BlackBride.com, the premier online resource for brides of color, has announced its new ownership and exciting bridal showcase set to kick off on Sunday, April 17, 2011 in Atlanta. The first annual bridal showcase will take brides, step-by- step, through the planning process and provide an interactive all-access pass to the best vendors in the business.?The showcase will include a fashion preview featuring wedding gown designs, on-site examples of floral arrangements and photography and samples from local wedding cake designers and caterers. Giveaways for attending couples will include Bella Weddings’ prize, which will offer one happy couple with a dream honeymoon to the Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort & Spa in St, Thomas, Virgin Islands.
“BlackBride.com is providing a new wedding planning experience for our brides,” says Mary Chatman, president of BlackBride.com. “Our showcase, like our Web site is designed to be a one-stop resource tailored to meet a bride’s extensive needs, from access to great wedding professionals, trends in bridal party attire, sage advice from experts in the business, and financial planning as newlyweds. We are here to assist in the wedding experience on every level.”
With a re-launch of the Web site planned for spring 2011, BlackBride.com is expanding its expertise, providing a monthly newsletter filled with great advice, DIY tips for brides and grooms, features on the latest trends for wedding planning, its picks for the best wedding vendors in your city, constructive advice on finances, and access to relationship experts on keeping that romance alive long after saying “I Do.”? The bridal showcase is the launch event for the new and improved wedding resource website. Under new ownership since January 2011, BlackBride.com has thrived under the direction of new president Mary Chatman, also founder and president of Love Life Designs LLC ww.lovelifedesignsllc.com <http://llc.com/>) a romantic decorating and design firm based in Atlanta. Chatman has worked with numerous high profile clients, and is an annual donor of her firm’s services to Kenny Leon’s celebrity charity golf tournament, Greens In the Day, Blues In the Night, frequented by Samuel L. Jackson and Grey’s Anatomy’s James Pickens Jr.
A savvy entrepreneur, Chatman has allowed her passions to enable a strong business. “I was drawn to the industry by my values in terms of marriage, and my love for all things beautiful,” she says.?”If I could, I?d get married once a month, to the same man of course, just so I could wear a different wedding gown and have a different theme each time! Out of $32 billion spent each year on weddings, African-Americans shell out more than $1.6 billion annually on weddings. Black brides are not spotlighted as much as other nationalities in terms of media. You rarely see us on the cover of bridal magazines or on the runway. We want to shine the light on all brides of color in the same elegant, chic couture manner as what you normally see online, in print and on television. We want to provide the ultimate resources to help guide them through the process of planning the most important day of their lives.”
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