blackgirllonghair says:

Citation: BGLH: Quote of the Day

I frequent the Offbeat Bride website alot, and many of the Brides there tend to wear sneakers under their dresses (comfy, and you can wear them later!) But how about some Batik Print sneakers!

via: Fly

Citation: Ohema Ohena Online Boutique

My grandfather passed February 3, 2010, My grandmother passed August 1992.
They are cutting their wedding cake, March 1951.

Via: Clutch Magazine

Citation: N’Damus Handmade Leather Bags & Accessories

Citation: Katherine Pradeau’s MySpace, BHF Magazaine

Ijorere

From Ijorere:

I was thinking about weddings and bridal magazines. The cover pages on news stands always display a beautiful bride who is almost always wearing white or perhaps a champagne wedding gown. It inspired the thought: Why couldn’t brides wear gowns with color? I know that traditionally white connotes purity. But color does not detract from that idea. Color provides radiance to the wedding day that celebrates two lives becoming one. Other cultures embrace color on what is such a life-changing, life-affirming day. African brides are literally drenched in rich, colorful attire with exotic and traditional coral beads. Indian brides, too, are swathed in color, with gleaming jewelry. Even the Indian bride’s hands and feet are painted ornately with henna for their special occasion. Asian brides wear passionate reds…

Ijorere – The Invitation

Ijorere The Invitation is one of many expressions of Ola-Tokunbo’s creativity and appreciation for what she views as Art. By day she works as an Architect and at night, she is once again a Designer, with her production team passionately working on beautifully hand-made specialties. Her invitations are modern & contemporary invites with hints and reminders of her Nigerian/American culture and the many influences of all the different cultural backgrounds that have crossed her path. She hopes that you can see what she sees as well.

Citation: BHF Magazine

Apparently South Africa has the same problem as the African American community does in the United States:

From the Mail and Guardian South Africa
by Nikiwe Bikitsha

“I have a friend from KwaZulu- Natal who has now started studiously avoiding going home for holidays to dodge the unspoken but implied nagging question: “Uphi umkhwenyana?” (No husband,
as yet?)…

It seems the chances of a woman finding a suitable lifetime partner are about as slim as Ras Dumisani ever hitting the right note on any song, let alone the national anthem. This view was reinforced this week, after observing the near collapse of that ludicrous radio competition — 2 Strangers and a Wedding.

I pontificated in this column a few weeks ago about what a farce the so-called social experiment was. My objections were based on the fact that marriage isn’t something you enter into or gamble with on a radio game show.

Just to remind you how it works: prospective brides and grooms compete live over the airwaves for the chance of scooping a lifetime partner. Prospective candidates were invited to submit their applications from which a panel and listeners would select the ultimate bride. The bride-to-be would then select her future hubbie from the top-five most eligible male prospects.

The bride was supposed to have been announced on Monday but this was postponed until later in the week. Much to their dismay, the organisers have been horrified at the calibre of the male contenders.

Women, as we know, far outnumber men, but what is also emerging is that the women who are single and looking for partners will not find their match because people of the same intellect, values and background are simply not there. Those who may imbue those characteristics have disengaged from the game.

It’s often speculated that one of the reasons for this is that these men are intimidated by independent and successful women and that they make the men feel emasculated.

The other reason is that men — like kids in a candy store — are unlikely to settle down when there are several exciting possibilities from which to choose.

Read the article at Mail&GuardianOnline

The Marriage and Divorce Bill, unveiled in early October, establishes equitable distribution of property between spouses upon divorce, providing co-habiting couples with the same rights to property as married people; for the first time in Uganda, it also establishes marital rape as a crime. The wide ranging piece of legislation outlaws the practice of widow inheritance and makes it an offense to demand the return of bride price upon dissolution of a marriage. The bill also allows women to divorce their husbands if they become impotent.

By recognising for the first time the non-monetary contributions of women towards a marriage, the bill represents an about-face on the way that assets are divided upon divorce. Monicah Amoding is the coordinator of the Uganda Women Parliamentarians Association (UWOPA), one group that has been lobbying for the bill. Currently, “what tends to happen is that a woman goes out with nothing. You have had one, two, three children with someone, you have made a non-monetary contribution . . . that is not recognised. Eventually a woman walks out of marriage without a penny.”

A piece of legislation more than four decades in the making, the bill has appeared in parliament in various incarnations before. As far back as 1960, a government commission recommended new legislation on marriage and divorce. More recently, the bill is the successor of the Domestic Relations Bill, which languished in parliament for almost five years and then died earlier this year. Legislators hope that by separating the regulations concerning marriage and divorce from those concerning domestic violence and addressing the concerns of Muslims elsewhere, in the Administration of Muslim Personal Law Bill, the bill will have a greater chance of getting passed. “Women have been trying for a very long time, for 45 years, for a comprehensive family law in this country. [MPs] will have made history as a parliament if they pass this major law,” says Amoding.

While the bill still allows for the voluntary giving of marriage gifts, some still feel it undermines traditional values. Buyaga County MP Barnabas Tinkasimire says that “good African culture” is under attack by the law. Rather than causing violence in the home, bride price actually stabilizes marriage, he believes. The exchanging of gifts between families is intended to bind a couple together. “It makes the marriage more solid; it makes the home more solid. It makes the two people come closer together and trust one another and love one another.”

Citation: The Independent: A Decent proposal?”

Care of Fly and Prada