similar to the bridesmaids’ burgundy gowns.

After the reception, the bride and groom watched the video of their ceremony in the limousine while on the way to their hotel.

‘‘I wanted to see how everything went together,’’ Breaux said. ‘‘We worked so hard, I couldn’t wait until we got back from the honeymoon.’’

She was quite pleased with how it turned out.