Royal Nigerian Wedding, Lagos, Nigeria, 2012

A few years ago, my husband hired a lovely young law student to work at his law firm. We soon learned that Kunbi is a Nigerian princess. This April 9, Kunbi finally wed her prince (not literally in this case, as he's not royal), Olamide in a lavish traditional ceremony. We had the honor of attending the nuptials in Lagos, Nigeria. April 9 is also our wedding anniversary, so we celebrated our 12th year of marriage in unique style! Prior to the big day, Kunbi's mother arranged for us to meet with tailors so they could make our traditional Nigerian outfits. Kunbi's color was yellow so Jon was given a gold tunic-style shirt with embroidery, matching cotton pants and a gold cap. My dress was light yellow with a bold geometric print in pink and brown. I also had a matching head piece called a gele (pronounced gaylay, according to Kunbi). I didn't like wearing the gele so much, as I'm not a big fan of wearing hats in general, but I appreciated them making the outfit for me. Once we reached the event center, we came upon table after table after table. We couldn't believe how many chairs there were. Kunbi had expected about 1000 guests, but actually seeing the set up for that many people was amazing. Soon, guests began filling in, all dressed in traditional Nigerian formal wear. Kunbi's guests donned some variation of yellow, while Olamide's all wore some shade of blue. Every woman completed her look with a colorful gele. From the back, the headpieces resembled blooming flowers so I felt a bit as if I were in a garden. And then it was time for the wedding! A few people warned us that a Nigerian wedding is an endurance test as it goes on for a long time. They weren't exaggerating! The ceremony lasted about six hours and the bride and groom didn't appear until halfway during the proceedings. It certainly wasn't boring, though. For one thing, the event was much more casual than Western-style weddings. Most weddings in the United States, at least, are pretty formal during the ceremony portion. Guests don't eat, dance or mingle until after the couple has exchanged vows. But because this ceremony took so long, guests chatted with friends, danced and ate as everything was happening. Though they served typical Nigerian dishes, such as goat with melon seed and moin moin (bean cake), we unfortunately didn't get to taste too many dishes. They served us the "contintental" meal of fish and rice and well, I HATE fish. Jon managed to get some fried chicken for me, but we never did get a chance to sample anything else. Apparently, many more guests arrived than expected -- 2000! So they ran out of food at one point and had to order more. Still, we had a great time and didn't go hungry. The energetic woman in charge served as a preacher, performer, dj, emcee and wedding planner. Every family member was introduced and then a hymn and prayer was sung in his or her honor. Half were in English and half in Yoruba. Whenever she sang, another woman would join her and two men would enthusiastically beat African drums. It was quite a spectacle! When it was time for the bride and groom to enter, a crowd of about 50 clustered around each and danced them down the aisle. Meanwhile, the singers sang and drummers played, giving them a grand entrance. Kunbi told me afterward that her family had discussed having her arrive on a horse, but she nixed that idea. The woman in charge then had them say some funny vows. She instructed Olimade to bow down to his mother and tell her that he loves her, but then added, "But tell her that now you're going to love Kunbi more." To Kunbi, she had her tell Olamide to, "Make [Kunbi] a woman tonight." Everyone was laughing and having a blast, and not taking themselves seriously at all. Though there were 2000 people there and only three of us were Americans, we still had a sense of belonging. Everyone was warm and friendly and didn't treat us like outsiders. They were so glad to have us in their country and wanted our experience to be as joyful as possible. I love going to weddings in general, but this one was an experience -- and this was definitely one of our most memorable anniversaries.