When did you and your husband meet?
P: I met my husband, James, while deployed overseas in the Army in 2004 at Camp Victory, Kuwait. He was the “younger” tall, dark and handsome guy that I thought was too immature to take seriously. Boy, was I wrong. We were friends over there, but I was still too nervous to jump into the “relationship” realm. Besides, how much of a relationship you can have with an M16 at your side lol!

Fast forward to 2008, I got out the military and he was sent to Iraq. I worried for a year, wrote, and sent care packages. When he returned, he asked me out. In the end, he became to me the most mature, humble, giving and wonderful man I ever met.

When did you get married?
P: October 9, 2011 in Columbia, Maryland. We exchanged our vows in front of our closest family and friends. I guess you can say we had a down home Ja-merican. I come from a close knit Jamaican family and he from awesome southern roots. So, we felt it important to include them in our special day. We did things such as having my cousin marry us, to having our nieces read a poem dedicating to our grandmother and parents during the ceremony to chowing down at the reception on some home cooked (by our family) smothered chicken, jerk chicken and rice and peas, and Jamaican rum cake (YUM!). It was truly a family affair!

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When did you and your husband meet?
S: My husband and I met online in 2003 (I know, crazy right!?). Who would have thought that an innocent arrangement to meet up and play a game of pool would have ended up with us tying the knot 8 years later?! I’m now a true believer in the sayin, “always expect the unexpected”.

We got married March 12, 2011 in beautiful Trinidad and Tobago. We were blessed with incredible weather during the ceremony and an unbelievable sunset that produced some remarkable photos in the evening. We were so delighted to be surrounded by the company of famly and friends (some local residents and some who traveled from abroad) that joined us in sharing our special day with us.

How was your big day?
S: It was incredible. We had little speed bumps in the preparation (as most couples do) but promised each other not let the any little mishaps take away from the big picture. We were finally going to proclaim our love in front of God, family and friends and that was the most important part of the whole celebration.

What was your process of deciding how to style your hair?
S: I knew that I did not want to modify my hair in anyway that would take away from it’s true natural state. Many of my friends suggested added a weave for more volume but I did not want to look back at my wedding pictures and think, “that’s just not me”. So, I opted to go with something that still had a natural feel to it. I had a local Tobagan hair dresser style kinky twists in an updo.

I absoutely LOVED how it turned out and felt that the style complimented not only my dress but also I felt I stayed true to who I was as a person.

How did your family/husband/guests receive your hair at the wedding?
S: My parents, husband and many of my friends were all great supporters in my decision to go natural 3 years ago. So when they saw my hair style for my wedding, they all loved it. I remember my father’s exact words, “You look gorgeous Bo” (Bo is the nickname he gave me as a child that has always stuck with me)

Is there a blog/webpage where we can find you?
S: Yes, I can be found on my fashion blog: http://www.nakedlyclothed.blogspot.com
I am also a network marketer who helps people get healthy and wealthy all at the same time. To learn more about what I do, you can visit: http://www.SamanthaMcSween.com or my weight loss/muscle building challenge site: http://www.The90DayBodyByViChallenge.com

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When did you and your husband meet?
J: It will be six years in good ole October. Derek and I ran in the same circles and managed to never meet, until our great friend Nick got the fortunate idea to set us up. Nick tried a couple of times unsuccessfully. He finally engineered the perfect setting for Derek and I to talk. A group of friends were gathering at a bookstore, including the unknowing soon-to-be lovebirds. “Oddly” enough no one stayed for very long, and as we all headed to the parking lot I noticed that my new acquaintance Derek, was sitting back on the benches in front of the bookstore, *smooth. I suddenly felt curiously compelled to stay behind with this new guy. We sat and talked for hours about dreams, our backgrounds, anything. I stuttered a lot and he was confident but clearly blushing. We have pretty much been inseparable ever since.

When and where did you get married?
J: February 12, 2011 was our wedding date. We were married in South West Florida where almost all of our relatives reside. One of my very best friends/Maid of Honor (Ro and I have been pals since our awkward preteens) suggested that we get married at her family’s beautiful home. We were running out of ideas and options, so throwing the wedding somewhere that was personally tied to me seemed like the perfect idea.

How was your big day?
J: Derek and I worked hard to make our wedding happen and I could not have imagined it any other way. We put our friends and family to work. Every aspect of our wedding carried a bit of us. It was an intimate affair; our guest list was no more than 60. We were married by one of Derek’s best friends Michael who is also a great musician; he played one of our favorite songs on mandolin at the beginning of the wedding.

We had southern food for dinner (macaroni, greens, baked beans, ribs etc.), cupcakes for dessert, lots of sangria and liquor. We even had a friend shoot photos for us. Derek and I wrote personal/unique vow for each other, I couldn’t help but cry while reading mine. Afterward a number of the guest came up and told me that I made them cry. The wedding was a warm, low key, and heartfelt celebration with Derek and I written all over it.

How did you wear your hair?
J: I wore my hair pinned up with a very simple birdcage veil, and a thin jeweled headband. I styled it from a tight braid out, so that I would not be super frizzy by the end of the night. Worked out quite nicely.

What was your process of deciding how to style your hair?
J: Our wedding was meant to be understated, and very us. I lean towards simplicity mostly. My dress was a subtle lavender, and when I first tried it on it gave me this ethereal floating feeling. I love leaving my hair undone and wild, but I new that wearing it out would not compliment the delicate quality of the dress. So I went for pinned up, which gave my dress, my shoes, and veil balance.

How did your family/husband/guests receive your hair at the wedding?
J: My hair, the dress, the ceremony, my husband every detail of the wedding resonated good vibes. I was told that I looked like a fairy, and that me and my hair were beautiful. I felt that way too. My husband always loves my hair, and did especially on our special day.

Is there a blog/webpage where we can find you?
J: Most Definitely! Please visit Derek and I at beatoftravel.com

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*A few weeks ago, BGLH intern Erin was married in Chicago and we posted a teaser to her natural bride feature. Here it is in full! Enjoy…*

Where did you and your husband meet?
E: We met totally by chance on June 1st, 2009, at Rodan, which is a lounge in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. It’s a place I would frequent regularly after getting out of work down the street, and it just so happened that one night that a girlfriend and I had to swing by there after dinner to pick up a friend of ours who was a little too tipsy to get home on his own. We decided to head over and pick him up and indulge in a cocktail while we were there, and when we walked up, there was this incredibly handsome guy hanging outside with the buddy of ours that we were meeting along with a few other gents we knew. Despite recognizing a few of the guys he was hanging outside with, because I didn’t know him personally I tried to pay him no mind.

When my girl and I walked inside, I threw my purse and jacket down in a booth and wandered off to the bar to talk the bartender I knew and grab us a drink. Alas, when I came back to where we camped out, there was this handsome dude again, sitting in my seat on top of my jacket no less. And of course my non chalant and sassy ass walked up to him and pretty much told him he didn’t have to buzz off, but he certainly had to at least scoot over and share my seat with me. He was astounded and fascinated by how blunt I was with him, and immediately we were attched at the hip. Four months later we were living together, and two years later, here were are as Mr. & Mrs. Jacobs.

When and where did you get married?
E: We got married on Saturday, June 4th, 2011 in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. Chicago is where I was born and raised, with family in the city’s urban north, south and west sides, and though my husband was born in Canada to British immigrants, he has spent the majority of his life here. We both have worked in Wicker Park for many years, and have extremely close ties to some of the key businesses in that neighborhood, so we decided that getting married in that neighborhood would be the most sentimental to us. And as we both live extremely ecclectic lives, we thought the versatile alternative spaces in that area would be best for what we wanted for our “big day”. Additionally, we anticipated our wedding to be gigantic in terms of people in attendance (with about 200+ guests) and with our large scale families and extended families, we wanted spaces that would accommodate everyone.

For our ceremony, we chose my dear friend Anna Cerniglia’s art gallery, Johalla Projects. The space is aboslutely gorgeous, with lofted ceiling, raw wood floors, exposed brick walls and floor to ceiling transit windows overlooking some of Milwaukee Avenue’s most notable ladmark establishments. The ceremony itself only took about fifteen minutes, and after a few champagne toasts and tons of shouting and cheers, all 200 hundred of us headed off to the reception space. The second space we used was a 2,000 square foot loft inhabited by some of the fine gentleman who run and operate UPRISE, which is the premier skate shop that my husband has worked at for the better half of the last decade. This location was also on Milwaukee Ave, just a few short blocks southeast of where our ceremony was, and the party that followed was a blast, to say the least.

How was your big day?
E: Not to toot my own horn, but it was the PARTY OF THE YEAR! It was literally everything I could have asked for and a million times more.

How did you wear your hair?
E: I wore my hair like my personality, large and in charge. I’m at this point pretty notorious for rockin’ a huge blow out fro, so I incorporated my signature look along with a half side of lightning bolt braids, complimented by real tropical orhcids to tie in the tropical rock ‘n’ roll pin up theme of the wedding. Thank goodness the rained stopped earlier that day, otherwise my monster hair style would have looked more like a sad deflated half-fro.

What was your process of deciding how to style your hair?
E: Well, I had a few particular styles in mind. I knew regardless of what I was going to wear, my wedding would be vintage inspired, as I work in the vintage clothing business and double as a pin up model & burlesque dancer. But the specific style didn’t come to to me until I found my dress. And once I found the leopard print gown I wanted to wear, or more so, once my dress found me, the hair style immediately came to be. I knew from the get go wanted to keep my hair natural and I wanted a look that was signature to my persona.

How did your family/husband/guests receive your hair at the wedding?
E: Everyone loved it! My husband loves my hair, and has only ever known me as a natural, and he was so pleased once he found out I was wearing my afro that day, as it’s his favorite of all my natural hair experiments. My friends and family all adore my hair and personal style, and were extremely receptive to it. As one of the only naturals in the African American side of my family, my aunties all loved my hair so much that a couple of them even went on to get their own “naturals” for the wedding, which I thought was so flattering and awesome because having this much hair every day, I know how hot and heavy it can get, and for them to go on to get natural sewn-ins on top of their normal hair do’s for the day, I can only imagine how hot they must have been! (Side note, it was about 85 degrees that day, and considering that both of the loft spaces were elevated, it felt even warmer inside)

Is there a blog/webpage where we can find you?
E: Why, of course! I have a vintage lifestyle/pin up/art blog, http://mahaloclub.blogspot.com/, where I show case the art I create, the gallery shows I curate in Chicago, my online vintage business, as well as footage of my burlesque performances and photoshoot spreads. My vintage business is called Psychosurplus Vintage, and you can find my shop online here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/psychosurplus. I’m also on facebook http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/profile.php?id=1410705047 and all that jazz.

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When did you and your husband meet?
T: Hubby and I officially met a little over 3 years ago at a friends BBQ. Of course there’s more to that story but I figured I’d save you all the details! We got married on April 9, 2011 in little ole Wilmington, Delaware.

How was your big day?
T: Our wedding day was dare I say PERFECT! It couldn’t have gone better. The weather was great, it was a day filled with love, smiles and happiness all around. I honestly have no complaints! My biggest concern was how my hair would turn out and whether my 2 year old niece would make it down the aisle but fortunately, both worked out well! And I KNOW I am very fortunate that those were my biggest concerns!

How did you wear your hair?
T: I styled a twistout into an updo. I had two flat twists in the front and the back was rolled up and pinned. After adding a couple of accessories, I was good to go. For the reception, I planned to wear it out, big and fluffy but wasn’t feeling it so I did a side bun with a bright fuchsia flower accessory.

What was your process of deciding how to style your hair?
T: I was very on the fence regarding my hair. I pretty much style my hair myself so I was kinda skeptical about going to a ‘professional.’ After putting some thought into it, I decided to just give it a go myself and see what happened. I twisted my hair into medium sized 2 strand twists 2-3 days prior to the wedding, let it out the night before, and the morning of started experimenting with the help of my cousin and a great friend of mine (Shout out to Nikki and Latesha…and you too Khadi even though you just took pictures! lol) After flat twisting the front and shaping the back, they helped me pin it up, and made it look FANTABULOUS!

How did your family/husband/guests receive your hair at the wedding?
T: Everyone absolutely loved it! I’m sure there were a couple of people wondering what I would do. Of course I had a few beforehand that suggested I straighten it but I was determined to keep it natural since that’s how it looks 99.9% of the time! Even they admittedly adored the look I came up with and even now, I still receive compliments when people view the pictures.

Is there a blog/webpage where we can find you?
T: No blog. I am a member of Hairlista.com (Profile name ‘Teri-P,’ big ups to my H.A.D. sistas) if anyone wants to find me there. Thanks so much to everyone for reading!

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