Inside Braxton's Wedding: PEOPLE

By Stephen M. Silverman

04/03/1998 at 12:00 AM EST

In some ways Toni Braxton was an ordinary bride, PEOPLE reports in its newest issue. The six-time Grammy-winning R&B singer, 34, deliberately dieted before her wedding, fretted over how to wear her hair and registered at Williams-Sonoma. But as her 4.5-carat diamond ring (estimated worth: $75,000) might suggest, ordinary only went so far. When Braxton wed musician Keri Lewis, 30, in Atlanta's flower-filled Dean Gardens on April 21, it was, her great-aunt Vermelle Matthews told PEOPLE, "a fairy tale." In more respects than one. Since signing with LaFace Records, reportedly for nearly $20 million, just months after declaring herself bankrupt in 1998, Braxton is once again looking solvent. Make that super solvent. She wore a $15,000 Vera Wang gown and $500,000 in borrowed jewels -- opting for simplicity only in the 30-minute ceremony officiated by former U.N. ambassador Andrew Young. As T-Boz Watkins of hip-hop's TLC told the magazine about the ceremony: "It was fast, sweet and to the point."