Aso-ebi Outfit of the Week

I wish outfits like this would look this good on me, but I tend to notice that I look better with form fitting outfits. Nevertheless, this is VERY cute and I might try this style anyways. Enjoy!!

Source

Giveaway Reminder!

Don't forget that I have the My Wedding Giveaway going!

You have a chance to win a $25 Visa Gift Card!

Click here to access the REALLY quick quiz.

Good luck!

Wedding Quiz Giveaway

So I mentioned some months ago that I didn't want to clue you into everything during the planning stages because I was going to have a giveway. Now that the wedding is over and you've seen a few aspects, here's your chance at the giveaway.

I'm going to ask a few questions that relate to my wedding and if you paid attention to the last few posts, you will have the answers for it.







*If you are viewing this through you're GoogleFeed, you must go to the website to complete the quiz*

Based on the most correct answers, a winner will be chosen. If there is a tie, the winner will be drawn at random using random.org. And one more stipulation....you must be a follower of the blog either through Facebook or Google.

 The winner will receive a $25 Visa Gift Card and it must be completed by November 29, 11:59p. Good luck!!!

Real Wedding: Kelechi and Tayo

When I asked what type of wedding recap followers would prefer, it was split pretty closely between a play by play of the day and a detailed interview like the real wedding features. So, I've decided to do both. I'll give a short interview like features I do for other brides and then a more detailed wedding recap.

I will say that my wedding day is more than I could ever imagine. It's been six weeks and people are still talking about certain elements that were very unique and had never been seen before. I'm glad that I could do something that was memorable and not just another wedding. The vision that I had for this wedding really came to fruition.

 1. How did the two of you meet?

We actually met at a singles forum that my church was having. I was an executive officer of the singles group so, of course, I was expected to be there. Although we met there, we were casual friends for a full year before he asked me for my phone number.

2. Tell us about your proposal?

Although we discussed about marriage and I knew that he would propose, I didn't know when it would be. He took me to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Copeland's. When we walked back to the car, he asked me to open the glove compartment and lo and behold, there was a ring box. I was pretty much speechless after that as he proposed. Of course, I said YES!

3. Who planned your wedding?

Me, myself, and I. I didn't have a coordinator until 3 months before the wedding and she was helping to coordinate the day mostly as opposed to finding vendors, etc.,

4. What was the design inspiration for your wedding?

I have to say that my vision of the day changed a couple of times. Initially, I wanted something very retro based on circles (like confetti, paper lanterns, etc.,) but I came across the idea of incorporating peacock feathers in the wedding, and that became what the theme of the wedding was based on. I also wanted something very vintage, but urban like.

5. Tell us about finding your wedding dress.

I probably tried on over 100 dresses. What I envisioned was something that was a mermaid fit that had ruching, ruffles, beading, and lace. It was a tall order to find all of those things on one dress. I eventually settled on Cosmobella 7413, but when I went to order at the bridal salon, they told me they were discontinuing the color I wanted. Therefore, I ended up having it custom made to fit and it's GORGEOUS!

6. How does being a West African bride differ from being an American bride?

I think it differs because of the cultural aspects involved. I think being a West African bride is a choice more than anything. Being an American bride doesn't have any cultural aspects tied to it. I could have chosen not to embrace any of the mandatory traditions that come with my family's heritage but out of respect for my parents, I chose to complete many of the required aspects.

7. Did you do anything out of the ordinary or non-traditional?

There were several things that we did that would be considered out of the ordinary/non-traditional. We didn't have our ceremony in a church. We chose to have the ceremony and reception in the same location. The ceremony was outside in the garden and the reception was inside a historical mansion. During the ceremony, instead of doing the unity candle ceremony, we did something called the wine box ceremony. 

8. Did you have a budget? Do you care to share what it was? Did you go over your budget or stay under budget?

We definitely had a budget. Without saying the exact number, our original budget was 21% less than what the average cost of wedding is in the U.S. for approximately 200 (average number of wedding guests in the U.S. is 130). Unlike most couples, we considered our rings and honeymoon to be part of our budget. When all is said and done, we went over that original budget by 16%. If I don't include our rings and honeymoon, our original budget would be 29% less than the national average and we would actually be under budget by 1%. I would attribute the overage to the original budget to last minute unforeseen details such as having to rent chafing dishes 3 days before the wedding and then underestimating the cost of chair rentals.

9. What was the biggest thing you did to save money? 

The biggest thing I did to save money was doing a lot of the items myself including printing all the stationary and bringing in the decorations. Being a DIY bride isn't for everybody but I was willing to give up my time to make the wedding I wanted happen, especially since I'm highly particular. Because I'm a nerd like that, I've calculated how much I actually saved and what was spent is about 35% less than what it would have cost if I had paid to have someone else do it.

10. What was your biggest splurge?

My biggest splurge by far was the venue as it was 25% over my venue budget, but it was worth it as it was unique and different from what most people would use for a wedding.

11. What advice would you give to someone planning their wedding?

• Reconcile your dream wedding with your budget. My dream wedding would have cost almost double the national average, but I definitely didn't have that kind of money. We picked what was most important to us and put the majority of money towards that.
• Pick 3 - 4 things that are most important and put money towards that. Our most important items were the venue, photography/videography, and food. After that, everything is not as important, therefore, don't spend as much money on it.
• Take a few minutes and think about the last wedding you attended. What do you actually remember about it? Not much, huh. Think about that when you decide to spend extra $$$ on patterned tablecloths or personalized napkins. Most guests only remember 4 things (whether it's bad or good): The food, the venue, the music, and organization.  
• Find ways to make it happen within your budget. Do you REALLY want chargers at each place setting? I did. I was able to find some chargers for cheap but they were the wrong color. So guess what I did, I spraypainted them the right color and cost me less than going out to buy them.
• Make sure you and your fiance are a united front, especially if you're paying for your wedding. My husband and I paid for our wedding ourselves without help from our parents and many people tried to circumvent my ideas, suggestions, requirements, etc., by trying to talk to my now husband. When he informed them that what they were told is what stands, people quickly figured out that they weren't going to be able to get their way.

12. Who were your vendors?

Ceremony/Reception Venue: Callanwolde Arts Center
Photographer: Keith Hammock Photography
Videographer: D & R Films
Caterer: Taste of Africa, tasteofafrica25 [at] yahoo [dot] com
Day of Coordinator: AlexK Events
Makeup Artist: Shay Ashmon Artistry - shayashmon [at] yahoo [dot] com
DJ: The Smart DJ
Chair Rentals: Atlanta Event Rentals
Tableware Rentals: RSVP Rentals

And there it is! Very soon, I'll be doing a play by play of the day, as well as vendor reviews to help out other brides. The planning process was tedious, stressful, and created lots of anxiety for me, but now that it's over, I can definitely say it was worth it. I'm glad that I stuck to the majority of my guns for this and I hope that other West African brides can see that doing things a little different can definitely be done and still come out with a glorious day!

Wedding Video: Kelechi and Tayo

So, just a few more days and I'll post pictures from the wedding. It's been difficult to pick pictures as my photographer took SO many good pictures.

Not to be outdone is my videographer, D&R Films. I looked at so many videographers (over a 100) and what he presented was the BEST! I love his work! I'll get more into my review of him later, but for now enjoy the short trailer!

*The password is drfilms1


Kelechi + Omotayo Teaser 10.09.11 from D&RFilms on Vimeo.

The Single Longest Undertaking....

was all of the stationary for my wedding. All in all it actually took me a full year to get all the stationary designed and printed.

In deciding to be a DIY bride, I initially decided that I would design and print all of the stationary myself when I came across a posting on one of my favorite wedding websites, WeddingBee, about a graphic designer looking to build her portfolio and was willing to design ALL stationary for a bride.

I quickly responded to her posting and started getting several designs completed for everything paper related for the wedding which included the invitations, programs, monograms, table numbers, signs, etc., Although she designed everything, I still printed and assembled everything on my own. I actually intend on providing a full review of the service when I further discuss my vendors, but for now, here's a look at all of the items together.

Invitations:
I wanted something that wouldn't cost me an arm and leg to mail in postage, therefore, I decided to create a business letter size accordion style invitation, but I had to make sure the invitation would still be large enough to include all the information since there wouldn't be any additional inserts. Therefore, I had the invitation created on 8.5 x 14 linen cardstock then to give it a little more color, I had the edges covered with teal blue cardstock.

This is what it looked like put together and closed.

Below is a picture of the closed invitation and the belly band I created to hold the invitation together. The monogram on the belly band was created by the graphic designer and says "Kelechi and Omotayo, 10.9.2011"

The wording for the main body of the invitation was this:

Philia.Eros.Agape

An answered prayer he is to me, my greatest blessing she'll always be

And so this day we'll pledge our love, in front of family, friends, and God above
Kelechi Michelle ******
and
Omotayo Oladejo ******
Together with their parents

Request the pleasure of your company

To celebrate love, happiness, and joy of their marriage


Callanwolde Arts Center

980 Briarcliff Avenue

Atlanta, Georgia 30306

Sunday, October ninth, two thousand eleven 

half past four o' clock in the afternoon prompt
Seating begins at quarter til four o'clock


Reception to immediately follow

Strictly Invitation Only

Click on picture to view larger

The left side includes our accommodations and registry information with the right side including our RSVP information and directions to the venue.

On my invitation, I got flack for one thing (which no one ever told me, but heard through the grapevine) which was that we didn't include either of our parents' names on the invitation. We opted to say "Together with our parents". I chose not to include their names mainly because my mother wasn't supportive of neither myself or my husband and according to culture, our families were already joined with the completion of the traditional wedding. My husband and I paid for the entire wedding ourselves and felt that the wedding was a representation of US, not our parents. My husband's parents were indifferent as to whether or not it was there.

Table Numbers:

To avoid having to get a bunch of different designs for a menu and reception program, I created a trifold table number where one side had the table number, the second side had the menu, and the third side had the reception program. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a picture of the third side.

 

Ceremony Programs:

The ceremony programs were a 6 page fan program which included the wedding party information, program  for the ceremony, words to the hymn, and our wine box ceremony

There were also signs and a seating chart made, however, they didn't get to be utilized during the wedding. I'll give more on that story later.

But what do you think of all the stationary?

Répondez S'il Vous Plaît

or better known as R.S.V.P.

One thing that was of MAJOR importance to mean for this wedding was enforcing the concept of R.S.V.P.

Source

For most Americans or those who have lived in the U.S. for a number of years are very aware of the concept of R.S.V.P., however, when it comes to most Nigerians (even those who are very aware of this concept) it becomes a foreign thing when requested to do so for a wedding.

I mean, is it really that hard? If this was an American wedding, Nigerian guests would have R.S.V.P'd with no problem, but because they know it's a Nigerian wedding, all of sudden, "it can't be done". Of course, the bride and groom (or the parents of) should ALWAYS know that you'll attend their events (Really? I should just assume that you have nothing else to do with your day, so you'll ALWAYS come to any event that you're invited to). In this day and age with harder economic times, you'd think others would be more considerate (but I guess it's never like that when it's not your money being spent), but I digress.

I offered my invited guests 2 different ways to be able to R.S.V.P:

• Online through our wedding website
• Phone through voicemail service

I offered 2 different methods because I knew that we would have guests that aren't as internet savvy as others, therefore, the option to call and leave a message was also available.

I impressed upon my mother, as well as my husband's family to inform people that the wedding was invitation only and that RSVPs were required. Of course, my and my husband's friends were the first to get their R.S.V.Ps in. I sent emails, texts, and facebook messages to every guest that I could to try my best to ensure that we would get people to do this.

And while many did, there were many that did not. The reason that I required R.S.V.P. is because I was implementing a seating chart for the reception, therefore, I would need to know who and who was not attending. By the day of the wedding, there were several people who had to wait to be seated (as opposed to being able to go right in with guests who had reserved their seats) because they forgot to R.S.V.P. As far as I know, we also had at least 5 crashers who were able to get seats due to guests who R.S.V.P'd but didn't show up (which I calculate to be at least 7 people).

This BY FAR, was the one thing that caused alot of headache and stress. However, all in all, I would do it again. What about you? As an African bride, would you implement R.S.V.P.ing at your wedding?