Good Day Beautiful People! I hope you all are doing well and staying safe!
If you do not follow me on Instagram, you may have missed this major life event that happened about three weeks ago. YA GIRL GOT MARRIED!!
Quick flashback– When I was writing This Too Shall Pass and Love is NOT Canceled I, II, & III, I was literally in the thick of it. Sometimes I would have writer’s block because my emotions were alllll over the place. BUT when I said, Love is NOT canceled, I meant it with every breath in me and guess what? That is my testimony riiight now. On June 12th and 13th, I saw that love truly isn’t canceled and my wildest dreams became reality!! The Lord joined me with the most amazing human! The weekend would not have been possible without the Lord. Planning a wedding during a pandemic is an interesting process lol. Whenever I was tired or felt overwhelmed, I knew I could lean on my Father in heaven for peace and direction. It’s only by His grace that everything came together beautifully. Despite the fact that it took a different shape than I originally thought, it was AMAZING!!
Lord I am grateful for it all! I thank you for being present in both ceremonies and truly having your way! May your name be glorified today and forever!
The Lord used some amazing people to make my celebrations amazing, so please give me a moment to shout out our wonderful friends, family and vendors. This is The Crew Behind #TheOseiOwusus:
GROOM: To the man who asked for my hand in marriage, I love you and appreciate you! Thank you for being my prayer warrior and my strength.
VENUE: My parents’ humble abode- When I tell people both ceremonies happened at my parents’ house, they don’t tend to believe me initially. My parents are literally AMAZING! When we decided that we were going to have an intimate celebration, they immediately started game planning! They are truly the best!
FOOD: My aunts and friends of our family. You all know who you are! Many of you offered to cook even though we couldn’t have you all present at the ceremonies. I appreciate you so very much and pray that the Lord will shower you with blessings!
CAKE: Patty Cake Piper– Piper was truly amazing during this entire process. We went through a few cake concepts which she embraced. Towards the end, I was honestly tired of making decisions, so I told her to do whatever she thought was best. The cake was gorgeous and delicious! I appreciate you Piper!
DECOR & COORDINATION: Twin Perfections– Candy, Tenny, and Joi!! Tenny is the mastermind behind the literal transformation of my parent’s home. Candy/Joi were the month of/day of coordination team. You three made sure that every image I had in my head and every detail I wanted came to fruition PLUSSS more! You’re truly some of the BEST in the game!
PHOTOGRAPHY:
– Kwame Blue aka E-Fresh– This is the gentleman behind our pre-wedding pictures and 50% of our wedding day photography team. Literally one of the most talented creatives I know! We love you bro!
– Lexis Bannerman– I didn’t know you well before the wedding, but you jumped in the wedding weekend and helped to ensure I got many of the shots that I wanted. You did all of this with the most peaceful spirit. We appreciate you!
VIDEOGRAPHY: Kwame Agyei Weddings– Bro you were not just a videographer, but you literally helped in any way we needed leading up to the wedding and after. THANK YOU!
LIVESTREAM TEAM: New Genn– Justice, Sam, Junior, E-Fresh (& Kwame Agyei helping as well)- Listen yall these guys took this livestream SERIOUSLYY!!! They literally owned this project and did everything they could to ensure it was an amazing production! Words cannot express how appreciative Yaw and I are! This livestream allowed us to share our wedding with our friends and family around the world.
MUSICAL INTERLUDES:
– DJ Shockwave– Elvis! Thank you for coming through at the last minute and being there for us on both days! We appreciate you!
– Joe Mettle- Although you couldn’t be there in person as we originally planned, your ministration while I was coming down the aisle, was literally perfect. It was truly an anointed ministration that set the tone for the ceremony and brought me to tears. We appreciate you!
– Jacob Buaful & Isaac Quaye- Thank you both for flying to LA and being their LIVE for our special day! The worship session continued to charge the atmosphere and we were truly blessed to have you all present.
– Phil Adzale- Phil thank you for recording the beautiful medley comprised of some of my favorite songs. It played as we were signing our marriage certificate and made it such a divine moment. God bless you!
GROOM’S TRADITIONAL OUTFIT: Jay Ray Fashion– This gentleman is literally one of the BEST kaftan designers I’ve come into contact with. He made sure my husband looked fly as ever for our traditional celebration. He also made outfits for my cousins which were really nice as well!
GROOM’S BLAZER: Martin Gold– To be honest, most of my husband’s items were confirmed close to the wedding date because of all of the commotion with the pandemic. Martin was originally making only my brother-in-law’s suit. Then my dad realized he didn’t have a suit to wear, so we added my dad’s suit both of which he had ready within a week. THEN with a week to the wedding, Yaw’s original suit which had been mailed by the tailor had not arrived. Yaw called Martin, and the result was the blazer Yaw wore on the big day. MARTINN, thank you for coming through and literally saving the day!
GROOM’S SHOES: Oro by Kojo– When Yaw showed Jeff his traditional outfit, he said he had the perfect shoes to go with it. Didn’t they go together perfectly?
BRIDE’S HAIRSTYLING: Cyprian’s Classy Hair – Barbara did my hair my entire childhood, for my prom, all of my graduations, and countless other special occasions. It felt full circle to have her with me on my big days. I appreciate you!
BRIDE’S MAKEUP: Makeup By Nimoh– My sis STEPH! I’m not sure if y’all have noticed, but I’m not a big makeup person on a day to day basis. I was not looking for a wedding day transformation, but someone who was gifted in the art of enhancing one’s beauty. Stephanie does this sooo effortlessly and peacefully. She has such a calm and gentle spirit that it kept me at ease on both days! I also had NO idea what looks I wanted on either day. I showed her my dresses and she made MAGIC! Love you sis!
ASO EBI MATERIAL: Fabrics and Beyond– I found Josephine on Instagram while looking through some tailor’s pages. We originally started chatting as I was trying to find a brocade material for my friends and cousins to wear on my traditional day. We quickly started talking about everything! My mom’s white lace for the traditional was also from her shop!
BRIDE’S TRADITIONAL OUTFIT: Modabertha– Initially my mom was dead set on having another tailor sew my outfit. But let me just say the wa ha la they put me through in the inquiry stage, I said nah. That wasn’t the tailor for me. I had seen Bertha’s work on Instagram, but started paying attention to her when she did some items for my friends last year. I originally reached out to Bertha with a picture of the dress that I wanted made. She then asked if I could give her the creative freedom to design something for me. Y’all I’m a planner and I like control, so relinquishing that control was HARD lol. BUUT Bertha did not disappoint. When I got my sketch for me dress, I literally went back to look at it every hour because I loved it that much! She also designed my wedding robe. Literally all I told her was that I wanted something modest. She created the most AMAZING robe! Bertha also sewed mom’s traditional outfit, a few of my aso ebi ladies’ outifits, MOH dress/robe, and flower girl dress/robe.
BRIDE’S WEDDING GOWN: Martina Liana via Panache Beverly Hills– I stumbled upon Panache while looking for boutiques that carried Martina Liana gowns. I did not have a specific dress in mind, but I knew I wanted a mermaid gown with an overskirt. My bridal stylist Amirah took these things, pulled dresses for me to try on. The third one was THE ONE!
When Yaw and I decided on the intimate celebration, one of my biggest prayer points was that I would be able to get both of my dresses. One day on a whim, I called Panache to see if I could come in to pick-up my dress even if they couldn’t do the alterations. They said YES ANDD that they would do the alterations because I was maintaining my wedding date. With only three weeks to the wedding, they worked with me to ensure my dress fit correctly and that I was comfortable in it.
FAMILY, FRIENDS, & VENDORSSS!! I truly appreciate each and every one of you for putting your allll into #TheOseiOwusus. May the Lord bless you and your business.
The moral of the story is, GOD IS FAITHFUL and He used all of the individuals listed above to make my dream come true!! As long as I have breath, I will continue to praise Him!
Oh and here are are a few more pics for your viewing pleasures :
Thank you for reading through this more lengthy post lol. I have been getting tons of questions on my wedding planning process, so the new few posts will be dedicated to specific parts of my process. If you have a specific topic you would like for me to touch on, please send me a note!
Toodles for now, SugarBees!
