Meet Special Guest Designer: Selam Tekie of Habesha's by Selam

Over the last couple of years we have enjoyed watching this incredible designer grow as she continues to accomplish great levels of success. With each new collection that she produces, we are left in great astonishment of her stunning designs and consistency of breaking her own records each time! 

We are beyond excited that she will be showcasing her latest collection on our runway at the Her Big Day Cultural Wedding Show! Here's a fun interview with the designer where she shares her love for design and how she got started!

Her Big Day: Where are you from and where is your business located?

Selam Tekie: I am from Eritrea, born and raised in Eritrea, currently living in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. That is where my fashion business is located.

HBD: When did you realize you had an interest for fashion design and how did you get started?

ST: Although I started to pursue it later in life, as I was engaged in a different profession, I’ve always had an interest from a young age. When I moved to Addis Abeba from, Abu Dhabi, UAE to start a new life, I got the chance to start my own business and decided to do fashion. And it has been going well so far.

HBD: Your entire collection has such an elegant presence and look! Where do you get your design inspiration from?

ST: Actually, when I moved to Abu Dhabi from Eritrea, the very first job I had was as a sales woman in a fashion store known as Berishka. I used to love all the collections and designs in that store, and they have inspired me to try it in my fashion business.

HBD: Do you have any role models in the fashion industry? Who are they and why?

ST: Ethiopian designer Amsale, because she is one of the top, celebrity wedding gown designers.

HBD: You also have a boutique in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Do you carry only traditional Habesha dresses or are you including the western white wedding gown as well? Will your customers find ready to wear dresses in your store or is everything you provide custom made for each client?

ST: I have two stores- one for traditional Habesha dresses, and one for western white wedding gowns. So my clients have options in selecting different styles of dresses from these two stores. I usually prefer to make custom dresses to fit, but at the same time I usually keep some ready-made dresses in stock for clients who have immediate needs.

HBD: What do you love most about creating the traditional Habesha dress?

ST: I love everything, and it’s a beautiful culture! The most important and main thing to love about the dresses is that it’s something you wear occasionally, like during holidays, weddings or some cultural events. So, because of that, the person wearing it is always perceived as celebrating a special event. They are all in smiles and in their finest touches of beauty, with the likes of traditional hair braids, jewelry, etc.

HBD: What is your most cherished dress from your collections and why?

ST: I love all of my designs and don't have a particular favorite. All of my designs are special to me.

HBD: You will be featuring your newest collection on the runway of our 2017 Wedding Show in Seattle, Washington. What new trends or styles can we expect to see from this collection?

ST: This is a golden opportunity, a dream come true, to present myself with my collections, and I am ready to hit the runway with new styles that the attendees can easily fall in love with. I am confident in showcasing my finest works and collection.

HBD: For future brides who will be at our wedding show and ready to meet you, what advice would you give them in working with you? In other words, what is the best way to put in an order for a custom dress or pre-existing design during our wedding show?

ST: I always prefer to take orders ahead of time so it gives us plenty of time; I don’t like creating a special dress in a rush. During the show, future brides, as well as others, can put in orders on the spot! For those who are looking to order a dress during a different time, I am always available to guide them in selecting their dresses and ordering it online with me.

Also, during the show, I may have a few ready-made dresses for sale for those who are interested in buying them on the spot.

HBD: Where do you see Habesha’s By Selam in the next 5 years?

ST: Well, I believe I have started it with great passion and desire, and I want to continue in that manner- as the sky will be my limit.

Be sure to come and say hello to Selam on January 29, 2017! P.S. You won't want to miss her jaw dropping designs on the runway!

Tickets at: bit.ly/herbigday2017

Genet Catering - 2016 Her Big Day Wedding Show Vendor

[picture source]

After your guests have witnessed your holy matrimony, they will most definitely expect you to feed them! Food is a language that we can all speak and is so unique to every culture. This is why we are excited to announce one of our Catering vendors at Her Big Day: A Cultural Wedding Affair: Genet Catering!

Owner, Genet Debesay, specializes in cooking different kinds of food from Habesha food, to Asian cuisines, Mexican meals, and American food. She can also make special orders like sambusa and egg roll--yum!. Genet has been supplying food to all cultural communities for some time now here in the Seattle metropolitan area and her creations are delicious! She has a referral based business, in which she has no site, but people connect with her through the community. Get excited to mingle with her and taste her awesome food at our wedding show this Sunday, January 31st, 2016 {buy your tickets here}!

Get social with Genet Catering!

Email

Makeda TEJ (Honey Wine) - 2016 Her Big Day Wedding Show Vendor

In the Ethiopian and Eritrean cultures, you have two wedding ceremonies. The food and drinks that you incorporate on the second day called the Melse/Melsi play a huge role in living up to that cultural celebration. We are so glad to have unique cultural vendors at Her Big Day: A Cultural Wedding Affair, like Makeda TEJ who will be showcasing Ethiopian honey wine. 

Get to know Owner, Nebyou below and get excited to mingle with him and sip some delicious honey wine at the wedding show in January {buy your tickets here}!

Her Big Day (HBD): Tell us about your business! What do you specialize in and what makes you unique?

Nebyou: I sell bottle of Makeda Tej/Mes for all occasions. Makeda Tej/Mes is a unique traditional Ethiopian style honey wine made in Mountlake Terrace, WA. It is made from organic Honey [imported from Ethiopia], water, and Gesho [Rhamnus prinoides Hops].

HBD: Wow, that is incredible that it is imported straight from Ethiopia! Where can people order your wine?
Nebyou: Makeda Tej (Honey Wine) is not available for online purchase at this time. Online ordering is coming soon, though! In the meantime, please visit my booth to sample this exclusive drink. You can also visit your local Habesha supermarket/restaurant to purchase this product.

HBD: We are so excited to have our wedding show guests sample Makeda TEJ! See you at the show!

Get social with Makeda TEJ!

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Email

Our Interview with KING 5's New Day Northwest

Did you catch our appearance on King channel 5's New Day Northwest with Margaret Larson!?

We had such an amazing time sharing our upcoming wedding show in front of a live audience!

If you missed it, not to worry because you can WATCH IT HERE!

During the segment, we gave a sneak peek into what can be expected at our wedding show! Our beautiful models did such a FANtastic job of showcasing an array of cultural wedding dresses and wow'd the entire audience (and P.S. people are still talking about it!)

Her Big Day: A Cultural Wedding Affair will be the best (and first) cultural wedding show for cultural brides of all backgrounds! You won't want to miss this! Tickets to the show are $10 and can be purchased HERE. See you all there!

Below is a description of each dress worn by our lovely models and behind the scene pics.

Dress 1:  Modern style dress and kaba (cape) designed by local designer Tsigereda Tekle of Blue Touch. While this two piece skirt and crop top with sweetheart neckline is considered to be more trendy and fashion forward, it is embossed with the traditional designs typically seen on Eritrean and Ethiopian fabrics. This modern look for the Eritrean and Ethiopian bride was completed with a contemporary headpiece.

Dress 2: The Eryn Rose dress at Le Salon Bridal Couture Seattle was a fitted open back lace gown with pearls and crystals with a custom cathedral lace veil by Ariel Jennifer Taub, for a timeless elegant western bride.  We love Ariel’s veils because they are so customizable and offer wide range of colors in not just tulles but also Swarovski crystal designs.
Provided by: Le Salon Bridal Couture Seattle

Dress 3: A more traditional, one piece Eritrean and Ethiopian dress that was crafted using a hand woven cotton, a commonly used fabric in these two countries, and designed with the classic, intricate design down the middle of the dress, coming together to form a beautiful meskel (cross) at the bottom. This traditional look was completed with a deep red, velvet cape and crown embellished with sparkly, gold sequined material as well as traditional jewelry (called werki) in the form of a headpiece and necklace. It looked like royalty!
Jewelry provided by: Elsabet Habesha Jewelry

Dress 4: Two piece skirt (referred to as a wrapper) and blouse made from traditional Nigerian fabrics and completed with a stunning head wrap (called a gele) and a bold statement necklace. Nigerian brides typically custom make their wedding dresses from traditional fabrics that come in various colors, styles and designs. The wrapper is considered to be one of the most important and elegant bridal pieces. This one was a beautiful champagne colored fabric with lace designs throughout the fabric and looked perfect with the gold head wrap!

Dress 5: This two piece, hand stitched, traditional Indian dress, known as a Lehenga, is typically worn by the Hindu bride. Although our model gracefully and effortlessly wore this dress, it is actually very heavy as it is packed with tulle and a ton of material underneath the skirt. In addition to the skirt and matching blouse (choli), a scarf (called a dupatta) is draped over her shoulders. And of course, this look was completed with all of the beautiful adornments such as a headpiece, necklace and bangles!
Dress provided by: Ravishing Marketplace

Dress 6: The Brittany Dress at Le Salon Bridal Couture Seattle Le Salon look featured a blush full a line ballgown with heavy Swarovski and satin bodice and dreamy tulle skirt.  The Toni Federici double satin edge finger tip veil tied the look together for a very classy finish to frame the brides face on her big day.  The perfect shades of gowns were selected to really highlight each bride’s skin tone and look.  Fantastic job ladies!
Provided by: Le Salon Bridal Couture Seattle

How Stunning were our models!?

A big thank you to our vendors, especially our Hair and Makeup team!
Hair by Rigat Habte of Hands of Artistry
Makeup by Kayla Beltran, Kat Neal and Nikki Molinar

A Posh Habesha Engagement Party

Goodmorning, Bellas!

We are  so excited to share today's engagement party with you! Sara and her fiance Endirias recently threw a seriously posh engagement party (that can easily be mistaken for a wedding at first glance) in one of midtown Atlanta's  finest wedding venues - The Artmore Hotel. The Artmore, a historic Spanish Mediterranean building, draws brides and event planners for its stunning courtyard that's complete with lush plants and landscaping by day and beautifully lit candles and string lights by night. The courtyard also features comfy outdoor furniture and fire pit for a sexy, laid-back vibe that you would find at an outdoor event in the Hollywood hills. Super swanky!

We absolutely love the fact that Sara and her fiance decided to Do It Big for their engagement party! Here's what Sara had to say about that:

"I have been with my fiancé for 8 years and I always said that whenever the time came, we would really experience the process of getting married and enjoy every moment. Most people in our culture don't have engagement parties so it was new for a lot of people, but I wanted one because after 8 years we deserve to celebrate!" 

Absolutely! And from looking at these pictures, it looks like Sara and her fiance were successful at making sure they, and their guests, had a great time!

On planning and decorating for the engagement party, future bride Sara says she planned the entire event herself with help from her future bridesmaids and Pinterest (where would we all be without Pinterest, seriously!). She found her amazing venue, created the invites and was the master mind behind the decor and dessert bar- Go Sara! (You definitely were an event planner in your past life!)

About planning her beautiful engagement, Sara says:

"It all came together so easily!"

Congrats again to Sara and her beau Endirias on their beautiful engagement and we wish you all the best in your wedding plannings! We can't wait for you to share your wedding with us; you will make an absolutely stunning bride!

Future Bride: Sara Araya

Future groom: Endirias Endirias

Venue: Artmore Hotel

City: Atlanta, GA.

Photographer: Dosh

Habesha Weddings | Beautiful & Complicated

Have you ever stopped to think about why there are so many people present at one Habesha (Eritrean & Ethiopian) wedding? Well, usually it's because our parents and families are heavily involved in the planning (it's almost like they were planning their own wedding) and they make a lot of big calls on how the 2-3 days long festivities will be carried out- number of guests being one of them!

The reason why Eritrean & Ethiopian weddings tend to be so large is because, culturally, they are celebrated with not only friends and family, but the entire community. They are tight  knit communities that highly honor and celebrate weddings among one another; usually with guests nearing 1,000 -- it literally feels like a concert (and yes, of course they're a lot of fun!).

This tradition has made its way over to the diaspora where most Habesha weddings continue to include entire communities.

                                                    

Personally, this was the most challenging aspect of my wedding and it's definitely the same case for most Habesha couples planning a wedding in the diaspora. This has been a topic of discussion for quite some time now.

Don't get  me wrong, I absolutely LOVE our beautiful Habesha wedding traditions; but (seriously tho) they can just be too complicated at times!

Recently, my generation has become privy to the western culture of a "guest list," which makes it challenging to negotiate guest size with our families. They want "the community" and we want "175 guests max." A lot of times we end up caving in to our parents' wishes because we love them and want them to be happy...after all it's not just our wedding, it's their wedding as well (or so it seems that way).

I've known brides to dish out some pretty clever negotiations with their families in order to have a more intimate wedding.

Because Habesha weddings are usually celebrated in a sequence of 2 days (Saturday- Western culture & Sunday- Habesha culture) some brides have  split these two days entirely and opted for a destination wedding for day 1 with close family and friends, and 2 weeks later celebrated day 2 with their "community!" Great idea! Wegahta + Reddi took this approach and Wegahta says her family fought the idea of a destination wedding at first but were elated and couldn't be more happier with the outcome! She says it was "the best of both worlds!" 

A split wedding (like the example above) can work really well.

Meet Feven Misgina Mesa- She and her husband planned for a split wedding with a destination wedding in San Juan, Puerto Rico and then back to the states for their cultural wedding day.... but they caved in to their mother's request and ended up with 3 total weddings!! One destination wedding and two weddings back in the states. Wow! Kudos to Feven and her family for pulling off three beautiful weddings!

Check out this sweet video Feven's sister Eden Misgina put together with pictures from their destination wedding in San Juan- it was intimate and beautiful, and looked like everyone had a blast!!

What do you think? Is this tradition here to stay or will we see more and more smaller and more intimate Habesha weddings in the near future?

Do any other African countries celebrate weddings in large numbers the way Eritreans & Ethiopians do? Tell us about it!

Are you a Bride who had a similar story or a ridiculously huge wedding? Share your stories with us, we'd love to hear how you managed! Leave comments below or email us for a possible feature of your wedding story: info@herbigday.info