Well ladies, it's about time I started my blog. I have been saying that I will do this and I have been planning to create my blog for the last 3 months but something has always come up! I am up at 3am this morning (UK time) starting my blog....I must be crazy!



I will post a few of the ideas, colours and pictures that may help to explain the theme behind our wedding. Just to explain for those of you that don't know my story, FH and I are getting married on 14th February 2009 (Valentine's Day) and our colours are turqouise and ivory with a hint of red (to represent Valentine's day!). We have been planning this wedding properly for about a year and now most family members and friends are doing their bit to help make our wedding as special as possible. We cannot wait to get married and to be honest, I am having a ball doing most of the planning!



All FH has to do is sort out suits for him and his groomsmen (he still hasn't done this) and plan our honeymoon (I think we're going on a cruise around the Pacific Islands - Tahiti, Hawaii, etc - or combining cruise to Seychelles, Maldives, Mauritius and Kenya). FH was really enthusiastic about all of the wedding planning at the beginning, but I think there is only so much interest a man can have in flower arrangements and table decorations! That's why I'm so glad I have you ladies to share my ideas with......



Ok, here goes (let's hope I remember how to post pictures...). Welcome to our wedding, which we have called "Hearts of the Caribbean" and this combines our Valentine and Caribbean themed wedding:

These are a couple of pictures of our wedding reception venue, which is called Theobalds Park. We are having a church ceremony nearby.

Most importantly - the DRESS!! I went to the US for my birthday in April (courtesy of FH - thanks boo!) and managed to find the dress of my dreams at the Pronovias Store just off 5th Avenue. Beautiful as it was, it was also a nice price too ($2100). I did not really want to spend this much on a dress, especially as we are having a blessing ceremony in May in St Lucia and I found another dress for that. The budget for the dress was therefore smaller.



Luckily, when I came back to the UK, I found a store that was willing to sell me the dress for half of the price. I ordered the Pronovias Nicole dress in ivory and I love it so much! Here it is in oyster (which is a bit darker than ivory) on the Pronovias model and also on a real bride from Spain:



















I am also wearing the lace bolero on this dress:

I called in a favour from my brother in law and we designed invitations for my bridesmaids. I made up different poems for each bridesmaid to tell them what they mean to me (I have 6 of them!):

I have also recently designed labels for our CD wedding favours:







I might use the design on other items for the wedding.

Check out the playlist on our CD Wedding favours - I'm going to make sure the DJ plays most of these during the evening reception!! We have made a double CD (of songs that have special meaning to us) for each guest:



Hearts of the Caribbean - Love & Romance

1) Boyz II Men - Ribbon in the Sky (A Capella) - the wedding party are walking into church to this tune

2) Eric Benet & Tamia - Spend my Life with You

3) Beyonce & Stevie Wonder - So Amazing

4) D'Angelo - Lady

5) Heatwave - Always & Forever (my friend will be singing this in the church)

6) Kenny Lattimore - For You

7) Johnny Gill - You for Me (The Wedding Song)

8) Mary J Blige - Share my World

9) Jodeci - My Heart Belongs to You

10) Natalie Cole - Inseparable

11) Omar - There's Nothing Like This

12) Will Downing - Falling in Love

13) John Legend - Stay With You (my friend is also singing this in the church)

14) Toni Braxton - How Many Ways (R Kelly Remix)

15) Mariah Carey & Luther Vandross - Endless Love

16) Donnell Jones - Knocks Me Off My Feet

17) Musiq Soulchild - Love

18) Anita Baker - Sweet Love

19) Instrumental - When I Fall In Love



Hearts of the Caribbean - Party Time

1) The Mac Band: Roses are Red

2) 2 Pac: Do for Love

3) Lauryn Hill: You're Too Good to be True

4) Natalie Cole: Everlasting Love

5) Cameo: Candy (The Wedding Dance)

6) Lil Mo feat Fabolous: Forever

7) Michael Jackson: Don't Stop Till You Get Enough

8) Shalamar: A Night to Remember

9) Taurus Riley: She's Royal

10) Bob Marley: Is This Love

11) Steve Sealy: Sugar Bum Bum (chose thsi song because it is named after my mum, Audrey!)

12) Evelyn "Champagne" King: I'm In Love

13) Chaka Khan: I Feel For You

14) R Kelly: Step in the Name of Love

15) Mary J Blige: Love No Limit

16) Joe: I'm In Luv

17) Mantronix: Got to Have Your Love

18) Next: Wifey

19) Arrow: Long Time (the ultimate calypso party tune - reflects our St Lucian heritage!)





You guys may not know all of the tunes on here, but believe me - we are going to have a fantastic party when the DJ drops some of these tunes!

My Maid of Honour's dress:







The bridesmaids dresses are being made at the moment, but they are likely to look like this:







These are just ideas of how their flowers are going to look with their dresses:

Shoes - I found a beautiful pair I can dye in the right colour from David's Bridal. I'm going to have to get my cousin to pick these up for me!!







Also like these shoes, but these might be too fussy for the wedding day:







I love blue shoes!! These are my "something blue" for the wedding day....

Wedding party, my mum and mother in law and my nan and gran will be travelling to and from the church in a limo:



Me and my dad will be in a Bentley Arnage:

The cake is being made by FH's aunty in St Lucia - she will be coming over in January to complete the cake. It is a bit of an elaborate idea, but she makes cakes for a living so she should have no problem. I have no pictures yet, but this is an idea of the colours involved:



She is making 11 mid size cakes but they will be arranged in a heart shaped raised platform with a fountain in the middle. I know I'm not doing a very good job of describing it, but if you are looking directly at the table, it will seem as if the cakes are raised diagonally towards you in a big heart shape. It sounds amazing and I can't wait to see it!!

There will also be 6 cut glasses around the front of the cake with these heart shaped floating candles inside:

Nice idea for table decoration, but I will have the CD favours and the Love Hearts sweets on the table, with a mixture of ivory and red rose petals

The lady that is doing my flowers is so sweet - this is an example of her tropical arrangments:



Last week, she did a sample of our centrepieces for the reception tables - she will put turqouise water in each vase for the finished product:





Next month, she will be doing a sample of my bouquet - can't wait!

The plan is to serve cocktails and rum punch at the cocktail reception while a steel band is playing:





Think Caribbean sunshine, relaxing on the beach with the steel band playing in the background - this is what we want our guests to feel like....even if it might be a cold day in February!! So far, the last 2 February's have been pretty good weather wise, so keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't rain......

I am going to start doing my invitations and order of service (which will follow the DIY template on the ViBride website that everyone loves! Thanks Ginoue!) soon - pictures to follow....

Finally (for now!), our rings:


My Engagement Ring (but in 18kt yellow gold)





A company in New York have offered to design my wedding ring and I have narrowed it down to one of these - will choose some time next week.

FH wants a two tone ring and will choose one of these:

Well, it is now 4.30am (UK time) and I am falling asleep at my laptop! Now do you see why it took me so long to start this blog??!! I will update the blog as and when I finish my DIY projects.

Will also post details of our website in the next few days for you to all have a look at - I hope you enjoy the details I've given so far. I would love to hear what you all think! xx

Wow you pretty much covered everything! Do you know what the guys are wearing?

ieasha wrote:

Wow you pretty much covered everything! Do you know what the guys are wearing?

I agree, you have everything covered... BTW your dress looks stunning! I guess you'll be wearing your blue shoes with it - very striking...

everything is lovely dear.lm loving the shoes too

everything looks great!!! I love the dress!

DiamondsBride you have it all covered. I love everything! You have exquisite taste! All the best my sister.

Wow, I love this blog already. Great choices Diamond Bride. Love the lace bolero jacket and my favorite of all is your centerpieces. I can't wait to see pics of your day.

WOW!!!
DiamondBride you are on a roll. This blog is amazing already. I'm eager to see more for the next three months. Your gown is absolutely STUNNING.
Everything looks amazing!!!

Diamond Bride, I'm loving everything. I think I told you already that I liked your colors. I especially like your gown. I'm sure it's going to look gorgeous on you too. I like your theme, and everything is reminding me of beautiful St. Lucia. Regarding the music, I had an R&B play list too, but I found with mostly caribbean guests, their booties got shaking more with calypso and soca music, so if that's where most of your guests are from, you might want to ask the DJ to throw in a healthy dose of that too (I know you have one song) to really get the party started. Fabulous, sistah!

I am loving your Blog!!! You have everything together. I cant wait to see the pics of the finish Big Day! Great Job

Hi Diamondbride....so nice to finally see your blog. Guess what now I have another exciting countdown- valentines day is just round the corner!! I love love love the way you are using the reds and the tropical colours against the backdrop of the tifanny blue- its so modern and fresh!! Oh and i love birds of paradise and the love flower (you know the one i mean..i have called it that since i was a kid) Anywho- do you ever watch weddingtv on SKY- so they had a black couple on Happily Ever After (imagine that) and their wedding was a baby blue- OK- not as inspired as your wedding- but its just nice to see black folk on TV. Anyway before I get carried away- love the way everything is turning out- and your ring is as i would call it bling blaaauuuww - hmmm that must turn heads on the tube!! Is it me or does this 'time' make you more aware of what other girls are wearing on 'the finger' lol very silly i know but addictive

Dreamgurl - I am addicted totally addicted to Wedding TV!!! In fact, there is quite a few black folk on British TV now! Loving Bridezilla and For Better or For Worse....but have you been watching Style Network channel - check out "Whose Wedding is it Anyway" - really good black couples planning their weddings!

As for the rings - I am always checking out what women are wearing on their wedding finger (it's like I belong to some secret "we're getting married" club or something!)

Knock knock - how's the planning coming along? Have you had your gown fitting yet? Please dish out!

Was I under a rock or something? How did I miss this?!! You'll look stunning in that gown!! Everything is coming along GREAT. Go Diamond!!!

Hey girls! Well - I've got my gown already (had it since April), but I've been trying it on every month to make sure it stilll fits.....so fat so good!! Had my make up trial today, but I wanted a more natural look while still looking sexy. The make up lady was very nice and she does know how to apply make up, but it all looked a bit too made up. I'll try and post a picture when I get round to downloading my pictures from my phone.

Do you guys have any pictures of nice natural sexy bridal make up for mid to dark black skin! Need pictures to show her exactly what I want!!!! Any help would be much appreciated.....

Oh yeah......almost forgot to tell my ViBride sisters that I finally finished our website! Please give me your honest opinions (I'll try and post a link below):

Wedding: Click Text Here

Blessing: Click Text Here

I hope it worked!

Sorry girls - password for the wedding website is "valentine"

Kizzy, OMG! It's fantastic girl!

phenomonique wrote:

Kizzy, OMG! It's fantastic girl!

Thanks for signing my guest book honey! Much appreciated!

LOVE your site!! girl, I thought I needed a box of popcorn..it was like I was at a movie--LOL

Great job on the site. It is beautiful!

Wow, I love the website. You can really see the love that's shared between you. Great job!!

OMG Kizzy, you're the bomb girl. Great job. I love everything about your blog. Truly magnificent. Wow!!!

DiamondBride wrote:

Hey girls! Well - I've got my gown already (had it since April), but I've been trying it on every month to make sure it stilll fits.....so fat so good!! Had my make up trial today, but I wanted a more natural look while still looking sexy. The make up lady was very nice and she does know how to apply make up, but it all looked a bit too made up. I'll try and post a picture when I get round to downloading my pictures from my phone.

Do you guys have any pictures of nice natural sexy bridal make up for mid to dark black skin! Need pictures to show her exactly what I want!!!! Any help would be much appreciated.....

Hope these helps...

BTW - Your website rocks... the two of you make a lovely couple.

Dee Love - you are a star!! This is exactly what I was looking for!!! Thank you so much.....I'm going to send this to my make up lady right away!!!

Kizzy,
I just love the site. You guys are a great looking couple. I'm also loving this blog. Cant wait to see the wedding pics

DiamondBride wrote:

Dee Love - you are a star!! This is exactly what I was looking for!!! Thank you so much.....I'm going to send this to my make up lady right away!!!

U're welcome my dear...

Well, there are 38 days to go till the wedding and we had a little set back on New Year's Eve. I received a letter from our photographer's wife with our deposit enclosed, stating that the photographer could no longer cover our wedding - he had a family emergency and would be out of the country for 4 months. I was so angry, I was getting ready to write a nasty letter - they didn;t even have the courtesy to call me and let me know what's up - just a short letter with our cheque.

I spoke to one of my bridesmaids and told her what happened. She thought it was a bit weird that he would have to leave the country for 4 months, even if someone had died abroad or something. I thought maybe he had another wedding to cover that was more money and that's why he had to get out of doing ours. My bridesmaid didn't think this sounded right either - she suggested typing his name into Google or MSN to see what came up. I thought it was a stupid idea, but I did it anyway.

To my suprise, his name did in fact come up and also explained where he was. My photographer was in PRISON!!!! I could not believe what I was reading.

To make matters worse, the article explained that my photographer was involved in a car accident last July. He was following his GPS satellite navigation system and he ended up driving the wrong way up a dual carriageway. He ignored to road signs that told him to turn off and he ended up colliding with a female in another vehicle. My heart skipped a beat when I heard the female had just gotten engaged and was due to have her engagement party 2 days after the accident, but unfortunately she died before she arrived at the hospital.

I'm telling you, I could not think straight all day. I felt so sorry for the girl's family but I also felt sympathy for my photographer and his family. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison just before Christmas and he has 4 young children who had to be without their dad for Christmas. Now I understand why he wife couldn't phone me.

It just reminded me to live in the moment and praise God for the time with have with our family and friends.

On a more positive note, we found a lovely photographer and we get to have another engagement shoot for free!! Photos to follow....

Wooooow Diamond that's terrible. Well at least they sent your deposit back and you had time to find someone else. That a blessing because things could have worked out much differently.

That's an incrediblly sad story. Praise the Lord you were able to find another photographer in time. Why does it seem the cancellations/or strange stories usually involve the photographer?

Thats sad - for both families... glad to hear things worked out for you though.

I'm just glad that you got your money back, because sometimes, you don't. As sorry as I feel for the man and his family, I feel more for the girl's family because at least the man would get to come home after a while. But the girl is gone forever. It was a truly bad accident and that's all it was,just a stupid accident, but she's still gone. That's why I don't have a GPS in my car. Ok when were we so hooked with gadgets and when are we going to realise that the end is near. Placing all those shiny objects to distract us is just the work of the enemy. I'd rather use "Yahoo Maps" "Mapquest" and other means. Too many stupid accidents are being caused by those stupid GPS. Before they came out with them, we were just fine, weren't we. Sorry, just venting because they're been too many senseless deaths associated with those things so far.

WOW DiamondBride, thats so sad. I too had a similar situation just days before my wedding. But it was my videographer, her brother was killed in a motorcycle accident and she had to (understandably)cancel.
I'm so glad that you found another photographer. Everything will still be perfect on your wedding day