An eventful and travel-filled summer has come to a close. What better way to start of Fall than with a wedding!!! One of my favorite line sisters (aka, sorority chick who was on my pledge line) had a beautiful wedding this past weekend in chilly Chicago, but the weather didn’t even stand a chance as ruining these activities!
We started with a trip to Chocolate for Your Body for $31 No-Chip manicures, as part of the Pretty City’s Pretty in Pink spa discount specials to raise money and awareness for bright pink - breast cancer research. I tried out Salon O Sixty-Five, where they were offering a Kerastase Oleo-Slim treatment for $31 (normally as much as $100!). While the treatment worked great on my hair, making it shiny and silky, the stylist Todd was not so great. He used a ROUND brush to try and straighten my wet hair (a no-no for Black women) and an inadequate flat-iron to “finish'” it. It was a waste of time AND I got a parking ticket. I ended up fixing my hair myself later that night.
Then there was a bachelorette party at Flirty Girl Fitness where we all dressed for the class in 80’s gear with the theme FLASHDANCE. We walked to Red Kiva for $5 Absolut vodka specials and flat bread pizzas, then we then rented a HUGE party bus limo and cruised the town, causing lots of trouble!
Friday we had a “girls’ brunch” at Flattop Grill in West Loop (not one of my favs but this time my food turned out pretty good) and then a rehearsal followed by the rehearsal dinner at Captain Hard Times – a South Side Chicago, family-owned soul food restaurant. The wedding was held at Apostolic Church. Saturday was the BIG DAY and many of the girls went to get their hair done and we all met up at the AKA Community Center for makeup and hair retouches. There was a makeup artist (not to be named) who was scheduled to do most of the bridal party but a few of us opted out and used our soror Kiana (who has done makeup for years but hasn’t set up a professional name yet). It was like a battle. Them vs us. In the end, we won. While the hired makeup artist went for a palette of caked-on foundation, dark smoky eyes, BRIGHT round over-blushed cheeks and burgundy lipstick on ALL THE GIRLS; Kiana went for a more neutralized look that matched the eyes and lips to the personality of the person, keeping the overall look very neutral and “pretty”. I felt like a super model!
Luckily, the makeup artist was unable to attend the wedding, so back at the church, the other girls did not hesitate or even feel guilty as they started wiping away at their faces. They convinced Kiana to soften their looks too, and in the end we had a BEAUTIFUL bridal party!!!
The reception was held at the Grand Ballroom on Chicago South Side. A true hidden gem. This ballroom was big, elegant and had an awesome staff! The reception was very interactive with games being played throughout and, lets not forget, an open bar (which we took FULL advantage of)!!! As always, I had a wonderful time with my beautiful sisters of Alpha Kappa Alpha… next month, we celebrate our 10th year as members of the sorority with a huge weekend of fun at TSU’s homecoming!
Item of the day is the “Homecoming party dress”…. I tried on a number of dresses to determine which would have the best “party effect”… I think I have made my decision, but you won’t find out until November!!! Here are some of the contenders that didn’t make the cut but deserve some attention… (A lot of them were by Rachel Roy as she has seemingly taken over Macy’s Young Contemporary Department, and with good reason!)
Rachel by Rachel Roy 24 Hour Dress…. it just did not drape right on me
Rachel by Rachel Roy Studded Sleeveless Dress… had issues with the band at the bottom
Rachel Roy Art Deco Dress… one of the top choices. I tried it belted with a wide black belt and loved it.
French Connection Wizard Cotton Dress – I’ve loved this dress in every color over the past year, but the top just didn’t fit right, no matter how far up in size I went! Macy’s had the Red and the Color-blocked Red-Black-Navy versions on sale for about $80.
BCBG Tulip dress… not flattering AT ALL on me… or the girl in the pic for that matter
BCBGeneration Halter Wrap Dress… the fit just didn’t work for me and the pattern was a bit much for me. I prefer solids for my party dresses.
Ladies get those dresses together, Nashville is gonna be a blast!!!
