Decisions...decisions ... Choosing your wedding party

So one BIG dilemma for most brides when planning a wedding is choosing their wedding party. This is especially the case for women like me who have alot of family and good friends. I've always known it would be hard for me to choose because I really do have alot of great friends. The other problem is I never wanted a HUGE wedding party standing along the front of the church. Actually I think 4 or 5 is a really good number. But between cousins and friends, I knew I would not be able to pick just 5. I also knew that I wanted to still find someway to include them in my big day. So my hubby and I came up with an idea to have an Inner Circle. Our Inner Circles were basically like our bridal parties but the only difference is they didn't have to buy dresses or rent tuxes. I told my girls to wear all black dresses and he told his guys to wear a black suit. All the girls had little bouquets and we gave all the guys hot pink ties. Also, all of our Inner Circles' names were listed in program and they walked down the outer aisles and sat in the front two rows on each side of church right before I entered the church.

So I ended up with two maids of honor (my lil sister and bf) and 16 lovely women in my Inner Circle. Armond had two best men and 15 of his boys in his Inner Circle. I think it came together great! And the best part is that my girls dont have a dress sitting in the closet that they will never wear again ... LOL... although Im sure they wouldn't have minded buying a bridesmaids dress for my wedding :)

Me and My Inner Circle

Armond & His Inner Circle

Home Decor DIY Project #3 : Painting Stripes on Wall

As you know, Ive been doing alot of home decor projects. The past few days, we have been working on painting our bedroom. It took awhile to finalize the color scheme but finally we decided to go with different shades of grey. Grey is a trending color for home decor these days. It may sound a little boring but done correctly, it can really look nice! Originally, I wanted something a little bolder but decided to go with a cleaner look. Anywho, I decided that I wanted to do some accents on the walls so I decided to do vertical and horizontal stripes.

Stripes are very popular in home decor and pretty simple to do. There are tons of styles and creative ways to do them. You can use anywhere from one color to muliple colors but it does take a little time to do.

To paint stripes on your walls, you first have to decide if you want to do the whole room or just an accent wall. Next, figure out what pattern you want your stripes to be. Do you want equal sized stripes? Different sized stripes? Once you determine those things, its time to gather your supplies. Of course you need paint, a ruler or tape measure, painters tape, paint brushes, and water based polyurethane (optional depending on the finish you are going for).

The most important thing with painting stripes is making sure your measurements are good so you can tape off straight lines.

Check out some of vertical stripes I did in our bedroom. Im actually gonna add a little more later on but here is what we have right now:

Blank Wall








All done (for now..lol)

Here is a pic of another wall I painted horizontal stripes on:

Looking for Real Wedding submissions!!

As an African American bride, there aren't many resources out on the web that feature just us. Essence.com does a great job with their weekly wedding features but other than that, I couldn't find many sites at all that showcase us specifically while I was planning my wedding. So that's one of the reasons I enjoy doing it on my blog. In addition to that, I love showcasing love stories because I think its inspiring.

Did you or someone you know have a beautiful wedding recently? I'm looking for new submissions for my African American Real Wedding feature. So if you are interested, please email me at nnekah@gmail.com

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I cant believe it is officially 2010! I still remember when it felt wierd to say the year 2000! But I have to thank God for blessing me with another year to live out my purpose. I also have to thank Him for being so gracious to me in 2009 and blessing me beyond my wildest dreams. Never in a million years did I ever think I'd get engaged AND married in the same year especially thinking back on all those days I sat around wondering when He would send me someone. There was a many a day I felt totally confused and felt it was extremely unfair for God to neglect the desires of my heart! But GOD! I tell ya...he may not come when you want Him but He is always right on time! I thank God for revealing to me in 2009 that no matter how much it seems like He isn't answering your prayers, He is! And Im a testament to that. His plan and timing in reference to my relationship and now marriage was better for me than I could have ever dreamed up for myself. So all you single ladies out there....please please please keep the faith and know that in due time you will reap if you faint not...meaning...hold on...dont give up no matter how your situation looks on the outside. You dont have a clue what God is doing in the background! Trust and know that God knows whats best for you and He will work it out!

Here's wishing everyone a super blessed, prosperous, and healthy 2010!!

VENDOR REVIEW: Ryan Holloway Photography

One of the biggest things on a bride's 'To Do List' is finding a photographer. For some this is an easy process. For others, this process can be a long and grueling one. Unfortunately, it was long and grueling for us. :( It seemed like everyone we found was either way out the budget, were already booked, or were unprofessional. For awhile, we were close to just handing one of our friends a digital camera and getting them to do our wedding pics!! (Well not really, but you get the point of how frustrated we were..lol)

Anywho, finally we came across Ryan Holloway Photography. Ryan is based out of Northern Virginia so we made an appointment with him immediately. When we arrived we were greeted with a super friendly and professional guy. He talked us through our options and listened to what we wanted. We also got him to do one of our engagement photo sessions as well. Ryan and his wife (she works with him too) were great to work with! They really captured all aspects of our wedding day! We loved his work! If you are in the VA,DC, MD area, I would highly recommend checking out Ryan Holloway Photography (and he's reasonably priced too)

http://ryanholloway.smugmug.com/

Here are a few of my fav pics! Stay tuned for a few more when I do our Real Wedding feature soon!