Meet Wedding Guru & WEtv's Diann Valentine

Monday, 12 September 2011 22:46 Written by  Brittany Rodgers

The go-to wedding and event designer, Diann Valentine, is the creative director for many celebrity weddings. Diann describes herself as an revolutionist who goes against the grain and describes her creativity as eclectic and edgy. “I don’t follow the trends, I set them,” she says.

Diann, who hails from Oakland, California, started her own wedding company called “Memories” after she helped plan a wedding and considered it fun. With her own wedding business doing well being a high-school student, Diann thought it could help her pay her way through college.

“I graduated at 22 years-old with a degree in business and found that it wasn’t no jobs,” says Diann. “I didn’t want to work for anyone and I was going to go to law school but love the ability to express myself creatively instead of arguing in a court room.”

When designing weddings, the typical women Diann works with are those who embrace color in their lives. Some women who hire her are career-orientated, fashionistas, strong and very savvy.

“My biggest inspiration comes from my clients and understanding who they are,” she explains. “I try to stay true to who I am and what I do.”

After being in the business for quite some time and with her name was buzzing in Los Angeles, Diann has given her creative impression behind celebrity names such as: Usher, Eric Williams, Martin Lawrence, Toni Braxton, Nas, NFL and NBA players, and many more.

“African-Americans embraced me and I embrace them,” Diann says, “We are trend setters as a culture and my clients have been thrilled with my work.”

Some of her work has been featured in: InStyle, USA Today, People, Essence and Black Enterprise.. Diann has given wedding and event planning tips on E! News Daily, Celebrity Wedding Specials, CNN and HGTV.

Diann is now the host of WEtv’s new show “I Do Over” giving couples a chance to re-do their wedding ceremonies.

“It’s a show where women had a disaster wedding, I surprise them and five days later give them the wedding of their dreams,” she explains.

“The show is really about giving women hope. Women have so many responsibilities and feel defeated, make them believe that things will look up and change will be right around the corner,” Diann elaborates.

With excitement for the show, Diann is delighted to be offered a chance to show a well-rounded perspective about women—showing a positive side of women instead of the normal reality television drama.

“I struggled to find a place on TV because my life is boring,” she laughed, “but I hope women will tune in, and I pray it goes well.”

Besides being the “it girl” for event/wedding planning, Diann is the author of her coffee table book, “Weddings: Valentine Style” giving tips on how to achieve a dream wedding. Also, she has a online company deal with Wedding Paper Divas with her own line of wedding stationary. The collection has nine different line sweeps and in the future will be having a textile and furniture line according to Valentine.


You can see more of Diann Valentine on Facebook, Twitter @DiannValentine and also her website diannvalentine.com.

 

"I Do Over" premieres on WEtv November 13 at 10 PM. Find out more about the show at wetv.com/shows/i-do-over.

 

Brittany Rodgers

Brittany Rodgers

Brittany Rodgers is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism. She has written for a variety of publications, including The Chicago Tribune and Chicago Defender newspaper. She also is a blogger and enjoys social media.

Brittany can be contacted at BrittLRodgers@yahoo.com

Website: heartbrittlashay.tumblr.com