Nigerians take weddings very serious; this explains why Nigerian weddings are usually colorful, beautiful and interesting. A lot of things are put in place for a successful Nigerian wedding. Things ranging from wedding planning, decoration, venue, food, music amongst others.
However, a lot of drama goes on behind the scene. The drama starts from when the wedding date has been made official or announced. Family members and friends starts calling to congratulate the couple and parents. From there comes questions like: “how can we be of help?” ”If you need my assistance let me know”. In reality, most of the sweet talks of helping out won’t amount to anything because most of them won’t come through with it, but just a few will.
The running around comes in if you don’t have a wedding planner and the truth of the matter is that it is not everyone that can afford a wedding planner. So if you fall into the category of no wedding planner I can totally relate because 70 percent work will be done by the bride. Also if you are lucky enough to find a helping hand, then that will go a long way.
The search for a beautiful wedding gown, venue, caterer, make-up artist, MC, DJ, hair stylist comes in. Then also comes the “aso-ebi” saga. Most Nigerian weddings are attributed with aso-ebi, one way or the other. Most people see it as a money making venture, some see it as a way to beautify the occasion. The drama behind aso-ebi is usually big because most people pay for the aso-ebi towards the wedding period and some may even return the cloth and ask for refund of money if they are no longer interested in the cloth. Some may even pick an offense if not informed about the aso-ebi. The list are endless concerning the aso-ebi.
Fast forward to the D-day comes the correct “owambe” party. Depending on the pocket of the couple, some have both traditional and white same day. Some have it on separate days to prevent stress and the rush.
In a typical Nigerian wedding there are some set of people who are usually around to grace the day for the couples. These set of people are called the “mo-gbo-mo-ya”. These set of people are not invited for the party but they even dress better than the ones invited. They come early for the party and they make sure they sit at a strategic place because of the food, drinks and of course souvenirs.
At the back scene, we have people hustling for food and drinks like they went for 40 days fasting before the wedding day. Some will even take 3 rounds of food and even takeaway but will still pose like they have never eaten before.
Then comes the time for dance as declared by the master of ceremony. This aspect is where some people look forward to because of the spraying of money. By the way, Nigerian weddings cannot be complete without the spraying of money.
The last angle is the throwing of bouquet. The bride just has to throw the bouquet if she does not want to be tagged as a selfish person. I once witnessed a wedding where two girls broke the bouquet in two in their bid to catch it. It was fun watching them though.
A Nigerian wedding is always not void of drama directly or indirectly.
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