A Black-Tie Beach Wedding at Round Hill in Jamaica

Though Nikki Breedlove and Jack Cooney both grew up in Palm Beach County, it took moves to New York City–and Tinder!–for them to meet in June of 2015. "We quickly discovered that Jack's father and my late grandfather, both doctors, had been friends," says Nikki. Talk about a small world! Just a year and a half later, Jack brought Nikki to Northern California for a tour of their favorite vineyards, and the rain couldn't stop them from enjoying every moment. "After a long day in Napa, we got back to the Carneros Inn to get ready for dinner that night," she recalls. "Jack came into the bathroom where I was getting ready and proposed with one knee on the heated tile floors! He'd been carrying my ring around all day, hoping the rain would stop, and couldn't wait any longer!"

Nikki says they will take any chance they can get to travel, and wanted their wedding to provide the same opportunity for their guests. After a friend honeymooned at Round Hill in Jamaica, they headed down for a weekend trip and immediately fell in love. "From the rolling hills and pink bougainvillea to the Ralph Lauren–designed decor, it stole our hearts," says Nikki. So they invited 95 guests to join them on January 20, 2018 at the waterfront property, throwing a black tie wedding on the beach. With rum punch in hand, the Collective by Concept Photography behind the camera, and their closest friends dressed to the nines, Jack and Nikki kicked off their marriage with a formal twist on true island style.

"I loved working with Empress Stationery," says Nikki. The couple's suite included hand-painted watercolor maps, menus, and welcome notes.

Nikki's two sisters served as bridesmaids, and the three women spent the morning getting ready and sipping champagne in coordinated robes.

Nikki paired the plunging neckline of her Oscar de la Renta gown with dramatic vintage Miriam Haskell earrings, the perfect foil to her wedding dress's simple silhouette.

For the formal affair, Jack wore a white Ralph Lauren tuxedo jacket, but added a pop of personality with kilim-printed Stubbs and Wootten slippers. Nikki is in the footwear business (she's the senior director of global merchandising for Coach), and bought her ivory Alaïa sandals before she'd even found her dress. She wrapped her bouquet of white peonies in her "something blue," a handkerchief monogramed with her late father's initials.

With her two sisters as bridesmaids, Nikki took the opportunity to have a super-colorful bridal party. "Instead of choosing dresses, we found bright Italian floral silks and had them made into ball dresses that they both adored," the bride describes. The rest of the women in the family also dressed in coordinating colors.

Bamboo folding chairs were decorated with clusters of white orchids and palm leaves, and woven fans were placed on each chair to kept guests cool in the heat.

It rained on-and-off before the ceremony, so guests took their seats beneath green and white golf umbrellas.

"The rain stopped and umbrellas came down as soon as my mom and I started our walk down the aisle to 'Here Comes the Sun,'" says Nikki. "Of course we both were in tears!"

The couple spent the week before their wedding writing their vows over rum punch on the beach, and finished them over breakfast the morning of their wedding. "Jack memorized his immediately, but I had to recite mine all day to make sure I'd remember them!" the bride says.

Tall vases filled with palms and local greenery added height to the reception space, where printed menus were set atop woven chargers. "We wanted our reception to be effortlessly chic, and the property's silver flatware made getting that look so easy," Nikki explains.

After a dessert of traditional Jamaican rum coconut cake, the couple took to the dance floor–and never left. "We may have to go back to Jamaica for our anniversary for some more of that cake!" Nikki says.

For the bride, planning a wedding was about authenticity. "Don't do your hair or create a table setting in a way that isn't what you'd choose in your own daily life," says Nikki. "Be yourself!"

The story of Blaise Diagne, a French defender of African interests

Blaise Adolphe Diagne was born October 13, 1872 on the island of Goree. He is of Lebou and Wolof ancestry. Son of Niokhor, a Sérère de Goree who was a marine cook, and Gnagna Preira, a Mandjaque native of Guinea-Bissau, Blaise Diagne, is born Gaiaye M'Baye Diagne. He was adopted very early by the Crespin family, a respected family of half-breeds from Gorée and St-Louis. It is his adoptive father, Adolphe Crespin, who will give him the name of Blaise.

He learns very early to read and write, enjoys a solid education that relies on indisputable intellectual qualities. He studied at the school of Gorée brothers, then at the secular school of St. Louis. He thus appears on the list of prize-winners of the secular school of Saint-Louis in August 1884.

Fellow of the government, he will continue his studies in France, in Aix-en-Provence. Sick, he returned to continue his studies at the high school brothers of Ploërmel (or Duval) then prepares in 1891 the competition entry into the public service in the Customs Service where the places reserved for Africans are quite few in number. 'time.

Blaise Diagne marries Marie Odette Villain. They will have four children including Adolphe, military doctor, Rolland, official in the Railways and Raoul, professional footballer and the first African footballer to be selected in the French team.

History Class in historic trades will start Oct. 5

Albany’s oldest Dutch building will host the second in a series of hands-on courses aimed at increasing the number of tradespeople skilled in the historic building trades.

Historic Masonry Treatments and Repair will be offered by Hudson Valley Community College’s Workforce Development Institute, state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and Historic Albany Foundation, beginning Oct.5.

The lecture portion of the course will take place at Historic Albany Foundation at 89 Lexington Ave., with the hands-on portion at the Van Ostrande-Radliff House, also known as 48 Hudson, Albany’s oldest Dutch house.

“With New York State’s historic towns and cities experiencing an influx of renovation, revitalization and adaptive re-use, there is real need for skilled tradespeople who are professionally trained in these traditional trades,” organizers say.