Wedding Wednesday - Traditional Wedding Recap 1

I posted the link to view pictures from our traditional wedding earlier this week. Over the next few weeks, I'll be doing a recap of the events of the day.  


Today, I'll start with the first outfit I wore. First off, I did not see the outfit until the morning of the event. Among the Yoruba people, apparently, the grooms family is responsible for providing all that the bride wears that day. I use the word apparently because during the course of our traditional wedding coming together, there were many different opinions and some of my family felt it was their responsibility to dress me as I should come out in my own clothes as I was not married yet. The issues were resolved, and I wore the clothes provided by the K's family.
Since I hadn't seen the outfit, I had to rely on my sis-in-laws to describe the colours to me so I could pick the shoes and bag I would carry.  


Jewellery - Coral beads known as Iyun Yoruba. The jewellery was custom made by Cephas Jewelers in Lagos - Touche Plaza, 25B Admiralty Way, Lekki, Lagos - 08029050775, 0818216655. My mom together with the owner of the store came up with the design and I didn't see until the week of the ceremony when I arrived in Lagos. 

My make-up was done by the fabulous Banke Meshida Lawal; This was one of non-negotiable's. She also tied my head-tie and iro as well. I always knew I wanted her to do my make-up so when the traditional wedding was being planned, I left everything to my mom except make-up and my photographer. She did ask for my input on other stuff but I did not actively make the decisions. 

                     

My outfit was made up of a yellowish-cream aso-oke buba (the top of the outfit) , a fuschia pink gele (my head-tie) hand designed with touches of coral coloured designs and the iro (wrapper around my waist) is actually a single piece, the same fabric used in the buba was sewn on to the bottom of the alaari.The alaari cloth is mostly worn by the Ondo people in Nigeria (where K is from) and so it came into play in my outfit. For some reason, I do not have a close up of my shoes or clutch;  will add when I get the CD of pictures from Enimien - our photographer. 

Kola and I got our shoes from a shop in London called Ivory, they are located on Bond Street down the street from Pronovias shop there, and my clutch was from a friend - Yuwa who sells accessories - Sorrela. 

complete outfit

another view of our outfits

 Kola's outfit was sort of a tribute to his dad. His father passed away in January of 2006 and to honour him, Kola wore his fathers own clothes and the alaari cloth I had was actually custom designed to match. The only new items Kola wore was the white buba (his top) and his shoes. He also wore coral beads as well... 

I love this picture of KOK

Complete Attire

All the photographs are by Enimien Etomi Inegbedion, our fantastic photographer. My other non-negotiable vendor for my wedding. She was amazing !! She will be doing a photo-booth  at the wedding in Malta - I can't wait :)  She was assisted by Lanre Balogun of Libran Eye. 

All photographs by Enimien Etomi Photography

Wedding Wednesday: Bridal Party

So KOK and I have to decide on the members of our bridal party. KOK has a lot of friends and family that he is really close to, so his list consists of 18 groomsmen ! Yes you read that properly, and he also has 12 more friends designated as ushers !

I attempted to veto the list, but as I looked through the entire list of 18 men, I honestly couldn't find one person that I could suggest he remove. They are all people that are important to him.

So I am faced with a dilemma - do we really need even sides? If I include my besties, my cousins, some of my soon-to-be nieces, I can easily have 18 ladies but I don't think the sides need to be even. I'm planning on 9 ladies so that each lady can walk in with two of the groomsmen. Frankly, I think having 36 people in the bridal party, not including the flower girls and ring bearer, is quite excessive..  

What to do?

Photo credit: The Knot

Before you plan your wedding, plan your marriage...

A wedding ceremony, albeit all the attention we place on it, lasts only a day or at best a few days depending on the culture. A marriage on the other hand is a commitment to your husband or wife that should last a lifetime by the Grace of God.

I came across the book titled - Before you plan your wedding, plan you marriage... earlier this year and it was an awesome read !

I started reading the book on the kindle app for blackberry, and also ordered a copy from Amazon. But it was so good that by the time the book arrived a few days later, I had finished reading it on my phone. So I gave my copy to a friend of mine, D.  However, I still wanted a hard copy of the book, so I ordered another one but D's boyfriend had seen the book,  read the first few pages and has since obtained my copy of the book ! It's a must read - the authors, a married couple, and they do a fantastic job of discussing the important concepts to grasp for a marriage to work - communication, fighting fair, sharing expectations, commitment and prayer to name a few.

In planning for our marriage, K and I completed pre-marital classes at our church in London during the month I was there between September and October. In continuing to build a foundation for our lives together, we've also picked out an engaged couples devotional that we will work through in the months ahead ...

How did you plan for your marriage ? What do you wish you had done?

The official ring proposal and dress shopping

Sorry I've been gone so long.. a lot has gone on in the past month. 


K officially proposed :) 
We were already planning our wedding after Rome. I was in London for a month between September and October. On the day he proposed, as he left for work, he asked if I would be attending my gym class that evening - I said no. Unknown to me he had plans to decorate the flat and propose - yup I messed up his plans. 
After work, he called that I should meet him at the mall near our flat so we could walk to a furniture store to check out some furniture for our bedroom. The store was closed, we walked back to the mall and explored BHS for decor stuff. It was getting late so we headed back home. 
After we got home, I asked what he would like for dinner and I went into the kitchen to start prepping. K calls from the living room and tells me not to bother making anything that he'll just have cereal... Anyone that knows my fiancé knows his love for cereal at ALL times of the day. So I walk into the living room and found him on his knee. 
He said, I want this flat to be our first home together, I love you and want to continue to get to know you better as we grow old together - will you marry me?
and of course I said yes !  
I'm a sucker for dates and countdowns. We started dating on March 7, 2007 ( 03.07.07) and K proposed 3 years, 7 months and 7 days later on October 14, 2010. 
Here's a picture: 

I ordered my dress :) 
OK so this was hard for me. I actually started looking at dresses back in April after the discussion we had in Rome about getting married. While in New Jersey with my FSIL (future-sister-in-law) shopping for her boutique in Nigeria, we went into a bridal store that had a sample of a dress I had tried at the beginning of my dress search. The sample fit beautifully, and I knew this was the one. The sample was in pretty much perfect condition just a minor fix needed to get it perfect, and possibly a hem (depends on how high my shoes are). So I purchased the sample for ~62% of the retail price, and the store owner threw in the alterations for free :) Bonus: New Jersey doesn't have sales tax on clothing :) I'll be going back end of February / beginning of March for my first fitting. I bought the dress at this lovely store in Wyckoff, NJ - Something Special for Someone Special. My consultant was Irene, the owner of the store, she was awesome! 
It took 10 stores over 2 continents, 4 different cities and my trying on over 60 dresses to find the one!
I won't post the pictures yet, but it's by Lazaro and it's a perfect mix of traditional, romantic and girly. I can't wait to wear it in Malta