We Will Miss You MJ!!!!

I cannot say how sad I feel knowing that a musical legend's soul has transcended from our plane. The impact he made for Black people in terms of music is astounding and his prowless in the field is irreplaceable. I for one loved him, not only for his light-hearted, non-degrading music as a child and adult, but also because he was quite the humanitarian. He forced the world to see the conditions we as a people are doing to each other by facing 'the man in the mirror' and 'making a change.' His lyrics optimized his life, intelligence and soul and he will be sorely missed by myself and I'm sure many, many others.

So here is my dedication blog to this musical icon and message to him: MJ, your soul is beautiful. Keep the faith, continue to acknowledge truth, and I'll see you next lifetime. Peace and Blessings on your soul's journey.

Here is one of my favorite songs from MJ that has always spoke to me to do something for others... Enjoy and reminisce...

Invitation Wording for the Black couple

Hey DIY'ers,

Here is a great article from Do It Yourself Weddings .com that provides great information about wording for an African-American or Afro-Caribbean wedding couple. The examples provided are merely examples to stimulate that DIY creative juices to flow, but because its your wedding, the wording can be as personal as you want; with a certain etiquette of course. Next blog, we will tackle the lack of African-diaspora based wedding stationery, wedding magazines, and websites. I will feature a few I have found in my search as great resources for the Black bride. Check out the article below and click here to access the website's additional DIY information.

African American Wedding Invitation and Program Wording for a Broom Jumping Ceremony

Here are wording samples for an African American wedding invitation and program that incorporates a broom jumping ceremony. These samples and ideas aren't just for African American communities, either, many couples with Celtic themes or pagan roots are jumping the broom. Broom jumping is becoming more and more popular so why not mention it in your invitations that you are including it? It gives guests knowledge of what to expect at your wedding.
African American wedding invitation wording for broom jumping:
Tanya Wilson
and Terrence Jackson
Invite you to join us to witness our commitment
to each other as we jump the broom
into the land of holy matrimony
on Saturday, the 15th of May
two thousand and four
at 5 o’clock
West Bay Palace
3042 E. Center St.
San Diego, CA
Save the date wording:
Tanya Wilson
And Terrence Jackson
Are taking a leap of faith
and jumping the broom
on Saturday, the 15th of May
two thousand and four
please save the date

In addition to including a mention of broom jumping in your African American wedding invitation wording, you’ll want to include further explanation of the ritual in your wedding program.

Broom Jumping Program Ideas:
"Right after our ceremony we will join in an old-fashioned broom jumping ritual. Please circle around us to participate. Broom jumping was handed down from generation to generation when our ancestors’ vows were not legally recognized. We pay homage to our ancestors, whose shoulders we stand on and whose wisdom shines a guiding light on us. By jumping the broom we seal together our past, present, and future."

You may also want to include something about modern meanings, such as your personal reasons for using the ritual, family or fertility meanings.

Wishing you the best of luck designing and customizing your African American wedding invitations and programs to include broom jumping!

The ties established between two families by a happy marriage are stronger than those of wealth. --African Proverb

Article retrieved from Dusick, A. (2005) African-American Wedding Invitation and Program Wording for a Broom Jumping Ceremony. Retrieved on June 15, 2009 from Do It Yourself Weddings website: http://www.do-it-yourself-weddings.com/african-american-wedding-invitation.html

Eight invitation Mishaps You Can Avoid

Hey all,

Just wanted to share this article that has some great information about the do's and don'ts of wedding invitation etiquette for all my DIY wedding invite makers out there. So, save a penny and your sanity by implementing these great tips! ------> Click here for article's website!

*Taken from Aisle Dash.com*

Eight invitation mishaps you can avoid

by Caroline Humphreys on Jun 2nd 2008 11:00AM

Filed under: Invitations, Etiquette

You can be perfectly within the boundaries of style and etiquette when you avoid these common mistakes with your invitations.

1. Do not include gift ideas or registry information. In terms of proper etiquette, it's just tacky. Instead, arm your family and attendants with helpful information. Everyone knows they need to get a gift, and word will get around.

2. Do not print "No children" or "Adults only." The way you address the envelope should make clear who is invited. Afraid your invitees won't pick up on it? Again, arm your family and attendants with this information. If you send a package of local tourist information to attending guests, including childcare options in this information should reinforce the point.

3. Do not dictate dress. Guests can decipher the appropriate dress code from the time and place.

4. Do not post your invitation on a bulletin board at work or school (or anywhere else). This one is for your own mental health. When an invitation is posted, anyone reading it may assume they can come, along with their spouse, kids, cousin, sister-in-law and adorable new puppy. Don't do it.

5. Do not use address labels. An occasion such as your wedding calls for handwritten envelopes. If ink pens give you a cramp, enlist family and attendants to help or hire someone.

6. Do not include choice of entrée on the invitation unless the reception venue requires this information prior to the event. If the venue can handle allowing guests to choose as they are served, this is the better option.

7. Do not indicate whether or not alcohol will be served; this is your wedding and guests will come to see you, not the bar.

8. Most of all, don't send last minute invitations. It is offensive to guests to be an after-thought and you don't want to spread that kind of ill will.

Make Sure its Scalable!

Hi all,

Yes, its been a while, but hey I've been quite busy lately, but I do have a tidbit for all DIY'ers out there when it comes to your wedding stationery and any other favors you have in mind. Make sure your monograms or logos are scalable before printing because saving your logos as a JPEG or GIF image can make your lovely logo into a bunch of small square dots called pixels if you try to enlarge or decrease the size the logo for other stationery. A logo may look very nicely done when it is small, but if it is enlarged for, let's say, a sky light on the dance floor; then if that logo is not a vector-based image (an image created with mathematical lines) then the logo would look pixelated. You might be saying, "Okay Lauren, I have no idea what you are talking about especially with all these computer talk." Here is an example of what I am talking about:



As you can see in the example above, the smaller version of this beautifully done logo is great and the details in the typography (fonts) and the dots in the monogram are crisp and clean. A very nicely done image. However, when enlarging the monogram to a bigger image for any other stationery being done, the picture becomes fuzzy and the graphics look like small square blocks. This is because this particular logo was saved as a GIF image and not as a vector based image such as Adobe Illustrator or a SVG (Scalable Vector Graphic) file. I'm sure the creators of this logo already have this logo as a vector image for purchase, but for webpage purposes have used a GIF file.

So what is the lesson to learn: If you are doing your own wedding stationery with graphics and monograms, be sure to transfer the image to a SVG file or AI (Adobe Illustrator) file so that you can use it for a variety of your wedding print and web goodies. What sense does it make to go through all the trouble of creating beautiful stationery for your wedding when Grandma can't make out the fuzzy words? Take time to find a friend that may have Photoshop or Illustrator vector it for you or hire a low-cost graphic designer who specializes in wedding stationery to help you out. Your stationery will end up as a keepsake for yourself and for your friends and family, so make sure you put some effort into keeping your special day memorable.

P.S. If you really like doing your own vector based monogram, then check out Inkscape (http://www.inkscape.com). This is a SVG program that is free to download on your computer that will allow you to create your monogram in a vectored image; dare I say again that it is FREE! Music to a DIY bride's ears :)