Reflections: Boys + Girls

We had a pretty large bridal party. However, it was just too hard trying to decide who should and shouldn’t be included so we took a view and set a limit.

Working with such a large group of people, based in different countries was not always easy and communication was key. We can’t thank our best man and maid of honour for the fantastic organisational skills they possessed in pulling everything together!

The boys hired navy suits from Slaters and since I’m not a fan of flowers, you will notice no boutonnieres, as I thought they were a complete waste on money and didn’t add to anything.

When looking at bridesmaid dresses in the initial search stages, I soon discovered how overpriced they were, so I decided to source my own fabric and get a local seamstress to make them instead. My sister and I went back and forth with the design and in the end agreed on a strapless, fishtail dress.

The whole dress worked out around £60 and Obi the girl who made them was fantastic. She was super patient and even with one of my bridesmaids arriving from overseas on the Thursday before the wedding, she had her dress ready, fitted and completed in 24 hours! She even made alterations to my traditional attire from Nigeria as well.

Tip: It’s often cheaper to buy your own fabric and get dresses made to measure. Ask around for reputable seamstresses.

 

We had a rehearsal the day before and that was the first time everyone got to meet everyone else.

At the church…they walked down the aisle and the girls curtsied, while the men bowed, before taking their places.

 

Unbeknown to us, Jide went round and took individual snaps of all our bridal party! SB is missing as she was leading worship and the best man is also not there. I guess duty called!

The girls… My sister sourced matching headbands for them all!

 

The Boys…Don’t they look dappa!

Two weeks before the wedding, my sister got all the bridesmaid together for a lunch, where roles and responsibilities were assigned. This was really important because it ensured that everyone had a clear idea of what they were doing on the day and there was no confusion.

Tip: Assign roles to people, so that things don’t get missed and jobs are spread evenly.

   

All together now…

All images {Alakija & Co}

Guest Post: Attention seeking bridesmaids!

This is a guest post from YNC from YNC Lounge.

Attention seeking bridesmaids- you will know them by their behaviour

Your wedding day is suppose to be the best day in your life, but what happens when you have bridesmaids that just don’t care and want to be the centre of attention on your very own special day. Why? I don’t know. I guess we just have to find out after this post and I have given them a perfect name, they are called attention seeking bridesmaids. Are you one of them? Maybe yes or maybe no, you might be an attention seeking bridesmaid if you happen to fall into any one of the following categories:

a)Hairstyle: I have seen bridesmaid’s that want the same hairstyle and makeup as the bride, are you kidding me, no am not kidding. It happened at a wedding I went to two years ago, there was this bridesmaid that requested she has the same hair piece and makeup as the bride, everyone wasn’t too surprised when she came to the wedding with her own choice of hairstyle and it was even worse to find out she was the brides best friend. Now, that’s a bad friend right there.

b)Dress: Being the bride, you have to outshine your girls, yes it’s not bad to say so, it’s your very own special day and your girls should be polite enough to wear whatever you pick for them, can’t they just be happy with you for one day and stop questioning your instincts. For example: You want all the girls in a particular dress, all long and flowing, you have girl A obeying your order and the next girl B goes to her tailor to have the dress trimmed to her taste and style, in fact you wonder why she has her dress going from an evening dress to a cocktail dress. It happens, I have seen girls do it .

c)Shoes: You told all the girls that they had to wear silver shoes and one of your girls shows up with a black shoe. Why? You wonder, she just wants to be the centre of attention and make you mad, you have her removed from the bridal party at the last minute and she curses you out. Yeah we have bridesmaidzilla, where can we find such a word in the English dictionary. You tell me.

d)Not listening, ignoring her calls and showing up late: A lot of people think that most brides change to something else when it comes to planning their perfect wedding, they hate to see their friend shinning and getting all the attention on her special day, hence they want to make her mad by not listening to her tips, showing up late and just doing the unthinkable by ignoring her calls. Some girls even go as far as repaying a friend evil for evil based on something that occurred in the past. What a shame!

e)Not smiling: Attention seeking bridesmaid would go as far as not smiling to ruin your picture or spreading rumours during the photography section, they feel forced and jealous of you that they would strive to spoil your perfect picture moment by not smiling. Some even go as far as saying, “your white dress doesn’t look sexy or does your dress make you look fat?” Sucks right.

It’s best for every bride to beware of attention seeking bridesmaid knowing that you can never really tell if your sister or best friend might end up changing on your special D-day for worse. My best advice is for brides to choose their bridal party based on character and true friendship as opposed to numbers and looks. There’s more to it people and you want the very best on your special day.

The Colour Purple

In African culture you choose wedding colours, which will be your theme for the day and also the accent colour which guests can wear also.

Our wedding colour is purple. I've always liked it as colour and there are so many variations on the shades that it comes in. I am attending one other wedding this year and as far as I'm aware, purple is not being used by the other bride. Our bridesmaids and groomsmen will have elements of purple in their outfits to tie everybody in together.

I have already found my wedding dress (top secret until the big day) and now I'm focusing on the dresses for our bridal party. We have seven bridesmaid and six groomsmen, all ranging from family to close friends. For the bridesmaids in particular, it’s about every girl looking and feeling her best on the day, whilst still letting her individual style come through. I'm not about to put them in ugly dresses or enforce particular hair styles for example, as that won't work for everyone. Ultimately I want them to look stylish and be comfortable.

I visited three stores with my sister, chief bridesmaid and one of my bridesmaids. There were a few styles of dresses that we liked but when we asked about colours and fabrics, they didn't come in the ones we needed. After looking at the dresses in store, we have decided to get them made by a seamstress as it will work out more cost effective and we can have more influence on the style and fabric. I sourced the fabric in Bradford {great fabric stores there} and after going back and forth with a few designs, we finally put together a style which I think will suit all the girls.

Here are a few of my favourite styles...

Dessy

Dessy

Dessy

Monsoon

Alfred Angelo

Dessy - love love love this one - it's my fave!