I love music and I think the musical choices people make for the different moments on their wedding day says a whole lot about them.

Now, I’m not going to judge your tail. But if you pick “Halle Berrrryyyyyyyyy” for your Mama and ‘nem to walk down the aisle to… I’m going to feel some type a way about your tail… I won’t be mad at ya… I won’t dog ya… But I will feel some type of way about your tail…LOL

Now this is not to say I’m all about traditional choices for wedding music… NO SIR! Not me…For God’s sake, I walked down the aisle to this…

I know Jill Scott “Lyzel in E-Flat”  is not one of the traditional bride walking down the aisle songs but there are no words that better describe the way that man loves me…

You love me especially different every time
You keep me on my feet happily excited
By your cologne, your hands, your smile, your intelligence
You woo me, you court me, you tease me, you please me
You school me, give me some things to think about
Ignite me, you invite me, you co-write me, you love me, you like me
You incite me to chorus, ooh
Ooh…

That fool incites me to chorus…

And for the Flower girl Song I chose was  Nina Simone, “Here Comes the Sun”. Honestly could be one of the most beautiful songs ever written… Very simple,yet very powerful… Nina Simone’s version is OUTLANDISH… I mean, it is… NINA. SIMONE! What else would you expect!

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it’s been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it’s all right

That damn George Harrison did his thing when he wrote that song…And it was very lovely watching my nieces and our kids walk down the aisle to this song… Such a sweet moment. I, also, think it would also make a lovely Bride walking down the aisle song!

So one of the things, I remember the most about our wedding ceremony is the rush of joy I felt, when my cousin, Vayram, pronounced us Ball & Cha- I mean husband and wife… We kissed, everybody screamed, and clapped.  And  at that very moment, the DJ blasted this…

BEST.

MOMENT.

EVER.

When the day that lies ahead of me seems impossible to face
And someone else instead of me always seems to know the way
Then I look at you and the world’s alright with me
Just one look at you and I know it’s gonna be -
A lovely day – lovely day

Just talking about right now is making me cry… It was FUCKING AWESOME. Now you know I don’t curse  on here but honestly… there are no other words to describe it… That ish was exquisite.  He played just as the chorus of  “Lovely Day” is coming in and everybody rushed & hugged us! Everyone was singing and dancing and just FABULOUS! It was the perfect song to send us off to and into our life together. It was the best way to sum up what Michael and I wanted our wedding to be… A lovely day…

People still come up and talk to me about our wedding. And one of the things, I hear a lot  is, “the music was AWESOME!” Before the event some folks gave me some push back on not going with the typical wedding music but as I have told ya’ll countless times… TRUST YOUR HEART and do what YOU want to do on YOUR WEDDING DAY!

My wedding choice were all different… And may be unlike any other music than I’d heard at other weddings… But TheHDIC and the Bab’s don’t have regular weddings… We keep it Unique… We keep it personal… And YOU KNOW we keep it FAB!

I’ll be back in a few with some more fabulous wedding songs next week!

Stay fierce, fabulous, and playing your own songs,

]]> http://blogs.brownandbridal.com/unique-wedding-ceremony-songs-do-something-fabulous/280/feed/ 0 http://blogs.brownandbridal.com/etsy-ectasy-soap-seduction-giveaway/198/ http://blogs.brownandbridal.com/etsy-ectasy-soap-seduction-giveaway/198/#comments Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:19:29 +0000 thehdic http://blogs.brownandbridal.com/?p=198

Do you smell that? I mean, I know we only know each other through the internets and all but I smell so, SO good, I BET if you put your pretty little nose up against the screen you could smell my Chocococanutta deliciousness all up and through your computer screen…

Ummmm hmmm what’d I tell you… I smell MAHVELOUS DAHLING!!!

I’ve officially conquered my life long wish to smell like a big ole bag of chocolate and coconut fantastic-ness…

What’s that you say?

You too want to smell like a big ole bag of delicious…

Soooooo…. What you want me to do about that?

You betta get to mixing up some hustle man scents, pine sol, and bergamot oil or something…. Make it do what it do at the crib…

A diva like myself just can’t be expected to divulge alllll her divaosity secerets… Don’t be jealous boo, boo… hate the playa not the game….

What did you just call me? :clutches pearls:

Well, dag! I had no idea you Babbies were going to get gansta with me like that… Put the shanks down. Black on Black Violence is never the way….

But since ya’ll insist on all the e-thuggery… I will share my seceret….

THE SOAP SEDUCTION….

Girlfriends!!! Let’s talk about it… My husband loves for me to smell good… Like literally he sniffs me all day long… FREAK… But Lately I have been stagnanting on my scents… I needed something new and exciting to mix it up over heah!

So I used my daily etsy stalking effectively and started seeking out some new body delights to surprise my hubby!

And wouldn’t you know! I found all the answers to my smell issues with a sistapreneur named, Patrice!!! Now I’m all about equality and all that fabulousness but it does my heart sooo good to find another sista doing the dang thang… Don’t you agree?

Patrice is the owner and Supreme Soap Seductress at The Soap Seduction On Etsy. She crafts soaps, candles, and all sorts of bath & body fantabulousness!

Case in point:

This fabulousness:

And this Fabulousness:

And this Fabulousness:

ooohhh and this fabulousness:

I know what you thinking, Dang Senam, you always Hungry….:side eye:  Everybody’s a comedian!

But Babbies, these items are not food! They are apart or her Soap Seduction Shop on Etsy!

Can you imagine how cute little baskets of these soaps and body scrubs would be as gifts for your bridesmaids, hostesses, and attendants ! After all that bridezilla-ing you doing over there they deserve something more than that dollar store gift pack you putting together….

She even has Lip Lushes, this one is MANGO PEACH

And these cute Sugar Bubble Jars, this one is the Snickerdoodle!

And the best part is Patrice’s products are wonderfully priced, good for the skin, and fun fun fun!

I bought this one,

Chocolatacoconuta Soap

For only $4 bucks!!!  It smelled great and felt great!  You could really feel the moisture just when I touched the bar of soap. According to Patrice that is totally intentional! She said that she,

came to make soap as a result of my ashy-prone skin being dried out even more by the commercial detergent bars. Even the so-called “moisture” bars did nothing for me. I also wanted a soap in the scents that I like. I’m very partial to food-based fragrances as I know a lot of people are, and I just couldn’t find that commercially. Everything was floral or fruity-floral, and the ingredients had more syllables than I could count! So I set off to make a product that was fun, affordable, and good for the skin. It’s been two years of trial and error, but I’m learning something new almost every day, and I know I’ve done a great job when I get that repeat buyer!

Well Sista Patrice, You got me hooked! And now…. I’m about to hook my lovely ladies of bab UP!!! ALL THE WAY UP!!!

First, Every lovely diva of BAB mentions they heard about her products here on Brown and Bridal.com is automatically eligible for 15% off your ENTIRE PURCHASE!  That right boo, Its SHOPPING TIME!!! You get a discount, You get a discount, EVERY BABBIE GETS A DICOUNT!

:does praise dance:

Oh but wait… Just when you thought your HDIC could do no better…. I HAVE A GIVEAWAY!!!!

YUP Every single babbie that comments on this blog is automatically eligible to win a $25 dollar gift certificate to The Soap Seduction!

FREE! FREE! FREEE!!!!!

:catches the Holy Ghost and begins to speak in tongues:

EEEEEEEEEEEE RRRRRABBB TAMAA SAMLALMA

Yup, I’m a fool…

But anyway!! Can you imagine all the fabulousness you can hook up with your gift certificate for $25 smackerroos! YOUR GOING TO GET IT DIVA!!!!

So go head post a comment on this blog post… Saying what you want to buy with the gift certificate & your username on the BAB Forum! You can register for the forum HERE. It takes 2 seconds and is a great community of women!

The winner will be chosen at random on thursday evening! Check back for the results!!! If I do not hear back for the chosen winner in 48 hours a new winner will be chosen!

Pssst…. want extra entries?

Follow me on twitter @brownandbridal and tweet the link to this post and you will get an extra entry!

Also Blog about BAB and/or this post and you get an extra entry!

Stay fierce, fabulous, and seductive from,

]]> http://blogs.brownandbridal.com/etsy-ectasy-soap-seduction-giveaway/198/feed/ 26 http://blogs.brownandbridal.com/attn-all-brides/193/ http://blogs.brownandbridal.com/attn-all-brides/193/#comments Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:26:42 +0000 thehdic http://blogs.brownandbridal.com/?p=193 Y’all betta step your game up with the quickness! This is your new bridal hero…

This is Gerogette.

Georgette got married last weekend.

On her way leaving the church, RIGHT AFTER the wedding, Georgette noticed a house on fire.

Georgette yelled for the people to get out of the house.

Georgette saw someone but realized they were not coming out of the burning house

Georgette, STILL IN HER WEDDING DRESS, went into aforementioned house on fire to rescue a family that was trapped inside….

Georgete pulled the family and their PETS to safety.

Georgette. IS. IT.

SHE BETTA GET IT!

FOR SERIOUS? You mean folk are out here getting their BACKDRAFT on in FULL & COMPLETE BRIDE REGALIA… What the motherfeezy… PLEASE OH PLEASE ACT LIKE YOU KNOW….

And its a sista TOO….

EAD:

Yup, so all you Babbies, who complaining about ya hair might sweat out if you dance to hard at the wedding, or are complaining about chipped pedicures…  Get like our new fearless BAB OF THE CENTURY Georgette Fogarty-Clemons, AND I QUOTE….

“It’s been an eventful day… My shoes got messed up, but what are you going to do?” Clemons said later. “At least the people are OK.”

Dear Georgette… Please tell me that you are one of our lurking BAB’s??? Please oh please somebody find this chick… I’d like to buy her dinner! Congrats on the marriage but even more.. Congrats on keeping it DIVA while saving lives! You go Girl!

Stay fierce, fabulous, and Doing the damn thang even in your wedding dress from,

:does the roger rabbit:

Anyhoo I am always looking for fantastic ways to fab your wedding without spending up all ya money… And this idea I just found is FABULOUS…

Babbies and gentlemen, I give you the Tabloo photocube….

The Tabloo Studio is a really cool tool by HP for your to print this fabulous item AT HOME with your regular printer FOR FREE….

oing my best Oprah imitation:

YOU GET A CUBE.

YOU GET A CUBE.

EVERYBODY.  GETS.  A.  CUBE!!!!!

And get this divas… NO tape, glue, staples. NOTHING just some scissors, a little folding and your cube is done….

All you do is sign up for an account, upload five pics into the Tabloo Editor, and then print the PDF they make for you.  I suggest you print it on some nice heavy card stock for sturdiness!

So, I know what you are thinking that’s cute & all, HDIC, but how can I use it for my wedding?  Girl, now you know I GOT YOU!

Well, first, this is a great way to showcase pictures of you and your fiance’ throughout the years or even highlight your engagement photos, bridal photo shoot, or any kind of picture fabulousness that you’d like to share with your guests… These would be sooo cute piled up or spread out all over your guest book table or by your escort cards!

OR…

You could spread them at the actual dinner tables. You could even make on of the sides of the cube a table number and use this as table numbers…. Great conversation starter and it will get guests moving and interacting, to see all the pictures at the different tables!

OR…

You could use these as your escort cards…Damn, I’m good! Probably a wee bit time consuming but how cute would it be to find your seat at a wedding by getting one these photocubes with pics of the couple? FAB.YOU.LOUS.

OR…

You could use them as Favor boxes… How cute would that be.. Forget the tulle. Fill these photo cubes up with some M&M’s in your wedding colors, some Hershey’s kisses or whatever and you’ve got something way cuter than expected!

I could go on and on… But you get the point! this is a really cool way to added a wedding photo fab element to your wedding for little more than the cost of some cocktails for your girls at the  Wedding Photo Cube cutting party!LOL!

This is just too cute… Totally free and really really easy to make… I found these really detailed instructions to help you along. Easy PEASY!!!

I’m going to be making some for a party I’m throwing for Solstice… I’ll show you my results when I’m done!

What do the Bab’s think of this?

Stay fierce, fabulous, and FREEEEEEEEE from,

Ahem, Have you seen this Flyness…

Nope, I didn’t just whip that sucka up in photoshop! That is the new United States Post Office Love Stamp 2009! Its part of United States Postal Service’s perennial favorite Love Series.

What the Fierceness! Can you imagine this little patch of fabulous on your Wedding Invitation Envelopes! I mean really… TOO TOUGH!

These lovely little stamps were designed by Jeanne Greco of Cafe Greco Designs!

When Michael and I got married we wer able to get the 2007 cute little Hershey Kisses love stamps for our envelopes..

These were cute and all and we had to use them cause, I mean, he is a mailman after all.

But this is too TOO much….

Jeanne Greco Petioned to be able to create a two part design for the stamps because “After all, love takes two!”

According to her,“With each having their own stamp, the King and Queen have equal importance,” noted Greco. “Together they depict a relationship and a more mature, compassionate love and devotion usually not shown on the love stamps. Seeing people we know in a new setting makes you stop and think—to go beyond the face value to see the hidden meaning…a little like love.”

When you pick up the stamps they come 20 stamps to a set with 10  sets of Kings and Queens the two characters were designed “to meet, repeat and transcend the perforations.”

What a gorgeous thought… I mean that is what a marriage should be. Two completely beautiful and seperately solid individuals who come together to fit all the places where the other person needs mending…

SWOON! Yup, all that from a little tiny 44 cent stamp! LOL!

So you babbie bride to be’s have GOT to use these. Use one for your outer envelope and one for your reply card or ir your like me and have 30 lbs invites use the set of two on the outside of each… HOW CUTE!

The King and Queen of Hearts stamps are available at all U.S. post offices and at www.USPS.com.

Source: United States Postal Service

Wonderful words always make me feel so good…

Okay. Let me hype myself up about this fantabulous introduction.

::blasts Kriss Kross “I missed the bus”::

That’s better. For some reason, I always feel hype after listening to Kriss Kross.

Hey everyone. My name is Ebonee Monique and I am one of the newest BABBIE bloggers. For those that don’t know me, here’s a picture of my mug!

And here’s yet another when I thought I was giving the photographer the sessay face. Yeah, it turned out to be the constipation face.

I was so extremely excited when Senam reached out to me to blog; of course I couldn’t say “yes” quick enough! So here I am, blogging about my upcoming wedding on March 5, 2010 (don’t burst my bubble, I know it’s not upcoming, exactly).

A little bit about me: I’m 27 (ugh…that’s hard to type as my birthday was Sunday 5/24), I’m a published author (pick up “Suicide Diaries” TODAY!) and I’m pretty much the definition of awesomeness. Well, maybe not the definition…but I’d like to think I rank within the top 10 of awesome people. I’ve always worked a full-time gig to support my writing habit and up until May 8, I was working advertising/marketing for a tourism agency. Yeah, you guessed it…I got the dreaded pink slip. I wish I could’ve been more devastated…but the truth is I know God has all of this planned out and I’m not questioning anything that’s in his plans.

My fiance, Marvin, and I have been together for 3 years. We were strictly friends (didn’t even think about dating each other) for a year and a half before we realized we were what each of us needed in a mate.

Here we are 3 months into dating!

(by the way, only true players go to Bonefish Grill!)

And a few more pictures of us!

We are planning a laid-back, family-oriented, wedding that will definitely not break the bank. Now, don’t get it twisted, just ’cause it’s not breaking the bank doesn’t mean it won’t break trends, boundaries and any myths that budget weddings aren’t as classy, fun or nice as bank-breaking weddings. Shout out if you’ve got $50K+ to devote to a wedding, but since I didn’t grow up dreaming about a wedding, Marvin and I refuse to spend crazy $$ on one day (even though it’s the biggest day) and be in debt later on because of it. I’m claiming now that the wedding won’t go over $12,000 and I guarantee it’ll be nice!

Our ceremony will be outdoors and the reception at the same venue, but inside. Here are a few pictures of our venue.

For a while, we were struggling with our theme and how we could tie it in to who we are as a couple. I love how our venue feels reminiscent of North Florida (where we live) and also the southern states we both grew up in. Because of that, we decided to tie all of that in together and go with a SOUTHERN COMFORT theme.  Here’s the inspiration board for our theme!

As you can see, our colors are teal/aqua and black and white damask.

Something new pops in our heads everyday and I can’t wait to share the ride with y’all.

As a warning: I have indecisive days so don’t shoot me, m’kay?

CIAO

Ebonee Monique

I also think that with all of the uncertainty in my life right now, doing this projects helps me stay focused and realize that FI isn’t going anywhere and with everything that is going on, this wedding will happen one day! So they are very relaxing for me, gets my mind off of all of the everyday drama and worrying about things I have no control over at this point.

Anyhoo… My broom was the first project I finished when I was planning with my old colors, for my old date.

Those brooms are hard to find though! The first ones I found were smaller than I expected so I had to get creative. I put two of them together, but it still looked to short. So I thought of using a cardboard tube to extend the handle and cover it with fabric and lace. I think it worked out well, except for a couple of things.

I was in Jo-Anns getting fabric and saw a cardboard tube sitting behind the counter, they gave it to me no problem. The problem – it was too thick, especially for my brooms. So with a new color scheme, I got the chance to do it all over again, this time with a left over Christmas wrapping paper tube.

And drumroll please…….. the finished product.

So what do you all think?

Having a long-distance relationship has had its benefits, such as helping us communicate, wanting to spend more time together, giving us the opportunity to miss each other. But it has also had its disadvantages, having a long-distance relationship is tough, we have to try and make time for each other and I am always tired, because I spend my weekend driving back and forth to see him and my family.

For me to move where he is, I would have to completely give up my current career track. I was already thinking of doing public affairs or communications for a company or non-profit, or go into teaching, but for teaching, I would have to go back to school for my certificate. There are no opportunities for me where he is now though.

For me, changing career paths, is a big decision and something I want to be based on ME and how I feel with the way things are going. I don’t want to do it, just because it is easier or solely because it will get us in the same city.

FI wanted me to just take any job I can find to be in the same city with him, and honestly, I just did not want to do that. I worked pretty dang hard to get my degree, so just working security at a community college or being a teller at a bank part-time, was not for me. If I end up going back to school for my certificate, I would probably substitute part-time.

For FI, a job is just a means to make money. As long as he continues to make enough to get by comfortably, he doesn’t care. And that has been working for him. He just got recruited to work at a larger retailer and is going to take the position. For him, he made more money and had more flexibility to move to the same city as me so it was a no brainier. I can’t knock his hustle, he is a great manager and has been recruited for his last three jobs moving to larger companies — each time for more money.

At the end of the conversation, which went a lot smoother than I thought, FI was fine with the decision. He said he knew when he met me, I was all about my career and he respects that. At the end of the day, as long as I have time for our potential future children and keep my family first when it is time, he just wants me to do what makes me happy. His only stipulation — that I tell his parents about the wedding being pushed back. I think they are going to be slightly disappointed. What type of mess is that? I told my mom (who was ecstatic by the way… but that is another blog)!