Color Picks: Aqua + Green + Gold

New Trend Alert: Sequins

By: Bisi Ogun

Good Morning Beautiful People! Now that wedding season has officially kicked off I have noticed a reoccurring trend that I love: SEQUINS!!! I have ran across a few sequin wedding gowns, a lot of sequin reception dresses, bridesmaids dresses, accessories, sequin reception decor, sequin aso-ebi & aso-oke for Nigerian weddings, and more and more sequins! I just love it! Check out pictures of this hot new trend & how they can be incorporated in your wedding.

Sequin Wedding Dresses

Color Picks: Cobalt + Turquoise

For Thick Madames; 10 Stylish Plus Size Wedding Dresses

Hello Lovers,
Who loves you?! I do!!! This one is for my beautiful voluptuous brides! You know the super curvy, larger than life thick madames. For some reason I've always had this infatuation/obsession/love/lust for curvy girls, so yea if you fit in this category; I probably have a girl-crush on you! LOL I thought to myself; "Self?" "Yes Lola" "There is absolutely no reason why us size 2 girls get to be the only ones who gets a plethora of gorgeous wedding dresses to choose from" so I thought I'd share my finds with you girls! They are fun, stylish, gorgeous and most of all ridiculously AFFORDABLE!

Happy shopping, I hope something "speaks" to you!
Enjoy!

Madison Plus Select 

Color Picks: Teal + Copper

The Honeymooners - Aruba

By: Bisi O.

Happy Tuesday to all of my Beautiful People! We loved the number of views and feedback we received from the last honeymooners (The Honeymooners- Dubai) post. We are hoping you all will love this one just as much or even more! On this edition of The Honeymooners BNB is taking you to a beautiful Island in the Caribbean...

Sit back, Relax, and Join us as we visit the beautiful, 22-kilometer-long island, south of the Caribbean sea, Aruba!! Our Honeymooner tour guides today are Memi & Dapo!

Color Picks: Cobalt + Coral

Happy Saturday loves!
Don't forget to follow @bnb_weddings on Instagram for more real time wedding shenanigans we'll be getting into this weekend!

Stuck on color choices? Let's figure it out together!!!

lola@bluenewandborrowed.com

Total AWWW moment!

*SPOILER ALERT*

If you have not watched yesterday's episode of GREY'S ANATOMY stop reading NOW.

Hello Lovers,
Happy Friday, so I'm just sitting at my desk blissfully ignoring the huge pile of work and minding my business by catching up on last night's episode of Grey's Anatomy and I watch the CUTEST proposal ever and I just had to share!!!

I think I'm starting to feel differently about public proposals, I think I'll be okay with one now. I think LOL

Seriously if you haven't watched DO NOT CLICK! I warned ya!

Color Picks: Red + Yellow

Stuck on color choices? Let's figure it out together!!!

lola@bluenewandborrowed.com

Great Gatsby Wedding Vision

Hello Lovers,

I seriously promise that I'll give this Gatsby thing a rest at some point. I'm really trying...seriously I am but the Lit major part of me is just too bloody excited to relax right now. Another Gatsby obsession for your viewing pleasure! Think art deco, feathers, sequins, vintage jewelry, bold makeup!

The Journey: So you say you are ready?

Hello! Hello!.....

Hope you guys have had a good week thus far. So the other day I was talking to a an older, married lady and I was telling her about how I couldn’t wait to get married. She asked me a question that to be honest with you I hadn’t really asked myself before. She said to me “what exactly makes you think you are ready to be married?”. Of course my immediate reaction was “ ah ah, am I not old enough to be married” . She eyed me and said, you don't even know what it takes.  Apparently being old enough does not equate to being ready to be married.

Here are a few things I’ve had to consider on this journey when I did a self reflection. Some of these are no brainers and to be honest with you, I have some work to do on myself. I call them the maturities..

 Physical maturity: This one is very simple and obvious. I believe at this stage most, if not all of us can say we are physically mature. All the parts have developed; Some more than others. Some of us wish we are more " mature" in some areas  than we are but you gotta work with what you have and be proud of it.

Domestic Maturity: Can you cook? Wash dishes? Wash clothes? Take care of a household and keep it clean? Are you prepared to pick up after someone else who will not wash their plates after dinner or hang up his clothes after work? Can you entertain guests? Organize a dinner party for your close friends or your future husband’s coworkers and boss?

Mental/emotional  Maturity: Do you consider yourself an intelligent person?  Are you a rational person? Are you emotionally equipped to deal with another person’s neurosis and quirks ? How much BS can you tolerate? Are you patient? Can you handle issues that arise in a diplomatic manner  or are you a drama queen? For some people this one can be a tough one but you cannot enter into a marriage with another person if you are thinking like a child. My mother would say " you have to be a wise woman".  You  have to be ready because apparently it isn’t easy to take on another person’s emotional wellbeing. You  will be responsible for that person’s happiness; like it or not, if your partner is unhappy, you will be unhappy. You have to have the capacity to handle their innermost thoughts and insecurities and will be required to support him. Are you emotionally mature for this undertaking?

Financial Maturity: This one is a no brainer. I am not suggesting that you be wealthy but gone are the days that a woman is expected to be sitting in her father’s house , a ripe flower, waiting to be plucked and taken care of afterwards. You have to posses some form of financial independence. As a guy once said to me about a girl who has job and no education or skill “nobody wants a liability”. You  will be expected to contribute financially and even if you get lucky and marry someone who is willing to take care of you, don’t you want to feel like you can take care of yourself should (god forbid) you find out your husband is a cheating, lying, manipulative, controlling dirtbag?  Are you educated or at least skilled in something that will allow you to support  your partner should things fall apart. Do you have enough understanding about the way money and bills work to handle the day to day operation of your home like mortgage, electricity bill, food, budget and other emergencies that may arise? Financial security and dare I say independence is essential in the journey.

Spiritual Maturity: I truly believe this one is very essential and all encompassing. Spiritual maturity is what gives you the strength and fortitude to have a union that works. I don't want to get preachy here but I understand from many married couples that believing in a higher power is what gives them the strength to carry on. With spiritual maturity, you will be able to make the decision on who you end up with based on the things that truly matter and not superficial qualities. And then when you feel like its all falling apart, you and your partner can both turn to what you both believe in that is greater than you both and get answers and directions.

So after reading this ask yourselves, if you met the one today and he put  a ring on it, can you categorically say that you are ready to be married? In what other ways are your prepared for "marriage". Please share below.

-Kelly

Color Picks: Plum + Gray

Grooms Blown Away By Their Beautiful Brides

Hello Lovers,

We've been bad, we know, we're sorry we still love you don't be mad! It seems like just like other girl errr situations our schedules seem to sync up as well; we're always super busy with life at the same time, we all seem to have a surge of super cool ideas all at the same time. Please bear with us, we'll get it together....eventually!!!

I saw this a piece this morning that I just HAD to share! By now you guys know that I have a soft spot for the grooms; I always root for the underdog (yes, most grooms are the underdogs at their own weddings) The  piece captures the grooms reactions to seeing their brides for the first time ever and can I just say: Dear future husband a drop or two of tears wouldn't hurt!

Color Picks: Emerald + White + Gold

Happy new month lovers!

May's birthstone is EMERALD!!!

Stuck on color choices? Let's figure it out together!!!

lola@bluenewandborrowed.com

Engagement shoot by Matthew Moore Photography

Good Morning Lovers,
I'm not sure what it is about this couple that gets me so excited....well apart from the fact that they're both very stylish and such a sexy pair! Robert and Taylor's photo shoot with photographer Matthew Moore is nothing short of amazing, I just love the simplicity and elegance!

Enjoy!

The Journey: Dating at "That Age"

Dating takes a whole different meaning because we are dating with a purpose. In fact I’m not quite sure if it should be called dating. Remember at this point you haven’t quite reached desperate so it’s still in your control to choose whom you will end up with so you have to get creative about it……..

You will take any referral that comes your way. Yes I said it! In the past when you have been saying you can find your own man so nobody should disturb you. This time, any aunty that say they have someone for you (even though its just so they can get their papers) your response will first be a little shakara, then you’ll say ok, give him my number. It doesn’t mean you’ll marry the guy, it just means you start taking any opportunity you’re given to meet a potential life mate. Good for you! You are maturing, wearing your big girl pants

 You start treating every first date like an interview. Before you were “that age”, you go on dates to get a free meal, enjoy yourself and have some fun at someone else’s expense. If it turns into something, good! If it does, oh well. But at “that age”, you start to shut things down on the first date.  The types of questions you ask will even scare the poor guy away. Questions like where do you see yourself in 5 years? What experiences would you say have helped build your character? Do you have student loans? Do you have a good relationship with your mother?  If you like the answers, he goes on to the second round interviews. The point is, you don’t have time to waste “hanging out” with someone who is clearly not your type or ready to settle down in the next 2/ 3 years.  I mean who has time to waste?

You will probably attempt to recycle an old boyfriend. This one is a tough one and it almost always blows up in your face and I am so disappointed to say I did this and it blew up in my face big time. The truth is sometimes you get discouraged with what’s out there. You have gone on so many dates and you start to think that no one will ever get you like an old boyfriend, or that you don’t have the energy to learn about someone new. You start keeping in touch with someone you really loved and you claim that you don’t remember why you broke up in the first place. Maybe he has changed, you try to prove to him that you have changed. Don’t worry; it will become apparent to you why you broke up in the first place and when it does, GET THE HELL OUT! Let me add this that for the very few, it works out for them so Mazel Tov.

You pull out your phone, yearbook, Facebook and for some people, your album and you start going through it to look for those guys that use to die for you. My favorite is Facebook. You will call up the person to “catch up” and see what their up to.  You’re wondering if he’s still a nerd, if he has grown any taller, or if he has muscles now. So one day I called up Ope to “catch up”. Ope was in love with me when I was 16 but I thought I was the hottest thing on my block so I told Ope we could only be friends. Ope and I decided to hang out. Guess what, Ope now had muscles, Ope had a fantastic Job, he had swagger, he had the type of car that makes you feel like a madam when you step out, he hadn’t grown any taller but that was not an issue because his swagger made him seem taller. We had dinner, we had wine and he was such a gentleman. He tried to do some shakara for me but I knew he still liked me. At the end of the night, Ope dropped me at home and we made out for a second. I realized that even though Ope was everything I wanted on paper, I still wasn’t attracted to him so I shut it down. It sucks that it didn’t work out with Ope and I told myself, at least I TRIED, on the next one….oooOOO online dating?

What creative ways have you tried to meet your life partner? Have any of done any of the things I’ve listed in the post? Do you agree, disagree? My married ladies, do you have any advise for us? Post below. 

Until next time,
Kelly

Book Giveaway!!!! Consequences by Aleatha Romig

Hello Lovers

Ok this is a completely impromptu giveaway, my literature buff friend sent this book to me and seriously all I can say is; I am 100% sure that I'll need some kind of therapy by the time I'm finished....yes it's that INSANELY good.

Anyway, I LOVE this book so much that I want to share it with my favorite people in the entire whole wide world: You of course!!!!

No I'm not borrowing you the book...I'm buying you one!

5 lucky readers will have their own copy of CONSEQUENCES by Aleatha Romig!
I'm going to randomly pick 5 people and send each of them a copy of this book.

How to enter: Email me and let me know you're interested in the book. That's all, no other requirements, it would be nice if you could follow the blog's social media pages but it's not a requirement to win. I just want to share this book and also give Ms Alaetha Romig some well deserved exposure.


As always may the odds ever be in your favor!
Going back to my book now!

The Synopsis of the book.
Besieged by memories of a brutal abduction, Claire Nichols wakes in an unfamiliar bedroom, within a luxurious mansion. Her recollections have one common denominator, the man she just met, Anthony Rawlings. Unbeknownst to Claire, for a very long time, she has been within Anthony’s sights. Many of the pivotal events in her life occurred, due to his sinister manipulation. Every action has a consequence, and his actions result in their chance meeting. More than a psychological thriller, Consequences is a vivid story of one woman’s struggle to survive incomprehensible circumstances. Every aspect of her being suddenly depends upon the tall, wealthy, dark haired, dark eyed businessman. Anthony Rawlings is known to the world as prosperous, benevolent, and kind. Claire quickly learns that he can also be a menacing controlling captor. With few options but concession, Claire attempts to earn her freedom, while enduring a hellish existence that truly appears perfect. Persevering tests and trials, she struggles to retain her pure Midwest values and beliefs. Encouraged by memories of a loving upbringing, she gains strength in the simplest of joys: solitude in nature and good in the face of evil. His goal in sight, Anthony’s calculated agenda encounters an unforeseen detour. He becomes captivated by Claire’s beauty, resilience, and determination. The interaction of these two compelling characters instigates strong emotions: fear, anger, love, and lust. Claire and Anthony’s tumultuous journey flows into uncharted waters of intrigue and passion. Utilizing vivid detail, this 167,000-word novel unfolds like a movie, before the eyes of its readers. From the opening criminal abduction, through twists and turns, to the unlikely romantic thrills, the suspense climaxes as Anthony’s motivation becomes evident. Anthony and Claire must decide if they will stay true to one another, or allow preceding actions to result in justifiable Consequences.



Oh right, giveaway ends on May 1st 2013

The Honeymooners - Dubai

 By: Bisi O.


Last week we took you to Thailand, but this week we are going 3,000 miles Northwest over to the United Arab Emirates, DUBAI! Dubai is actually #1 on my list of places to travel to, so writing this post was very exciting for me!

Sit back, relax, and prepare to be a bit envious as we take you to Dubai with Bola and Femi...

Introducing: The Journey by Kelly

Allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Kelly and I am single. I have been single for some time now and it has been interesting. I am not going to lie to you and say it is “sex in the city fabulous” because frankly, it isn’t. It can get quite exhausting sometimes. 

I am going to be writing about what it is like to be single when you are at “that age”. You all know what age I’m talking about. The age where you have graduated college, you have a decent job and you are asking yourself “what now?”  The age where your parents are looking at you and wondering if you have any plans for yourself. The age where you haven’t quite reached “desperate” yet but you’re afraid that if care isn’t taken, you will become “that aunty” . Don’t get me wrong, a lot of people are satisfied with being “that aunty”…the aunty that everyone feels sorry for because she’s (insert spinster age here)  and has no husband or children. The age where you have passed your “I’m going to be married by so and so age” by like 3-5 years and the proverbial biological clock is ticking ever so lightly.  What I have realized is that “that age” is a state of mind. Some people hit that age at 23, some 27 and others at 35… ask anyone and that age is different.

The point is when you do hit that age, we go through a range of emotional roller coasters and some of us might do some crazy things. We are going to gist about all these things. I know that this is a wedding blog and it's about getting married and being happy and all the fabulousness that goes with walking down the aisle. Let me tell you something, I want to experience all of these wonderful things. Some days I go to bluenewandborrowed.com for inspiration to help me plan my dream wedding yet to come as I do now (don’t lie, you know some of you do it too). I hope you guys are as excited about this journey as I am. This is not going to be a how to guide because frankly I don’t know how to. It will be the blind leading the blind.  We are going to learn from each other and gist and become best friends and I hope you really enjoy what I have to talk about. Maybe you’ll learn from me and I certainly hope to learn something from you.  What bugs you about being single and being at "that age" leave a comment below and Stay Tuned......

Bridal Week Roundup: Monique Lhuillier 2014 Spring Collection

Hello Lovers,
We continue our Bridal Week Round up with one of my favorite designers; MONIQUE LHUILLIER. Let me just say that I am completely, 100% in absolute super love with this collection. It's insane, I love all 30 dresses in the collection. Everything about it is just so princess bride meets Vogue editor (don't worry that makes sense in my head lol)
Absolutely SWOON worthy!!!!
Enjoy!