Nigerian weddings can be over the top affairs, according to the recently married Lisa-Leigh Aladekomo, who married husband Tomiwa Aladekomo in a traditional ceremony with 2,000 guests in attendance.
She said in an interview with Vogue that her own wedding is considered small by Naija standards, with weddings of 5,000 guests, performances and gift bags worthy of an award show being the mark of extravagance.
For her own wedding, Lisa-Leigh had a traditional ceremony combining traditions of the Esan and Yoruba peoples, a white wedding the following day, two event planners and a grand total of six outfit changes. She said,
“I wanted people to have fun. I wanted there to be enough food, enough space for my friends to dance, and something to make the parents feel happy and proud. It tends to take over and you can get upset—but I had two goals and I accomplished them, and I was happy.”
The wedding combining Esan and Yoruba traditions was a lavish, beautiful affair. Lisa-Leigh said,
“I’m Esan and my husband is Yoruba and they do things differently. They are a lot flashier!”
Indeed, the event was fit for royalty, as the event hall was swathed in gold and white fabric. The wedding began with the two families introducing themselves to one another as if they had never met. Tomiwa was led into the hall and joined by his friends, who then bowed to the bride and groom’s parents. Finally, the bride made her entrance.
Photo Credit: Wani Olatunde
Lisa-Leigh’s dress was made of deep green George, a fabric popular among African royalty. Coral jewelry, which denotes royalty to the Esan, covered Lisa-Leigh. Following several prayers, the couple was officially married when Lisa-Leigh sat on Tomiwa’s lap seven times.
She explained, “You sit on your husband’s lap and the guests yell, ‘One!’ and then on the seventh count, the husband holds the wife and they’re married!” Lisa-Leigh then left for her first outfit change of the night, into a gorgeous gold-embroidered blue aso-ok, a Yoruba fabric woven by men. The garment was a gift from the bride’s mother-in-law.
Lisa-Leigh said, “The blue wrap shows that I am now married and I’m on my husband’s side, and I am dressing like how my husband’s people dress.”
Photo Credit: Wani Olatunde
The bride’s third outfit of the evening was a garment she had dreamed about since she was a little girl: an entirely white lace George designed by Violet Hecksher. She said,
“When I was younger, it was how I saw women dressed. That’s what my mother wore to parties, so to me it meant that I was one of those women…the reason I had to change again, though, is because you can’t dance in it!”
Lisa-Leigh’s final dress for the evening was made by the designer of her wedding cape and was made of gray lace.
Photo Credit: Wani Olatunde
Lisa-Leigh’s white wedding ceremony the following day might be what Westerners are more familiar with. She only invited 150 close friends and family to the event, which took place at Lagos’ Federal Palace Hotel in an outdoor ceremony.
The bride’s dress was from London’s Pronovias, made of white lace with a sweetheart neckline. She said, “It was the exact dress I had told them not to let me wear! But I wore it and I didn’t want to take it off!” To make the dress less traditional, Lisa-Leigh added a white lace cape designed by Nigerian designer Lanre Da Silva Ajayi, referencing the wedding cape worn by Solange Knowles.
For the guests, the dress code was strictly stylish, as the couple asked their friends and family to wear “Sunday best.” Lisa-Leigh said,
“It was kind of a challenge like, ‘You want our best? We’ll give you the best!’ For the white wedding, we just had full-on gloriousness. We wanted people to really go there! Come in jewel tones, come in stilettos, whatever you is your best.”
Lisa-Leigh finished off the evening in her own distinct style, wearing a white suit from local fashion line Clan for the reception. Overall, Lisa-Leigh had two evenings filled with style and flair, the perfect ending to a Nigerian wedding.
The post A Bride’s Dream: The Extravagance of Naija Weddings appeared first on Global Fashion business, fashion news trends - iFashion Network.