Our very first episode of our wedding planning diary. In this series, we would be sharing our planning experiences from each event we planned and how we managed difficult situations, the challenges we faced and how we managed budgets.
The idea is for people to understand that weddings are not a bed of roses in Nigeria; from planning to bridezillas to wedding budgets to client's expectations and a lot more. I hope you enjoy this new wedding series. Thank you.
Back to my couple, I remember when I first received a call from the bride. She liked a particular concept and kept saying she had been wondering how she would combine black and gold as those were her colours and came across my page. We concluded on a day to meet and we met.
On meeting with the husband, after giving them a quote, he said he felt I was not charging enough and offered to add more (imagine that)!
Even though I was only in charge of the traditional wedding, it felt like I was in charge of the two days! Lots and lots of planning went down. The groom had a lot of friends he wanted at the hotel in the morning and he wanted me to be in charge of that as well.
We had to create a timeline for the vendors and couple's friend to ensure that they all kept to time.
The bride didn't want a traditional decor while the groom wanted a traditional set up, so we had to come to a compromise. We agreed to have a non traditional decor while we incorporated traditional effects. For instance, the hostesses were dressed traditionally, (did I mention that the groom was Edo and the bride Yoruba) so some of the hostesses were dressed in Yoruba attire while the rest were dressed in Edo attire.
Photo credits: @shileshonoikiphotography
On the Wedding day, we were delayed by an hour; every other vendor came at the appointed time but the makeup artist got delayed. We went on with the event but now had to wait for the makeup artist to finish the bride's makeup. But thank God we had put this into consideration and decided to give her one hour grace from the timeline and so we were able to meet up.
The second hiccup was the fact that the families of the bride did not arrive on time, hence delaying the traditional ceremony from starting.
The couple wanted a WOW! Effect and kept drumming it in my ears, so we thought of a couple of things that required some money but ended up scrapping them because the budget couldn't accommodate it.
Eventually, we came up with the idea of the the host and hostesses dancing in with the engagement letter. The brides friends also danced in after they all changed into their traditional attire.
We also decided to surprise our couple with a backdrop and props for their guests to take pictures.
We also had fireworks go off at some point at the ceremony.
Photo credits: @shileshonoikiphotography
The groom Chris, had a frame he wanted me to decide on a place to put it and we decided that it would do justice at the entrance of the hall.
The wedding was a success and the feedback kept rolling in. Both bride and groom kept saying thank you and they have actually referred another client, booked and all.
It was fun working with all the vendors, they all brought their A- Games and delivered.
Planner- @laheiress
Decorator- @vaniaevents
Caterer- @sleekcatering and @hitcaterers
Makeup Artist- @oshewabeauty
Official Photography- @tapstudios
La' Heiress Photographer- @shileshonoikiphotography
Videographer- @theweddingtv
Hostesses- @laheiresshostesses
Eru Iyawo- @tinukesilhouette
Banner and props- @ebenezerruth
DJ- @djshina
Band- @gracebandinternational
Cake- @heladio
Cocktails- @eventicocktails
Tradional attires- @auntylucky
Small chops- @ubilicious
Security- @ksquare
Hall- @bespokeeventcentre
