Steel Band

A while back my aunt gave me a great idea of having a steel band play during our cocktail hour. I like the idea of having something from my culture included into our wedding and it will be nice for my FI's family and friends to experience a taste of my Carri bean culture. So when I told him about the idea he absolutely loved it, I picture our family mingling at the out door cocktail hour with drinks in their hand while the sweet sounds of "Stir It Up" floating through the air. Someone pass me a Mojito and jerk chicken :)

8th month mark...almost

Yes, yes yall were almost at the 8th month mark and I'm to excited that this wedding is almost here (actually I just can't wait to be married to my sweetie). I have so much to do, first off I can't wait to hang out with my MOH & BM's and start discussing their dresses and what not. Two of them already told me they can't wait to start doing stuff for the wedding :) they are too sweet. My MOH is my sister Kimmy the DIVA my BM's are my cuzzin's Chenille,Krissy, my adopted lil sis Natini (Tini) and my row dog Monique (Mo Mo). These ladies have my back they already let me know that if someone upsets me they will be opening up cans of whop ass...hahaha

Here's a list of some of the things we need to do for September:
-Create our registry
-Food tasting
-Take e-pics
-Meet with dress maker
-Start looking at invitations
-Start my DIY projects
-Cake tasting
-Send out save the dates to family & friends who live out of state & country
-Start looking into blocks of hotel rooms

I'll be having my ladies help me with as much as possible :)

Veil's & bags

I'm gonna keep it real with you ladies I am not a traditional bride and my wedding will not be traditional my e-ring is proof. So I decided that I don't want a long flowing chapel length veil, no no not for me. They are beautiful and all but it's just not my style I want to wear something small & cute, and if I want to rock it for the entire wedding it's not in the way. So I'm thinking about birdcage veils and a nice clutch. Something like this

Sunday's mean Sex & The City

This is one of my fav shows and since I'm watching the movie and forgot about the beautiful couture gowns featured in the movie I wanted to give them some shine. These dresses are BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait for the second Sex & The City movie :)

I'm diggin the bird :)

And in the end the bride wore a dress from no one, I love this suite.

Forever thine

Forever mine

Forever ours

Our colors

Our wedding colors are turquoise or light turquoise & gold (FI chose them), I was told by a close friend of the family that "the gold would be to strong and over power the turquoise, you should choose another color." Needles to say I was pissed that someone had the nerve to tell me what I should do for my wedding. However, since that event I have been told what I should and shouldn't do for my wedding. But in the end he & I have the final say and our colors will remain turquoise & gold and WE will decide what will and will not be done for our wedding.

PS - Thanks for letting me vent I needed that, back to the colors

Wedding gowns

I know I posted that my gown is ordered but that doesn't stop me from looking :)

These are some of my fav dresses some I tried on while others...ahh I can only dream about. My fav designer is Jim Helm, next in line would be Lazaro, Casablanca and Jasmine (in no particular order)

I wanted this dress so bad, then I found out the price and woke up

I was in love with this one too and came very close to choosing it until "The One" stole my heart :)

Wedding Gowns

My search for my gown is over but I wanted to post some pics of some dresses that I tried on when I was searching. My first stop was RK Bridal in NYC I actually liked my experience at this boutique. The sales associate Emily was very nice and helpful, she even let me sneak some pics of me in the dresses. Most of the dresses I tried on were Casablanca, take a look

The pics do these dresses no justice, these dresses are absolutely BEAUTIFUL but I knew none of them were "The One". So I thanked Emily and headed off to David's Bridal.

Now let me just say that I have nothing against anyone who has or is thinking of getting their gown from David's Bridal but their dresses are not for me. Maybe it's just the store that I went to and the sales associate that I had but it turned me off from DB all together. They did let me take pics of myself so here they are

I saw this dress on line and was convinced that this was "The One" but when I put it on it was too heavy for me.

I saw "The One" in a bridal magazine sometime after trying on these dresses I found out what stores had the gown I made my appointment and went to try it on. The boutique that has my "One" is Bridal Reflections in Massapequa. When I first got their the sales associate wanted me to try on a dozen of dresses and I kept asking her for my "One". Finally I try it on and didn't want to take it off and that's when I knew I found the right one. Oh yeah I couldn't take any pics at this boutique :-( to share.

Centerpieces, Centerpieces

For the past few months I've been thinking about what flowers were going to use as centerpieces. Originally I wanted blue hydrangeas with orchids but lately I've been thinking about the price tag that will carry. So I've been looking into more affordable flowers (they are a must for me, I love flowers) like carnations and roses. I plan to have a few hydrangeas here and there in the centerpieces but not as much as originally planned.

I always associated carnations with funerals and would never think of using them for a wedding but I keep seeing these beautiful pics of bunches of carnations that are stunning. And roses are not my favorite, maybe because they are so common and I try not to follow the crowd. I found this pic and absolutely love how full it is. It's made up of carnations, white roses and babys breath this one is in the lead as of now.

Natural Hair

I know I'm a little early but I'm thinking about how I'm going to wear my hair for the big day. So you must know by the title that I have natural hair. I have a few styles in mind but I'm very unsure, in the mean time check out what I've been looking at

I'm feeling all of these do's, what yall think?

Flowers

I must admit I'm one of the luckiest brides. Why you ask? Because I have friends with some serious talent I have a friend who's a DJ, another who owns his own car service (for my limo), a friend of the family who has know me from day one who is my coordinator and my friend who is a florist.

I have to meet with my friend soon to discuss flowers. We met with her a few months back and discussed some options. Now that we are getting closer I want to explore some more options. One thing that will not change are my peonies!!! I want a bouquet full of beautiful peonies :)

Me likey :)

These are some bouquets for the bridesmaids that I'm thinking about

This is the EXACT color I want too :)

9 months to go

9 months from today I will marry my man woo hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Today I went over our guest list to do some choppin :(

I was happy at first because I thought we could have everyone from the original list (actually my list) but I miscalculated and had to cut some friends. I hate this part of planning a wedding there are so many people I know and would love to celebrate this day with me but I just can't.

Black Cake/Rum cake?

Some of you who know me personally know that I am of Jamaican decent (blop, blop hehe) and we Jamaicans love some black/rum cake. Whether it's a baby shower, birthday, wedding, Christmas or just a get together black cake is in there. Because of this I'm not a big fan of it I don't hate it but I didn't want it at the wedding. (I'm also a baker hint, hint www.pastrygurl.com)

Enter my mother "What do you mean you don't want any black cake? Well, I'm buying it and you will have that to give to ppl as they leave." Oh boy. So to calm my mother and not have everyone from my side of the guest list asking where the black cake is I gave in.

Show of hands who's having black cake at their wedding (shaking my head and raising my hand)

BTW if you do want black cake for your wedding or just because my friends mom makes it the best. Email me for her info :)

Bridesmaids

Initialy I wanted my bridesmaids to wear designer gowns: Jim Helm (my personal fav), Bill Levkoff, Lazaro, Mori Lee I could go on and on. Then it hit me I was caught up, the dresses are beautiful, stylish, classic and costly. I thought about my bridesmaids, two are in college which means money is not something they have in abundance. So one weekend it came to me why not check on-line to see what gowns department stores have. I checked Macys (ok but not floored) then Bloomy's (nice stuff but no wow factor) my last stop was Nordstrom...people we have a winner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I showed my sister (MOH) some of the dresses that I liked and she was excited. Let me give you guys a little background on my sister (Kimmy I gotta keep it real) she was not a big fan of the designer gowns. Don't get me wrong she liked a few here and there but overall she wasn't a big fan, she actually told me the bridesmaids can wear whatever and she'll just get her dress made. Yes my little sister is a DIVA!!!

I emailed the links to myself and forwarded it to the BM, I told them that they don't have to wear the same dresses and to pick whatever they liked. Here are just a few of the choices:

They all ended up loving the same dress, so here are the BM & MOH dresses:

Photo's courtesy of www.nordstroms.com

Our Venue

Our wedding will be at Westbury Manor :-) we love this place

Check List

I was told recently that I'm smart for getting things done early so I wrote out a list of things that I have ready (or almost) for our wedding:

-Bridal gown (ordered)
-Bridesmaid dresses (well they decided on one)
-Venue
-Officiant
-Broom (I didn't decorate it though)
-Bubbles for the ceremony
-Toasting flutes (they were a gift)
-Photographer & Videographer
-Favors (we decided on what we want)
-Guest book (my DIY project)

It's really not that much because there are much more things to get done but it's a good start. And because I've been reading wedding blogs like crazy I feel I can take on anything. THE CHAMP IS HERE (boom, boom, boom) THE CHAMP IS HERE hehe to much Ali :-)

I'm in the game

I finally decided to start my blog as I travel on the road to matrimony. I am inspired by so many other great blogs that I have become addicted to so I figured I should throw my hat in the ring. So here I am!!!!!!!!!!

So here's a little background on my baby and I. We meet at a frat party at Hofstra University almost six years ago (wow how time has passed) we became a couple a few months later and happy ever since. We decided to get married last fall and he proposed to me on my bday. So here we are planning our wedding and can't wait to spend the rest of our lives together.