Forgive me I know this has taken so long to write.
It’s time for gist 🤭🤭
So get a chair, relax, add a drink and pop corn too.
First of all, My wedding was planned by many people asides me. Starting with God the father, son and Holy Spirit , friends and families on both sides. From the ending, I already told the Holy spirit that we were doing the planning together and things will work according to how he wants it.
If you know me very well, you will know that I love writing things down(planning and to-do lists) And so far, this is the biggest planning I’ve ever done.
Let me put some disclaimers.
– In as much as your parents and family say it’s what you want that matters, My dear it’s also about what they want 😂. Don’t be deceived. You will be cajoled to somehow want what they want or allow what they want. In the end, you all have to come to a compromise. But I’ll advise to choose your “battles” wisely 🤭. Choose the most important things like you and your partner’s looks(outfit, makeup, accessories) then photography, videography, decoration and any other thing that matters to you.
– Another thing you need to know is that you will receive so many calls, I repeat you will receive so many calls😂 ( I think I’m still recovering from it )
– Please delegate things. Delegate and rest. You can’t do it all alone.
Now, Let’s get into it.
-So I started doing all of the itemizing of things that needed to be done for a wedding a year before my wedding. This helped me a lot.
– My wedding was a bit unconventional. We had the traditional wedding plus reception on Friday and then the white wedding on Saturday(no reception afterwards).
– I decided on a lot of things personally: What type of wedding did I want, how many days , how many people, what’s my goal and what’s my perspective(Yeah it’s that deep)
– My friends (Ayo , Asmau ) made a group chat where the discussion took place and ideas were bounced around and implemented. We also made sure I wasn’t missing anything on the list I earlier created.
Note that this list kept getting amended as time went on.
-Remember what I said about delegation, it paid off well for me. I assigned duties to my sister, brother, cousins and friends. I made them do some survey on vendors( choosing the best out of all we had seen considering location, skill, customer experience and of course, price).
This took a couple of months, then once we got settled we moved to finalization stage especially for the outfits.
My looks:
Shout-out to my friend and stylist @ommaya_fits_and_styling(on IG). I was happy to be the first bride to be styled by my friend. When you see your friend doing what she loves most and is also good at it, then it’s a blessing. I am truly blessed to have her in my corner.
She curated the looks from the Pre-wedding shoot, the introduction look, court look, trad wedding, white wedding, wedding robe, reception outfits. Everything!
I always knew the colour I wanted us to wear for the traditional wedding but I didn’t know choosing colours for the day, for family, friends(asoebi) would be a hassle. I was stressed especially because I was particular about having a theme that matches and not just allowing people choose random colours .
There were lots of colour suggestions before we finally settled for what was used eventually. My friends searched for the materials for the asoebi and handled the dispatching also.
Now for the vendors, I will talk about the trad and reception then white wedding.
– Once we had finalised with picking the vendors. We started making payments.
Also a big shout out to my sister in-laws who helped me with decision making especially when I was confused. Love you both❤
– I kept up with the budget, calculating and calculating, I’m still a paper and biro person but my husband was on the excel sheet level 😂 . I was also checking in to make sure the vendors showed up.
The thing is even after we were done settling certain things, something else would come up again and we would have to find a way around it especially because prices kept fluctuating because of the economy😫
At a point, I didn’t want to be carried along anymore 😂 I was tired of phone calls and talking and talking. I just wanted to sleep. I reached the state of “Jesus take the wheel” because at the end of it all, God is still the best planner.
As the wedding drew nearer, i started becoming really anxious because I didn’t want any form of issues but let me be honest with you, it’s not really avoidable. Especially in a situation where people from different backgrounds and relationship level are coming together. Understanding can’t happen in one day.
Then for the both of us( I and my husband) Our stress level was high at some point and we both just wanted to get it over with.
Getting into the looks and my vendors
For my pre-wedding shoot , I had three looks a native wear, formal and a causal one
Native Fabrics for the couple: By myself from a store
Stylist : Ommaya fits and styling
Sewing: _thetarabrand
Bride’s Formal outfit Fabrics and sewing : madebyTawa
Photographer: Creative six
Makeup up artist and gele stylist: Niffy beauty parlour
Friends and family were there for the behind the scenes.
Trad wedding
Bride’s outfits: Bisi idris
Grooms outfit: dope stitches
Accessories: kfashcollectionz
Fan: Amazon Geni
Gele: geleby_jbb
Aso oke: Mrs Oluwafemi
Shoe and bag: kfashcollectionz
Robe: lase__clothing
Beads: Market
Make up: mor_beauty
Decorator: The mighty hand of God
Church wedding
Bride’s Wedding gown :Bisi idris
Robe: Lase clothings
Hair: Gbemmy Hair
Hair styling: Ani royalty
Make up: Mor Beauty
Bouquet: Amazon Geni
Couple’s Reception outfit:: dope stitches
Live band: Living vine church choir
Bridal shower two piece: beebychristie
Cake: Royalecakes
Photographer: creative six
Videographer: jamespuk
Souvenirs (bags and purse): Ida Wears
Aso ebi: Asma’u and Ayo
These vendors were the best of the best even though one person almost messed it up, God took control 😂.
My make up artist was like my third friend and my husband even asked if we had met before 😂 . She did more than her job description. Thank you Mayowa.
My hair stylist too was very nice, calm and fun. She was on top of that hair matter and my general outlook, thanks or ironing the rumpled part of my gown.
Creative six and Jamespuk were so calm, they didn’t stress me out. They also made do with the location. The photographers that stopped responding to my DMs when they heard the location or the ones that simply said they couldn’t come there(I had to be realistic about where I grew up and where my parents worked). I’m thankful we finally found an amazing team that did more than I could imagine.
My personal shopper, Kemi Fash went over and beyond for me.
Amazon Geni, thanks for me thinking about me and the support.
My sisters (My Chief Bridesmaids) and brother, close friends were doing the background work alongside my parents . For my parents , I think this is the biggest planning we’ve ever done, so it was a whole but they put their all into it.
My darling @lase clothings, made my white wedding PJs. I wanted something also unconventional. It was a top and trouser.
Oreoluwa, Oluwaboriogun, Nifemi, Goodnews, thank you for all the planning, market runs , rants, and emotional support.
My big aunties home and abroad, thanks for all the support , advice and help.
My dear Treasure helped with my indecision on my white wedding shoe, earrings and some little things that were stressing me out even when I knew no one would actually see it😂
To my Backdrop and Logo designer , Thanks for coming through for me in such a short notice.
My Daughters of Zion: Toni, Amoke, Gift, Funmi, Nana gave me emotional support and also surprised me with gifts.
My decor mama (The mighty hand of God), The best in carrying along ( you’re the one that will be tired 😂). She carried me along through all the details and made sure everything went well all within a reasonable budget. She has an amazing heart and puts her clients first.
My church members came through for me in so many ways. I was so surprised to see everyone with outfits specifically picked for that day, they handled the live stream for my friends and relatives that couldn’t make it physically.
My ladies, made sacrifices to come all the way from their busy schedule. My family members, Room six ladies , WGH colleagues, ABUAD Colleagues, my In laws, my husband’s friends that brought out the extroverted side of us most especially my husband.
Thank you to everyone who made that day possible and successful.
The last thing I’ll say is that in the planning and the events, I made sure my focus was on God being revealed and glorified, people going home safely and God’s presence all through.
Perspective really matters in planning. Don’t go above your means. Your main focus should be on the marriage not the wedding day.
Don’t break your teeth trying to act out a social script(what you see on social media or someone else’s projection of a wedding day).
Learn, unlearn, forgive and build relationships. The planning phase will end and the wedding day will pass. Don’t burn bridges because of simple misunderstandings.
So thank you once again to everyone who supported us in one way or the other. We love you and we appreciate you all. we couldnt have done this without you all!
We will all have reasons to celebrate and for everyone waiting for theirs to come, i pray for you that when the time is right the Lord will do it, your testimony is coming soon in Jesus name 🙏🏽
Happy One year anniversary to us!
Love DEGeorges 💜✨
