Bring on the Bling

Deciding on our wedding rings was much easier than I thought. My fiancé was pretty set on the style that he wanted while I explored my options. We decided to be a little, ok a lot untraditional and just select our rings. If you are going to make an investment like that, we figure get what you want one time.

He settled on a beautiful handcrafted ring that was personally made by a friend of his. His ring is made of yellow gold with beautifully crafted hieroglyphics spelling out our names and finished with an ankh in the centre. This is an example of such a ring that I found online:


Of course I was a little bit more difficult. I settled on an antique finished, princess cut white gold diamond set. A mouth full but it is so beautiful. And though my bands are too thin to engrave our names as I initially intended, it was a steel and screams my name. I have small fingers and it fits my tiny long fingers nice and daintily.
Check out a similar version of it:


And just like most things in wedding planning there is a lot to learn. For instance, we now know about the 5 Cs of diamond buying - carrot, cut, clarity, colour and of course, costs. We were also able to get a great insurance package on my ring, that allows me to bring the ring in every 6 months, to allow them to reset the diamonds if needed - a girl can't walk around with diamonds just falling out now.

Colour Perfect

I happened upon our wedding colours in a strange way. It was months after we got engaged that I even begun to think about wedding colours. I love the colour crimson and what it means in my life, but didn’t really want to use it as a wedding colour, though crimson and butternut yellow, looks fabulous together. My fiancé’s favourite colour is blue; he says it’s cool and calming. I like brown as well.

So strangely enough, one Sunday I was baby sitting a friend’s son and in the middle of us cutting up paper and watching funnies, I thought why not a little bit of him and a little bit of me, blue and brown and it was done! I was nervous about it because I saw the shade of blue in my head but was hoping I can actualise it to match perfectly. A few hours passed and when my friend came by to pick up her son, she brought me a little thank you present, a box of chocolate. This is the strange part; the box was my perfect shade of blue, chocolate brown and gold. Needless to say I was overjoyed. I now had my perfect colour swatch.


Days later I came across something on one of my style icons, Audrey Hepburn. And there she was in front of Tiffany’s & Co., wide eyed, black dress with strings of pearls. I immediately thought that’s it: Breakfast at Tiffany’s. And so my journey began, cutting out every piece of robbin’s egg blue I found in magazines, chocolate brown fabrics and I even added a touch of Champaign to spice things up.

So here’s how the colours will work on our perfect day. The maids will wear Tiffany Blue dresses with a brown sash that ties in a bow to the back. The groomsmen will wear tiffany blue vests and ties. I can’t tell you too much about my dress, but I will have a Champaign coloured sash and my groom will have a Champaign colour vest and tie. The ring pillow, (see below) will be Tiffany Blue with ivory ribbon. The flower girls will wear ivory dresses with Tiffany Blue sashes and the ring and broom bearer will wear Tiffany blue bow ties.

The décor – this is the exciting part – gold chivari chairs with ivory cushions. The tables will be adorned with ivory linens and a Tiffany blue and brown runners, gold charges, and of course flat wear. Centrepieces…….stay tuned, I haven’t decided on the centrepieces as yet, but considering big centrepieces.

Over the Broom

My fiancé and I decided early on that we wanted to incorporate some African/African American traditions in our wedding. We immediately decided then, that we had to "jump the broom". We were fortunate to find the company Jump the Broom Eliza! based in Atlanta, GA. After speaking with the broom maker, she considered our colour scheme, style, what we would like added to the broom and for only $45 we got the perfect sweeper.

From our little research and reading, jumping the brooms means a lot to a variety of Africans from the Diaspora. To some it means the bride's willingness to clean the new home she will be joining. I've even read that the bride as a symbol of "commitment" cleans the groom's parent’s yard with the broom. Needless to say, that symbolism I'm not sure I'm ready to take hold of in 2008. For some people it is a reminder of the things our ancestors did during slavery to symbolise their unions as some were not permitted to get married.

For the two of us, it will be our symbol of honouring our ancestors and their struggle as we in 2008 can do so many things they weren't permitted to do in those tumultuous days. For our newly formed family, it will symbolise our determination to remember our past and build traditions and heirlooms. We plan to keep our broom and hand it down to our children, for them to jump the broom and pass it down to their children.

After all, isn't that how traditions are formed? Here's a look at our broom courtesy of Gwen at Jump the Broom Eliza!

Here comes the Flower Girls

The flower girls' dresses have finally been ordered!!!! It was a tougher decision than the bridesmaid dresses actually. I always knew the type of dresses I wanted, but finding it was the dilemma. I wanted my flower girls to look like little girls, at the same time, I wanted something elegant, yet not too formal with layers and layers of fabric.

We are getting married in August in Atlanta, and I must say there is no heat like the southern heat in the summer time. So I settled on a tea length simple dress that doesn't have too many layers for our little girls. The dresses are made from a shantung like material, in an A line style and is completed with a waist band with a bow in the back and a flower in the centre of the bow. It's just perfect.

Here's the dress we selected from the front:


And from the back:


I think they are the perfect little dresses. Our girl's look will be completed with a simple single strand of ivory pearls and earrings and ballet shoes. I haven't found baskets as yet, but chances are I will ask my mom - who is even more crafty than I am, to cover the baskets with ivory satin and ribbon!

"I'm Doing It My Way"

I've been engaged since March 2007 and I actually only began planning since December 07. I soon realised that wedding planning entailed a lot! On occasions I am up until the wee hours of the night, trying to find the absolute best bargain and on other days I don't even want to remember the details on the lists and list and list that I’ve made. But one thing is for sure, I better hold it together and get the tasks already started, completed. I'm learning to pace myself; not to start too many projects all at once. Complete one, start another.

The one thing I didn't anticipate learning a lot about is the nature of human beings. I am learning new personalities, even little things about myself and my "particularness" is admittedly surprising. Out of the whole experience, apart from getting married to the love of my life, I hope to learn more patience. And I think I am actually on my way with that.

I am learning to say what I mean in the moment and not hold it all in. As most brides or brides to be would know, it's not the easiest thing saying no to loved ones putting in their two scents. The craziest thing about getting married that I am stubbornly learning is; often times it's not about you but what family members want. And yes I heard that from other brides but I was determined to do it like old blues eyes said, "my way." Well I suppose like many other brides, we get to do it our way at our daughter's wedding and so the cycle continues.

Sleep Tight

The Ellis Hotel, Downtown, Atlanta GA
After reviewing a number of hotels, we decided on having our guests stay at the Ellis Hotel in downtown Atlanta, GA. The hotel is close enough to the ceremony and reception site and importantly, it's in the middle of everything. So for guests who are not going to be staying too long in Atlanta, it provides them the opportunity to make the best of their stay. And for those who will leisurely visit for our wedding, they will have ample time to see all that Atlanta has to offer.

According to the hotel's website, www.ellishotel.com. "The Ellis Hotel is your legendary link between Atlanta's storied past and its stylish present. Stay here for luxury accommodations, personalised service, and unmatched access to downtown attractions and corporations." And it's about 6 minutes away from our ceremony and reception site; which is important for anyone who knows about Atlanta traffic. Attractions around the hotel include the world's largest aquarium, the famous Georgia Aquarium, High Museum, Coca-Cola Museum, CNN Center and Georgia State Capital.

We decided to have a second hotel for close family and guests that wish to be a little bit closer to my mother's home which will be like the "Operations Centre." I can see it now, the hustle and the bustle, people coming in and out; if I'm not excited by now, I'm at least nervous thinking about all of our guests and their accommodations.

Though the second hotel isn't as glamourous as the downtown Atlanta hotel, it's comfortable and very affordable.

Swirls, Squiggles and Curls

I have an ever growing obsession with paper, pretty paper too. It started years ago during a trip to a bookstore. Whenever I go to places like Papyrus, I can barely contain myself. I want to grab everything and stuff it in my hand bag. Yes, I admit, I have a serious obsession with pretty paper. And getting married, sure isn't helping my problem. I had a comfortable box of pretty cards, paper and other nic nacs, now, I had to purchase another box to hold my new stuff.

Along with this obsession, it's quite simple to also be increasingly attracted to the art of writing, not the creative aspect but placing the words on your pretty paper. Even the embellishments of paper becomes attractive, the printing processes. My favourite - if I could ever afford it would be letter press.

For the invitations I wanted to try to learn an additional skill to compliment my obsession – calligraphy. I found a calligraphy set for only $35. I looked at it as an investment. There is life after the wedding and I do plan to continue with all the “finer” things you learn when planning a wedding.


Here's the kit I bought.

Unfortunately though, after a few minutes my hand began to hurt so much from just holding the pen firmly, I had to take a break. I made a second attempt but later just decided to take my time and write “nicely”. I was absolutely against printing labels for the names of the invitees so I buckled down and got to writing. It really didn’t take that long and on occasions; I was able to insert some of the fancy swirls, squiggles and curls I learned during my miniature calligraphy course.