Blog - July 28, 2018

#The Z and W Wedding : Episode 2

Hello people, I apologise for taking so long to write this after writing the first episode of The wedding series . I appreciate everyone who reached out to me to let me know they were waiting for the continuation and it really gladdened my heart that people are really looking forward to my writing. Thank you! After listing out the items as discussed earlier we then deviced a means to sort them all so that we would know what we are working with.

FOOD

Both families said they would sort the food for all guests, so  it was a lot of relief for us. However, on second thoughts, my husband suggested that it would be nice for us to have finger foods and drinks/Mocktails, amongst other things and I went with the idea.. We then contacted AnotherMuslimahsKitchen on Instagram and after explaining our wants, she came up with a really affordable package for us and that was sorted. For Cocktails,   we contacted Deluctoria Bakehouse and after some deliberation, we finalized the plan with her. Also sorted! Trust me when I say these people are really affordable and we didn’t spend so much time on negotiations. This however made me realize that we had not done any design for the wedding, to be placed on Souvenirs/Invitations, because Victoria asked for a logo that she would be adding to the Mocktail cups. Truth be heard, I had not even thought of this before she mentioned it.  Then, I reached out to Zaynab of  Official Shona who made a really nice design for us at no cost (See ehn, people really came through for us).  Zaynab always comes through for me and I should do a whole post dedicated to her. She actually made three and told us to pick. We went for the third design and we were set to go. We did not plan to have an invitation card, but my husband needed to give to his boss so we knew we needed one. He then reached out to AbdulBaseet and he also created a design for us, ….. for free! You guessed right.  

PHOTOGRAPHY

We knew we needed pictures. Not anyhow pictures but bad ass ones. Lol. When we planned the earlier small Aqdu, I had contacted my old classmate, Toyese of August media and told him we needed him for coverage. We agreed on a price and he gave me a huge discount. However, when plans changed and it became a full blown wedding, I had to be honest with him and we had another conversation. The charges he gave us made me gasp. Like what? Photography is expensive o. After lots of back and forth and me removing some packages like pre wedding shoot, big picture frame ( we didn’ need this), and then me reminding him of our friendship, he agreed at a price which is a bit less than the original amount. Even at this, FAM, it was not small. We paid him a 70 percent of the total fee and knew we had that sorted. Phew.  

ACCESSORIES

My husband’s only needed accessries were his cufflinks. ( Mehn, our mean are so lucky) and he ordered them. As for me. I needed Purses, shoes,Handfans,Jewellery,Underwear, Scarves, and other items I can’t remember. I contacteHouseofMoh,my twinnie of HouseofMoh and we chose a set of shoe and purse for the engagement. I got the Nikkah shoe from Tbillion on twitter. I got the Nikkah purse on Lagos island ( Morenike helped with this). I got the reception purse from Bay I ever may fashion house on Instagram and bought the reception shoe at Garki. It was a lot of work to get my shoes because I totally avoided shoes with high heels and at the same time needed little elevation with the heels. I ordered the handfans from Wuraolagold on Twitter and then jewellery was gotten from Royalibatjewelleries. As for the beads that my husband and I wore, it was sorted by my brother’s wife ;Mo abah without me spending a dime or lifting a finger. I ordered my Nikkah veil from Ishars and bought a Silk fabric to tie for the reception. I knew I didn’ wan the turban concept everyone was wearing no matter how pretty it looked.

ASOEBI

This husband of mine was very firm about not picking any asoebi for his friends because he considered it an inconvenience and people didn’  need to go through thay just to attend our wedding. I accepted because that really made sense. He stated that the highest he would go was let me sell caps to them and even that would be very optional. We agreed he would tell them to wear white clothes with the caps they would buy and that was sorted.  Fod my friends, many of them insisted they had to get Asoebi and they were willing to pay any amount because they felt I deserved it. I thought that was really kind and thoughtful. However, I still didn’t want anyone to break the bank for me, considering the fact that it was December period, they would already have lots of expenses and I also needed to take note of the fact that many of them would be spending so much traveling down. After deliberating with my mum, we agreed that th price would not exceed  10,000 Naira and I told my friends, who said they were fine with it. Mum entered the marker for me and we got two fabrics and gele for each person, she even made sure to take it to the place the geles would be sewn together. My mother is the real MVP abeg! We bought lace and Ankara for my friends and we bought Ankara for the bridesmaids. She also helped to pock the fabrics I had requested from my customer for the bridesmaids and took them to the tailor who would make them. Yes, my plan was that the bridesmaids and my friends would wear two clothes each and Alhamdulilah, that was achieved, even though it meant me having to add some money to the bulk. I already had a concept for the bridesmaids from a dress I once made Raycouture and we went with it. Peep the style below.  I just had to get the fabrics and make sure the bridesmaids sent their appropriate measurements across (May Allah bless them, they cooperated fully).

CLOTHES

Remember I mentioned I had ordered an Abaya from Ishars? Now that the event was turning into more than I envisaged, it meant I had to order more clothes and probably change the whole concept. I was confused because I was stuck between getting a wedding gown and just wearing an Abaya. What was definite however, was the fact that I wasn’t ready to spend a fortune on it and I would not opt for an outfit that would become useless after the event. The next thing to do was to decide the colours for all our outfits so we would move from there. We deliberated on some colours and decided to go for Magenta for the Nikkah, White for the engagement and Green for the Reception. I reached out to Kofoworola because I knew she was living on the Island and told her to get me two pretty fabrics ( I described what I wanted to her) and she got to work. She spent so much time fanning Lagos Island for the description of fabrics I gave her and even went with her sister. After about three days, we found what we wanted and she bought them. Note that I only paid her after she had bought it, she went all out for me and did all the waka without waiting for an alert and if that is not a great deal, I don’t know what it. I planned to make the two fabrics into reception and engagement clothes and still stick to the abaya for Nikkah. Then, my mum called and said my mum in law says it is tradition that she buys the engagement cloth for me ( or she was just being generous as usual). Mum said I shouldn’t bother getting the white cloth I wanted because Mama was going to buy it so that mean I was left with two fabrics and I only had to decide which one to wear for the Nikkah. I then told myself I’d just pick the green one and give to my tailor to make a simple dress. The fabric already had lots of glitters so I knew I only needed something simple and it would still stand out. I already told my mum I wouldn’t wear the complete aso oke that was now the order of the day because, as I said earlier, I didn’t want something that wouldn’t be useful to me after the event. So, I opted for white( my dream outfit) and mum contacted the aso oke maker she knew for the gele and Ipele with the cap my husband would use. This person charged a fortune to bead the gele and Ipele and I really was shocked that we had to spend that much for just beading of two pieces. Now imagine if I was going to wear it as a full outfit, wow. I would state the prices but I sincerely do not remember. If I find it before the next post, I’d update. Related: Hi Rib One fateful morning, my sister buzzed me and asked if I knew any Meerah stitches on Instagram. I said sure, the one who uses Aisha Lawal, the actress as her model. She said yes, that would I believe the founder of the brand is a certain Sister Gbemi who grew up in my neighborhood? I screamed and said wow. I mean, I knew the brand as a very big brand and I never knew the brain behind it was a known person. You see, Sister Gbemi was a big sister to me while growing up. She was older than me but we bonded so much due to our love for novels and interest in reading more and exchanging books. So she was that sister I could always run to and gist with, we would exchange books and discuss them after. It was a lit period! They left our neighborhood after a while so we lost contact. So, to think this same person was that big brand owner? Wow. My sister said they already had a conversation and she really asked after me so I should buzz her, which I did. We exchanged huge pleasantries and expressed how much we had missed each other. Then I told her my wedding was coming up and she had to make at least one of my dresses. I let her know I already had a fabric and she asked me to look around and pick the style I wanted. She let me know she never did bespoke but just ready to wear, but she would definitely make mine and exception. I told her I would pick a style but I was really scared regarding her prices because I understood how big her brand was. She laughed and asked me if I didn’ understand what our reunion meant to her. She told me that she would gladly cover all the bills. Oh my oh my, was I dreaming? I screamed! I then called my mum and told her to take the white fabric to her for my Nikkah dress while the green one would be taken to try initial person as planned. On getting there, sister Gbemi saw the two fabrics in the pack, called to ask me what it was meant for and I explained it was for reception. Then she said she would do both and I shouldn’ worry my head. That she would make sure I looked wow because that would be her contribution to the wedding. Look at God! I was really overwhelmed and I shed a tear or two ( everyone knows I’m a cry baby). It was happening so fast and I just knew that when we allow God to take charge, He comes through! I only needed to get my accurate measurements through to her and that was done. Sorted. I then decided that the Ishars Abaya would suffice as the outfit to the registry (Ah Registry, another story because we had to make lots of research about the Islamic perspective to having a registry wedding) My husband told me he would wear anything but a suit. His reason being that Suits are his everyday wears to work and he didn’t see the need. I understood him perfectly and we decided to opt for Agbada and another simple trad wear. I chose the colours for everything ( See, this man really allowed me to satisfy my cravings for everything). We then stepped into the market together and bought the fabrics ( expensive, I must tell you, men’s clothes aren’t cheap) He took it to his trusted tailors here in Abuja and we believed that was also sorted. We made plans to buy Tajia ( those Northern caps) and he got two of them. The price of these also came as a shocker to me because I never knew they were that pricy.  We ordered his shoes from China and his good friend who lives there promised to supervise how it would get to us. Sorted too. Yaay, everything was sorted about his own outfits and we were happy. But were they sorted? Not really. In the next post I’ll write about how we got his clothes from the tailor  and realized he wouldn’t be able to wear them! I’ll be back. OBA