Bride Spotlight

The bride. The most beautiful woman of the day, the one everyone has come to see. I have always loved brides so I decided to feature some of my favourite  brides. Thank you to all the ladies who agreed to share their pictures...

Abike Abu

Simply stunning, not many people can pull off these colours but she did so beautifully. I like how she used white to line her buba rather than match it with the colour of her gele, and how her necklace subtly compliments the attire.

To me this is how a coral top should be worn, with plain fabric rather than something with a lot of pattern. Less is more, especially when the coral top is such a statement piece. The same can be said for her hair, she pulled it to the back and kept it simple.

I love the satin and the perfectly placed lace detail on the dress. I love the fit, the veil, the hair, even her collar bone could serve as an accessory, such fine bones, love everything!!

Makeup: Alison Cameron www.alisoncameronmakeup.com

 Hair: Abike Abu www.hairbyabike.com 

Photography: Maria Murray www.lovesasart.co.uk

Banke Otudeko

Needless to say Banke is beautiful. I love the soft colours and the light coral. Just perfect! 

Makeup: Banke Mashida-Lawal Photography: Ade Plumptre

Recently a lot of brides tend to wear their hair up, I love that Banke wore hers down. I also like that she deviated from the strapless look, the v-neck was a refreshing change and to me, gave a softness to her look as did the colour of her bouquet. 

The Demetrios dress is a coincidental nod to her part Greek heritage and fits her to perfection. This is a bride that wore the mermaid silhouette without looking red carpet, she looked the part of a stunning bride.

Makeup: Banke Meshida-Lawal Hair: Becks Buki Photgraphy: CaptureIt

Timi Ejiwunmi

Yours, truly. I decided that for my engagement I wasn't going to wear aso oke I wanted to be different and wear lace for both looks. I wanted to bling from head-to-toe so I had swarvoski crystals pressed into my gele as well as my lace. I went for coral jewellery because my grandmother loved coral and I felt the contrast would be nice with an otherwise neutral look.

Kept the bling to the toe!

 I went with an Ines di Santo dress, trumpet silhouette, crystal encrusted with a tulle overlay.

Makeup: Banke Mashida-Lawal Hair: Lucky Photography: Ade Plumptre 

Desola Oyegunle

Desola is easily one of the prettiest girls I know. Not many people can pull off three bold primary colours, but she did. I like the accents of blue in her buba and on her eyelids.

The contrast of the smokey eye and light makeup is beautiful. I picked this shot also to show how pretty the beading on her bodice was.

I liked her Maggie Sottero dress particularly the beading, colour and fit.  The short veil was a good choice as it showed off her figure more.

Makeup: Banke Mashida-Lawal Photography: Ade Plumptre (both days)

Leila Funke Kuku

Funke and I have been friends since we were kids and even so she blew me away at her engagement. To see someone so often and still be blown away is a testament to how great she looked. 

I like how she didn't go with the regular buba but still looked traditional, it refelected her personality and it was different. The design of the pearl and diamond necklace is exquisite.

For her second look Funke went with darker lace but I like how she kept the gele light. I love a dressy bride this iro and buba was beautiful, it was heavily sequinned which caused her to sparkle more talk about a statement necklace, Love!

Makeup: Banke Mashida-Lawal Photography: Photonimi

You don't get more elegant than this. I love this Elie Saab dress, the veil was stunning and the orchids with the pearl handle was a nice touch.

Makeup: Becks Buki Hair: Remi Photography: Peter Gear for Filmography

Beryl Amar-Aigbe

Beryl is Ghanian and picked a lovely yellow kente outfit which complimented her figure nicely, I liked the white jewellery for its simplicity.

For her second look she changed into a white outfit which had panel at the back that had a train to it, a prelude to the wedding.

Hair & Makeup: Lola Maja-Okojevoh Photography: Tom Kennedy for Ovation International

I liked the drama of this Pronovias dress, as I'm used to seeing lace from them. It was a statement piece that needed little or no accessories and thats how Beryl kept it.

Hair & Makeup: Lola Maja-Okojevoh Photography: Jo Hughes, Captive Photography UK

Makashe Awogboro

Love this shot of Makashe. I like the contrast of the large coral beads against the softer more delicate darker coral and diamond necklace.

The contrast at the bottom of her wrapper is nice and well positioned.

Red was an excellent choice this shade suits her skin tone, she looks like a ruby princess.

Makeup: Banke Mashida-Lawal Photography: Photonimi

Makashe went for Monique Lhuillier, I liked the covered up look for church and how different the dress was by the reception, a pretty lace creation.

Lamide Shonekan

Talk about bling! The white and gold is very bridal and glamorous. The choice of canary yellow and white diamonds was an excellent choice for this outfit. 

Lamide wore Enzo Ani dress which had a soft tulle feel to it. I liked the bolero as it looked like a part of the dress. Oftentimes I see brides wear bolero's that look like an add-on hers didn't, it was a nice lace touch to her dress.

Makeup: Banke Mashida-Lawal Hair: Remi Photography: Ade Plumptre (both days)

Having done this spotlight other brides I like have been coming to mind, so watch the space there may well be a part two of this.....