AKILAH ATKINSON LIKIVU SPEAKS

AKILAH ATKINSONLIKIVU SPEAKS
YOUNGSTOWN -- Tabernacle Baptist Church was the setting for the Sept. 15 wedding of Akilah Golden Atkinson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Atkinson of Youngstown, and Likivu Kweisi Amefica Speaks, son of Myra Anderson-Smith and Quincy Speaks, both of Baltimore.
Officiating at the 3 p.m. ceremony, which incorporated African rituals, were the Rev. Kelvin E. Turner and Elder Rayner C. Wharton.
A reception was held at Stambaugh Auditorium ballroom, then the couple left for a honeymoon in Orlando, Fla.
The bride wore a silk strapless dress trimmed with an Afrocentric embroidery and fashioned with a basque waistline and ballgown skirt with a semicathedral train.
Maid of honor was the bride's twin sister, Jamila Billue Atkinson. Bridesmaids were Najuma Elizabeth Atkinson, the bride's sister; Andrea Stanton, the groom's sister; and Sasha Angus. Flower girls were her nieces, Tatyana I. Atkinson and Shayla Allen.
Best man was Terrence Toland. Groomsmen were W. Omari Atkinson and Cortland W. Allen, the bride's brothers, and Tony Hicks. Ring bearer was Aaron Battee, her nephew.
The Harambee Dance and Drum Troupe of Youngstown also participated.
Mrs. Speaks, a Mount Union College graduate, is completing graduate studies at Ohio State University. The groom, who has a business degree from Catonsville College, is an accounting supervisor for the state of Maryland. He is pursuing a degree in theology at the Biblical Institute of Urban Studies.