My name is Blane and I am half  Ethiopian half Eritrean born and raised in Los Angeles, and I work in Tech within the entertainment industry. I met my husband through a dating app.  We went on our first date after we matched and it was history after that. He popped the question when we were in Italy on Amalfi Coast in Positano attending a wedding but were vacationing by ourselves before attending the wedding.  We were looking at the view when we first got there and a guy offered to take a photo of us.  I didn’t know that Chris was slowly getting down on one knee as I thought he was taking too long to take the photo and I was yelling at him to hurry up. When I turned around there he was with the beautiful coast line of the Amalfi and a ring box. Of course I said yes! I wasn’t emotional when he first asked, I was still in shock, but when he gave the background details of how he made this happen I began to cry and was overwhelmed with joy!

When I woke up on my wedding day I felt relaxed.  My girls being by my side that morning also helped! Relaxed and happy… they made it feel like it was any other day with my best friends which kept me at ease. Originally I purchased a dress due to it being on sale and deep down I knew that it wasn’t THE dress.  I remember seeing on Habeshabrides for wedding dress Wednesday the Berta Bridal gowns and decided that this is my day and I should wear my dream dress. I went to Lovella Bridal LA which carried Berta line and tried on a few gowns.  I fell in love with this one because it was unique, it was a two piece basically what I have always wanted. I picked blue for my main wedding colors because it is my favorite and also my sorority colors (Kappa Kappu Gamma!).

I wanted an urban chic feel for our wedding! The venue was industrial with exposed brick and high beamed ceilings so the perfect complete was to follow the theme. That was why I picked the wedding venue. Walking down the aisle made me feel Anxious… I really don’t like people staring at me… there was so many people there.  But I made it down in one piece. I also felt relieved because I didn’t know how this was going to turn out.  I remember asking friends to send snaps of the set up while it was happening so I could get a glimpse but walking In I was happily pleased!  Our first dance was to Blame it on the Boogie by the Jacksons and my husband is a huge Michael Jackson fan and we were super excited to celebrate our union. The most memorable moment of the night was the dance party… I mean once all the hip hop and habesha music started going and seeing all of our family friends in one place having so much fun it was perfect! If I could change one thing it would have been to estimate higher for the amount of habesha food for guests. We ran out of food… and we bought too much alcohol. We had a large number of guests who had not had Habesha food before and kept going back for more! We had alcohol on lock but maybe overestimated the amount we needed.

I decided not to have a multiple day wedding like typical Habesha brides and wish that other brides told me that it is ok to do.  It went perfectly for me and I wish others would know that it is always an option. We just changed our outfit halfway through the reception and turned it into the Melse from there. My kemis was blue saba fabric and I love how gold pops on blue and so when I picked my werki it went perfectly together. Now for my bridesmaids i opted not to have them wear kemis as I didn’t want to force bridesmaids into buying an additional dress instead I had custom netelas made back in Ethiopia that matched my tilfe/tillet and also matched the western bridesmaids dresses in color.  It looked great and it made it very easy to do the quick outfit change for the second half of the reception. What I wanted for the Melse portion was the Kebero, live band, the flowers (gladiolus), and of course the kabas!

My favorite song that played was Blane Ayney … because it is my favorite song it has my name in it and my family always played it for me as i grew up.  It holds special memories for me. My favorite part of the night was seeing all my non-habesha guests really getting into the culture and experiencing our traditions they seem to have a lot more fun then we did! I don’t really have anything I would change.  I loved everything about that part of the day. One piece of advice I would give to current brides is don’t let your family be too involved with everything… I assigned one person from my family to be the point person and honestly that was the best thing I could have done. Any issues, questions, or concerns were filtered through them before they came to me.  One of the best ways to avoid any family drama 🙂 Good Luck!

 

Vendor List

Wedding Gown Vendor Name	Berta Bridal Lovella Bridal Los Angeles
Ceremony Location Name	440 Seaton
Florist Vendor Name	http://valeriejurado.com/ Valerie Jurado
Bridal party Attire Vendor(s) Name(s)	Bella Bridesmaids Jenny Yoo
Stationary Vendor Name	http://www.sloaneharmonydesign.com/
Photographer Vendor Name	Ike and Tash Photography and Motion
Videographer Vendor Name	Juice Box Media
Reception Venue Name	440 Seaton
Traditional attire Vendor Name	Bought the fabric back home in Addis Ababa in Shiro Meda (wouldn’t use the same person) gave my cousin a hard time in getting the fabric from the Shemane in time for her flight back to the states. Had the made by a habesha seamstress in La that a family friend contacted.
Makeup Artist Vendor Name?	Mya Kidane (my cousin is an amazing artist)
Hair Stylist Vendor Name?	Jessica Davis