How to plan a budget wedding in Nigeria

How to Plan a Budget Wedding in Nigeria

Try asking a single guy in Nigeria when they hope to get married. Majority would tell you that they'll get married only when they've made enough money. Enough money to get an apartment, a vehicle and still have a lot of extra cash left to plan a wedding. Why? Because in Nigeria, one of the most expensive things to spend your money on is planning a wedding.

It's like this: nearly every Nigerian likes to attend parties and look for a reason to be there, invited or not. It's just more like a "cultural thing." That's why the popular party slogan in Nigeria is "Owambe."

Owambe is a Yoruba word that means or says that a person is present somewhere.

Anyway, imagine single-handedly hosting a party with a minimum of 300-500 people. Where do we even begin? Should we talk about the hall capacity, to begin with? Perhaps we should talk about food, drinks, music, outfits, the event host or MC, etc. That's most definitely a lot when you think about the money involved.

Of course, weddings are one of the most important and special days of a person's life. This is why we want to go all out to make it a memorable one.

However, the truth is that you can create a memorable experience for yourself and still spend wisely when planning your Nigerian wedding. How?

Well, let me show you 5 ways that you can cut wedding costs.

Trim your wedding guest list

Trim your wedding guest list

One of the most challenging things to do when it comes to a Nigerian wedding is cutting down your guest list. This is because every parent, aunt, uncle, and relative have a number of friends that must be a part of your wedding. At the end of the day, you might be surprised to find out that you don't even know half of the number of people at your wedding.

To cut costs, you have to find a way to convince every member of your family to limit the number of guests they intend to invite.

A good way to effect this plan is to make an invite that permits only 1 person into the wedding hall. That way, only those that have the access card will be allowed in.

Consider a weekday wedding or a Sunday

Wedding vendors don't get a lot of contracts during weekdays. This means that they are likely to accept a lower budget than normal because it's like making extra money. For you, on the other hand, you'd be spending less.

Who needs an extremely fancy cake?

Wedding cake

Wedding cakes are not compulsory or even necessary. However, if you want to cut one, then there's no need for those extremely fancy 7 tier cakes we see on shows. A small and nicely baked cake can do the job.

Pick one of both- live band or DJ?

There's no party without good music, right? So, what you should be concerned about is the quality of the music rather than getting as many forms of music as possible. Why not opt for a live band over a DJ or DJ over a live band, instead of both?

Rent a wedding dress

Rent a wedding dress

Almost every girl can't wait to walk down the aisle in the beautiful white dress of her dreams. It's a feeling we all cherish, I guess.

However, here's something you should consider. We mostly never get to wear our wedding dresses ever again once the wedding is done. So, instead of spending so much money getting the perfect dress, how about renting one?

Renting a dress allows you to spend less, but still achieve your dreams. That's pretty convenient if you ask me.

Anyway, Happy married life, my friend!