top of page
Search

Dan and Talisha become Danisha. #DanishaWedding2024


On Friday 29 November, I and my husband Dan said our vows in Paphos, Cyprus in front of 30 guests.


Myself and Dan met via a mutual friend in September 2020, although we first heard about each other in 2010. Our relationship became more serious when we ended up on an originally group planned trip to Clee Hills in Shropshire, that turned into just the two of us showing up. We both thought "well, this is awkward." However, we ended up discovering we both love the Lord of the Rings and planned a film marathon. Eventually, he took me on our first date in July 2022, we made our relationship official in September 2022 and he proposed in September 2023 in the 10 acre grounds of Buckland Manor Country House Hotel during the sunset in the Cotswolds, where we enjoyed a fabulous afternoon tea.


The first time we said “I do” was in a Christian ceremony at my parents home church on Saturday 31 August 2024,  while preparing for our legal wedding in Paphos on November 29. It was important to us both that we had our marriage blessed by a Christian minister (which in this case was my elder cousin who is ordained) before we had our destination wedding, Our Christian wedding was attended by our parents and three elders of their church including the Pastor and an elder who was Maid of Honour at my Nan's wedding. My Nan is no longer with us, so this was a very special moment.


We both started out the planning process [for the larger celebration in Paphos] with so much excitement, shortlisting venues, picking our theme, kicking off our wedding season with an engagement meal Sunday Lunch at The Fish Hotel in the Cotswolds, where we proposed to our bridal party... then as we got into the swing of things - more events, trying to respect the budget and last minute changes with some of our wedding vendours due to unforeseen circumstances... things started getting really stressful! We used a wedding abroad specialist - Perfect Weddings Abroad to source and book our venue as well as arrange all of the legalities and licences involved with getting married abroad.


As for my wedding wardrobe, I chose a Berta gown in ivory with a blush underskirt paired with an ivory overskirt which gave me the beautiful princess look and feel I envisioned. I found it after requesting a sample sale brochure from the Wedding Club Sample Sale on Instagram. I shortlisted two dresses to try on at my first bridal appointment in December 2023. I took my Dad and my elder sister who is a stylist - we all decided that after my second dress try on... it was a no brainer to say YES TO THE DRESS.


My jewellery was kept simple yet stylish with a gold tone, metal blend heart bangle paired with 18ct Gold Vermeil on Silver set of 2 earrings - Halo + Petal, originally £110 which I bagged in the sale for £39 from Warren James. For my hair and makeup, again I wanted to feel beautiful (not sexy) and didn't want anything over the top or fussy on my face like glitter, garish eyeshadow or lipstick. My hair and makeup on the day was done by Meleisha Simonee @makeupversatile (who I refer to as Alisha), who has been doing my makeup since 2018. She nailed my natural soft glam bridal look including creating a custom demure bridal bun using kanekalon braiding hair to match my natural hair texture.


The bridesmaids wore burnt orange -colour dresses from Chicsew, the groomsmen and our fathers wore dark green slim fit suits from Burton, the ring bearer wore a 5 piece ivory vivaki suit from Occasion Wear for kids, our mom's wore champagne colour dresses and the groom wore a custom suit from Hockerty.


Getting ready for the wedding was such a relaxing day... So much so, my MUA and her assistant couldn't believe how organised and smooth things ran, emphasising they'd never seen anything like it! My bridal squad were on form and took care of everything they needed to. My Maid of Honour which was one of my my elder sisters, created a call sheet for the day to ensure everyone knew where they were meant to be and things ran to time. We also had a brilliant wedding coordinator on the day - Louise, who made sure everything ran smoothly. After getting ready with my bridal party, I walked down the aisle on the Sunset Terrace of the Olympic Lagoon Resorts Paphos at 3.30 p.m., escorted by my Dad, while the soulful Amel Larrieux played in the background. I didn't feel emotional until I walked down aisle and saw the photo display on our wedding ceremony table of our grandparents as well as two of our aunts who sadly passed earlier this year. As soon as I saw the photos I was overwhelmed with emotion and cried. I just wanted to hurry down the altar and hold Dan's hand. I could see our guests with their phones whipped out and all I could think was "I'm a blubbering mess and I'm being recorded." I was also taken aback by how beautiful the decor was, our vision was executed even better than I had imagined... It was so stunning and dreamy, I could barely take it all in. Everyone raved about how beautiful the decor, colours and theme was!


During the ceremony, we incorporated prayers from both our Dad's and also a poem by my Mom. Reading our vows reinforced that I was marrying a GEM who I couldn't wait to do life with. Our family and friends created such a lovely atmosphere for us and it was a special moment to look around and know each and every person was invited intentionally and we were thankful to celebrate with them. After being pronounced husband and wife, we recessed back up the aisle to the Nigerian gospel anthem - Baba Ose (I Love You) by Volney Morgan and New-Ye.


A cruise ship sailed by during our ceremony and the people on the ship started taking pictures and filming on their phones... in fact from the moment the wedding started external guests around the resort formed a crowd taking photos and filming. We've accepted that we may crop up on some random social media posts somewhere.


Following the ceremony, we took some time for formal pictures, both alone and with family and friends. Our favourite photo backdrop was our sunset photos - they were truly magical! Our cocktail hour followed with canapes, processco and our cake cutting photos. At around 5pm our guests headed into the wedding reception where we and our bridal squad performed our wedding entrance routine to soca, followed by a quick change of dress (for me) for our first dance routine to a compilation of multi-genre songs including salsa, contemporary R&B, gospel Afrobeat, neo soul and bashment. I then changed back into my wedding dress for dinner and dessert which was a Gourmet buffet menu. For my reception dress, I removed the over skirt and detachable ribbons on the shoulders. It felt like I was in a brand new dress.


Our two tier wedding cake was made by Love Island Cakes and featured a custom 10cm / 4 inch wide D&T cake charm in the colour mirror gold which we ordered online and brought with us to put on the wedding cake. The top tier flavour filling was madeira cake with vanilla buttercream and strawberry jam and the bottom tier flavour filling was Vanilla cake with White Chocolate buttercream and Raspberry Coulis.


Our photographer - Vangelis Cyprus Photography was ahmazing! He captured the day so well, we keep getting told its the best wedding photos people have ever seen. People who don't even know us have passed on messages to say how emotional the photos made them feel.


Dan's Uncle Peter was our compere and was on point with the entertainment, making our guests laugh through out the evening with banter and games. We also had a 'date night ideas' card placed on each table setting for guests to fill out with their suggestions as well as mini Jamaica flags which our guests made good use of during the wedding entrance, our first dance routine and whenever bashment and dancehall played at the after party.


A highlight of the reception was the Father-daughter and Mother-Son dance which all four of us did to the Cupid Shuffle. My Dad was so nervous, but I was so proud of him and our guests were all cheering us on which was lovely.


Our DJ for the after-party was from Cyprus and we sent him suggested playlists with our chosen genres and special song requests ahead of the wedding. The evening ended on a music compilation of songs I put together for the electric slide including Candy by Cameo - as expected!


We wouldn't change a thing. Our wedding day was PERFECT and we honestly had the best day ever! Wife era activated.


Here's a snippet of our over 2800 photos captured by Vangelis...


With love


The Campbell's



















27 views0 comments

2023 has been a year of some incredible highs…and also tumultuous tribulation. 


On August 19th my Nan sadly passed away. Yes she was 92, you’d probably agree when I say ‘she had a good run’ too. Nevertheless, she was my favourite human being on the planet and I still can’t quite fathom never being able to see her in her physical form during this lifetime EVER again. 

  I also came to the end of the road in two long-time friendships, 20 years strong and out of the blue they fell apart. If you’ve ever broken up with a friend, you’ll know that the loss feels just as great as breaking up with a significant other or even worse, like someone has died. So when I heard the news of Benjamin Zephaniah’s passing on Thursday 7 December, my heart felt like it was on its final straw of grief for 2023. Death of a black icon is always a devastating loss, but for the British Caribbean / African community, this one’s PERSONAL.

  Unless you were living under a rock, almost every black British household growing up in the 90’s and early noughties had reverence for the work and contributions of Benjamin Zephaniah. Most famously, he was popular in our Johnson household for his literature work. In my collection I had ‘Funky Chickens’ along with Malorie Blackman’s ‘Pig Heart Boy’, ‘Noughts and Crosses’ and Sharon G Flake’s ‘The Skin I’m In’. This introduction to black writers sparked an unwavering ambition in me that one day, I too would publish a book and people would read and enjoy my storytelling the same way I got lost in their alternative realities, relatable themes and poetical compositions. 

   From the age of 4 I loved making up stories, by age 11 I realised that I was pretty good at it, by age 15 I decided to write my first book, by age 16 it was published… So who better to tell the good news to than one of my childhood inspirations - Benjamin Zephaniah?

   My Mom encouraged me to write him a letter, she was adamant he’d reply. Admittedly I thought she was over zealous, after all Mr Zephaniah was a very busy man and I was an unknown 16-year-old child from Great Barr, Birmingham… but she was right! Sometime in 2011, he replied [see below]... and in his own words, ‘I have heard about you and I did read about you in The Voice.’ 



Fast forward to 2012 I ended up interviewing Mr Z while working as an Editorial Assistant for Scene Birmingham magazine. Eventually in 2019 I got the chance to meet him in person for the first time during a talk he did at BBC Birmingham for diversity week. He spoke so candidly, holding nothing back when he answered each question thrown his way and unapologetically speaking the truth that shall set you free!  At the time I was 26 and a TV Researcher at BBC Three. I skipped my lunch break to make sure I could meet him. He was flattered as I reminded him of our letter exchanges, which at the time was almost a decade ago. 



After our in person encounter, I decided to write to him again, only this time it was to ask him what he thought of my book? In 2019 I re-launched a second edition of Snow Black the Seven Rastas and Other Short Stories and two of my favourite writers as well as some of the most respected British writers - Uncle Benjamin Zephaniah and Aunty Dorothy Koomson thought what I had to say was DECENT.


'I have read this book many times, and every time I read it I find more and more layers of meaning. This book is truly empowering. There is nothing like it.' Benjamin Zephaniah


’This is a seriously impressive collection of clever, different stories penned by a writer with a brilliant imagination.’ Dorothy Koomson

To receive a review from Mr Z is one of the highest accolades I could ever receive as a next gen British Caribbean writer. Words cannot describe what this did for my confidence. After facing several rejections from mainstream publishers, dismissed by media outlets who said ‘we’ve done enough on diversity in children’s books’... here was Benjamin Zephaniah reading, analysing and praising my literary work. We continued our email exchanges, I even invited him to my virtual book launch. He couldn’t make it at the time due to filming but requested the recording, which after watching he emailed me to say ‘I really loved it. Actually I was quite moved by it.’ He also went onto talk about it in a radio interview as well as mention it in a piece he wrote for his website - I’ve Cried A Lot Lately.




From then on, I honestly didn’t care what mainstream publishers thought’... a stamp of approval from THE Benjamin Zephaniah meant SO MUCH MORE.

  I’m incredibly humbled to have met such a trailblazer and multi-talented British household name. Mr Z your legacy will surely outlive you, the selflessness you took to give me the time of day will never be forgotten, our shared interest of Japanese culture will always make me smile and our commonality of being neurodivergent will remind me that we were born to see the world more creatively.


Thank you and rest well.


Tee Cee



76 views0 comments


I've often asked myself: 'Why do we wait for people to die to give them their flowers and tell them all the great things they mean't to us, when they're not present to hear it?'


Then the COVID-19 pandemic came along and reiterated that life is SO unpredictable and we don't always have as much TIME as we think we do.


This behaviour is illogical and we must do better to show our love and appreciation for the ones we love while we can.


I've grown up in a family where I have experienced transcendental love daily, so naturally I love LOVE, I love to LOVE others, I love to receive LOVE and I love letting others know how much they are LOVED... which is probably why my exes end up staying my friends, even sometimes years after we've broken up.... because even they realise the way I LOVE is a WHOLE other level!


The last year has proven that life really is short and that ANYTHING can happen. A week before my birthday my cat was killed in a hit and run, my Nan was diagnosed with stomach cancer and my parents cars were broken into and ransacked... that's just half of things that went wrong.

For this reason I have no more TIME to waste!


For my birthday this year, I wanted to let my friends know they are the SH*T and for whatever reason and season they are in my life, deserves to be recognised and celebrated.


I'll never forget when Tyler Perry used a tree analogy to break down friendships in one of his Madea plays. He said something along the lines of (this is my remixed version)... 'Friendships are like a tree, you have your LEAVES - the seasonal people and associates who come and go with the wind. Then you have your BRANCHES - be careful now, because they'll confuse you, one minute you think they're stable and then suddenly, they'll SNAP and fall without warning. Then, there's the ROOTS - these are the friends you can count on your one hand, they're not going anywhere. They're in your life to keep you anchored and to hold you down through every season come fall, rain, snow or sunshine. You don't see them on display like the leaves and branches but they're in your corner, in the dirt, in the dark places, in the most important part of the tree - the trunk, soaking up all the water and minerals the tree needs to stay alive, healthy and stable. You can't survive without these roots SIS!'

No person is an island and we were never created to walk this journey called life on our own. So friends are important, QUALITY friends are imperative and as I once heard, maintaining these 'relationships are like military missions, they require strategy, foresight and effort.'



On Saturday 16 October I gathered my friends from longtime childhood friends to career friends who came from all over the UK, to celebrate my 28th birthday with me at the Park Regis Hotel Birmingham. I called the event 'Tee Cee's Flower's and Friends Afternoon Tea Party'

This wasn't just any, ordinary event. Yes, it was my birthday but it was all about my FRIENDS! I wanted to take this time to thank them all individually for their friendship and give them their flowers.

IT'S ALL IN THE DETAIL DARLINGS...

Theme colours: Hot pink, light pink, white



Personal touches:

I curated a special playlist for the day, each person had a specific song that was connected to a memory or reminder of our friendship. The song titles were also written on all my guests name cards on their tables.

I also made a slideshow with pictures of me and my friends from over the years which played on loop on a big TV screen during the event.


The gift bags were decorated with customised printed 'Tee Cee's Par-Tea stickers' and pink bows. Inside was pink tissue paper, two tea light candles, a tea light candle holder, popcorn, green tea, a sweet parcel and a hand-written thank you card with a personalised message for each guest and a friendship quote.


I chose afternoon tea, because I LOVE IT and funnily enough a lot of my friends have never had afternoon tea before. Plus it made a change from the usual restaurant setting!


Kudos to my family who dressed the function room at the Park Regis hotel on the day. It looked exquisite. The afternoon tea was served as a beautiful colourful banquet and my friends came to show OUT in white!


WATCH FULL VLOG:

And mwaahh

Entertainment

After food, Smash Entertainz a personal friend as well as popular comedian hailing from Birmingham came to grace us with some light entertainment and games including 'Growing up Afro-Caribbean' bingo and a design challenge utilising whatever random items were in a plastic bag.


Flowers & Friends presentation

For the main event of the event, I made a personal speech for each of my friends and presented them with a rose to thank them for their friendship. There were tears, smiles and a lot of HEART.


This was one of my BEST birthday's EVER. I have the most amazing people in my life and to see my friends in one room at the same time and share this moment was absolutely MAGICAL.

'I wish that we could have this moment for life.'

There is no RIGHT time to tell people you love them or what they mean to you, just tell them. Better now than late or never.


Pree these pics though... DIVINE!

























Kudos to you if you made it to the end... THE END!


Until next time...


Tee Cee x

185 views0 comments

KEEPING UP WITH TEE CEE

Subscribe to 'Keeping up with Tee Cee' Mail List!

Never miss an update

bottom of page