Chris Brown and Rihanna -Duet?

The other day, Russ Parr and his morning crew opened up the discussion about the duet between Rihanna and Chris Brown. They played a snippet of the remix Cake and first thing I thought was wow. I took out their personal past and just listened to the lyrics. Wow! It's definitely a club song and might be the theme music that women will play on their birthday.Then the crew started talking about it; saying things like she's obviously forgiven him so the public should as well. They're grown so they're going to do what they want to do. It's battered women syndrome. She's crazy. She doesn't know what she's doing. Chris Brown is stupid for doing it and etc. At first I thought she is like every other woman that has been in an abusive relationship. She misses Chris, a lot of time has passed, she's forgiven him, she's trying to move on. Then I stopped myself because for one, these songs doesn't particularly mean that they're back together. People always say that when two artists of the opposite sex does a track or a movie together. I honestly didn't believe Beyonce was with Jay Z for the longest time. I needed to hear it from her because the public always wants to pair people up. Not everybody ends up like Beyonce/Jay or Angelina/Brad. That could only leave a very plausible reason: MONEY! Who would have thought that Chris Brown and Rihanna would do a song together after all that has happened? Rihanna could have easily gotten Trey Songz to do this song. He's all about sex. Hell she could have gotten Miguel. Or she could taken the singing part and just had a somebody do a rap on it-J. Cole, Wale, Tyga or Future (I'm so kidding about the last two. They both get on my nerves!) Just seeing them both perform (seperately) at the Grammy's was a little shocking to me. Obviously the restraining order has been lifted. I wasn't paying too much attention after all was said and done. So now we have these songs that they are both on and it has everyone talking about it, including me.What everyone (including me) is waiting on is the music video and the two of them performing the song on the same stage. The public wants to see how they'll interact with each other; their body language. Cake is a very hot sexually driven song. Chris even says Been a long time, I’ve been missing your body. I bet he has. So we'll see what the future holds. I know that this is a business and both Rihanna and Chris Brown are career driven. They are both smart and should have expected all of this. If they are back together, I'm going to tell them what I would tell friends of mine. Be careful.

Wedding recaps and ideas

Since we’re reaching the high traffic wedding months, I thought I would share some of the things I did for my wedding. I got married last April but the wedding is still strong in my mind. Besides I was slacking last year so I’ll do this now.

• Before I decided on my dress, I knew that I was going to get flat comfortable shoes. It was a must. I don’t walk in heels all that much so I wasn’t going to try to on my wedding day. I saw a lot of cute Stiletto shoes but I would rather be comfortable. I ended up buying some white cushiony slippers from David’s Bridal. I believe they were 20 something but it was definitely worth it. I was happy and didn’t think about my feet at all. Plus my photographer loved it. She took several pictures of them. J

• I read a lot of blogs where people had negative opinions about having a fake cake for show and then a sheet cake cut up in the back. I jumped on that idea. It not only saved us money (a simple sheet cake and one layer on top of the fake cake for cutting) but it also was great for pictures. We asked the baker before we hired her if she would be offended if we asked. She said yes and opted to make money off the total if we gave her back the fake part of it. Heck yeah we did. We wouldn’t need it. So if there’s something you want to try but reading that others think it’s not acceptable or a little weird, bump that! Try it out because this is your wedding. Do what you want and can afford.

• Come up with a MUST HAVE picture list for your photographer. My photographers were absolutely awesome and they already had ideas about what to shoot. I had full trust in them but I also wanted to make sure that I included pictures of people my family wanted as well. It won’t offend the photographers. How would they know that you want a special picture of your niece with an Uncle that’s always out of town? They wouldn’t so you’d have to direct them.

• I went back and forth mentally about getting a wedding coordinator. I knew that I would be like any other bride and wouldn’t want to hear about any issues or concerns unless it’s something really drastic. Finally we both decided that we couldn’t afford it. The least expensive one I could find was $1200 for 3 hours. Not happening. I then was talking to one of my co-workers about the wedding and she was giving me advice on the wedding day. I then jokingly said “I should ask you to be the wedding coordinator.” She said she would do it. I jumped for joy and thanked her graciously. As long as I provided a timeline, a list of vendor telephones and give her all of the important information, she was good. I say if you know someone that isn’t family, assertive, helpful and that you can trust, ask them if they’ll do it for you. I say someone that isn’t family because they might want to take pictures or be in pictures or get involved in certain things and you don’t want to take that away from them because people are running up to them left and right looking for extra candles.

• Make sure to incorporate yours and the groom’s style in the wedding. One thing a lot of people remember are the songs we played during the bouquet and garter toss. I chose Singles Ladies by Beyonce. It made it fun. It’s a fun song and it still is. My husband decided on the theme song to James Bond. He was named after the creator so he thought it fit. Runner ups were the theme to Indiana Jones and Mission Impossible. I was happy with James Bond.

So brides and grooms, have fun, enjoy your day and try to take it all in because it does literally go in a flash. Also try not to worry. The morning of my wedding, it was storming horribly! It was full of pouring down raining, thunder and lightening. I laughed when I woke up and saw that. Didn’t let it get to me. By the end of the day and when our car arrived, it was bright and sunny. It was just beautiful. So try not to worry and love your husband.

Decisions, decisions

Brides and grooms will feel me on this entry....Wedding planning is full of decisions. You have to decide everything from the table linens to the taste of the cake to the size of a venue to the list of songs to give to the DJ to bridal party's attire to even having a Plan A, B, and C and some cases D, E, and F for what to do when the weather goes wrong. I tell everyone who asks me that I did not realize how many decisions there were and how detailed you need to be. Last week I read another bride's blog and she went into great detail about how she wanted her girls to look. She not only had pictures but she had it down to the actual make up she wanted to be used. I guess to me that would be a little anal but as I read more blogs, that doesn't seem to be out of the ordinary. I understand when it comes to the dresses and shoes. You want everyone to look like things are coordinated but not so cookie-cutter. I read another blog where the bride didn't choose a color theme and thought that all different colors with the dresses to the centerpieces would be more comfortable. I would think in the spring time that would be fitting but that can be somewhat indecisive. I guess I'm a mix of both. I don't want it to be so controlled but as I read more and visualize more, the wedding and reception are starting to form into a picture. Before it was like a puzzle. I knew that that I liked the colors Tiffany blue and Chocolate brown but how would I work that out through the wedding? I knew that I wanted to have things romantic and unique but again, how would I do that? Fortunately, there are plenty of books, magazines and videos that can help your vision come true. Now what decisions have my fiancé and I already finalized? The colors, as I mentioned are going to be Tiffany blue and Chocolate brown. We've found a baker that not only is open-minded and inexpensive. Our initial idea was to have a fake cake for all to see and then have a matching sheet cake in the back that will be cut up and serve. First I was reading people who thought the idea was great and people who thought that was cheap. Then I thought hey I think it’s great. I’ll have my elegant, expensive looking cake for my guests to see but then save money with a sheet cake big enough to feed everyone. The next step was to either find a company that specializes in fake cakes and have it shipped to my city or a company locally and ask them. All cake bakers have or have had made fake cakes. When they are vendors at bridal shows or for people coming into their establishment, they have fake cakes displayed in windows and on tables. They want to show you just how creative and special their work is. So the question is how do you approach them? If you see a cake that looks like what you’re looking for, ask if you can rent the cake but also get a small version of it. One thing I wondered was will that offend the baker. They aren’t fake cake makers. They didn’t take classes and perfect their work from making fake products. They bake cakes and how would they make any money. While at a bridal show, my fiancé and I tried a baker’s sample of her chocolate and chip flavor. First of all, since one of our colors is chocolate, we were thinking of making the wedding cake chocolate. We really didn’t think about all the options that one can do with chocolate like pairing chocolate with mint, raspberry, peanut butter, caramel, etc. Can’t go wrong with chocolate. When we tried the chocolate chip, however, it was really good. It was different and fluffy-something we both are. So my fiancé started asking her questions about her business; all the questions they list in the wedding planning books like how long has she been in the business, what were some of her specialties, and most of all, how much. She ran down the prices and then we brought up sheet cakes. $1 a slice. Our guest count is about 125 people so $125 plus tax isn’t bad. Then he said “I hope this doesn’t offend you but what would you say to us asking for a fake cake and a sheet cake with the same designs?” She said yes! She emailed us the prices. $25 to rent and give back, $125 to keep the fake cake for the future (I guess). So instantly I’m thinking there wouldn’t be any reason that we’d keep the fake cake. It’s done its purpose and she can have it back. So for my wedding cake, it’s going to be $125 for the sheet cake and $25 for the fake and grand total of course is $150 plus tax. I am so very happy about that. One thing I can check off the list and happy with. When you’ve made a decision, especially one that saves you money and headache, it’s like a breath of fresh air. You can just let out a big sigh. So, two down, a billion more to go. J Happy planning!