7 Things Your Nigerian Wedding Guests Do NOT Care About

Many Nigerian couples tend to worry about some insignificant things when planning their big day. I call these things ‘unnecessary’, I mean in the grand scheme of things, these things are quite irrelevant, especially to a lot of Nigerian wedding guests.

It wouldn’t matter if you have some of these things or not at your wedding, as your guests wouldn’t even notice if these things are not there.

Disclaimer: You can totally have all these things at your wedding, as it really all depends on your preference but this post is basically for those couples who are working with a small budget and are trying to save some more money.

Espcially for that budget couple, if you are working with a small wedding budget, then feel absolutely free not to overshoot your budget and you can totally do away with some of the following things that I would be listing in this article.

Things Your Nigerian Wedding Guests Don’t Care About

1. SOUVENIRS

These are also known as wedding favours. More like a thank you for coming to our wedding take away gift to your wedding guests.

At Nigerian weddings, it is part of the wedding tradition for the parents and family of the couple to bring souvenirs for wedding guests. So you can totally cut this off from your wedding budget.

Besides, not everybody may get a souvenir and no one would blame you for this, heck, they wouldn’t even remember that they’d isn’t get a souvenir from your wedding. So don’t bother your pretty head about this and divert the funds to something more meaningful.

2. YOUR WEDDING CAKE

I sometimes wonder what the fuss about having a six or seven-tier wedding cake is about… except if having a tall wedding cake is one of the things about your wedding that matters so much to you, but your guests won’t notice if there is a wedding cake or not.

You can reduce your wedding budget by reducing your cake tiers.

3. RECEPTION PROGRAMME PRINT OUT

Nigerian wedding guests are really not interested in your wedding reception programme flow. Nobody is going to be checking the reception flow to see which item they are on.

The MC is responsible for entertaining your guests and ensuring that your wedding guests are well carried along throughout the duration of your reception party.

So I would advise that you do away with this or print just a few wedding programmes or you can add it to your menu card. The menu card will be on the front cover, while the wedding reception programme will be on the back.

4. THE WEDDING DECOR

The truth is that except the decor is absolutely gorgeous, your Nigerian Wedding Guests won’t notice this. As long as they get a place to sit and are served food to eat, they don’t care so much about the decor. Once people are seated in the wedding venue, they don’t see anything anymore.

5. YOUR WEDDING DRESS

Your wedding guests won’t notice how gorgeous that wedding dress of yours is. Except if it is a totally different colour like orange or black or anything different from the norm, your wedding guests won’t notice this and don’t care about what you wear.

6. TOSSING OF THE BOUQUET

Some of my recent brides have been opting out of throwing their wedding bouquets. The tradition has become ‘old school’, as we say it in Nigeria. So you can totally do without this on your order of reception programme. Your guests won’t notice if this part is omitted anyway.

7. TABLE SCAPES

Nigerian Wedding Guests don’t even know the importance of table scapes (also called table settings in Nigeria). The table settings comprises of the following:

• The charger plate
• Napkin folds
• Wine and water glasses cups
• Cutlery
• Menu card

You can totally do away with this if you do not care so much about aesthetics. Although many caterers offer this as a add on to their catering services, if this is the case, then it is okay.

What Your Nigerian Wedding Guests Actually Care About

1. FOOD

Your guests are particular about the type of food they eat and if they would get food to eat. So spend a large part of your wedding budget on this. Ensure that proper measures are taken to ensure that all your wedding guests get food to eat.

Related: Catering At A Nigerian Wedding: All You Need To Know

2. DRINKS

Just keep the drinks and alcohol flowing. If you wouldn’t be having alcohol at your wedding, be sure to inform your wedding guests, so that they can make alternative arrangements for their booze.

3. THE MUSIC

Whether it’s a Nigerian Wedding DJ or a Band that you are hiring for your wedding, ensure that they understand the assignment bestowed upon them. Your guests will definitely remember if the wedding DJ or band was on point and they danced till their feets ached. It is important to keep in mind the type of wedding guests invited, so that the music played can carry both old and young along and no one feels out of place.

4. THE WEDDING VENUE

The wedding venue should be easy to navigate and the space should be convenient for everyone. The AC’s should be working properly and the restrooms should. be neat and clean.

Definitely not a wedding space on the 5th floor of a building, with a flight of stairs before you can reach the 5th floor… you get my point?

Your guests would totally care about an overcrowded space, especially if there are no seats for them to sit on. I always advise to get a space that can sit at least 100 or 200 more than the original numb

I won’t advise an outdoor wedding venue, as many Nigerian parents frown at this. If you are to have an outdoor wedding, ensure that you have canopies, cooling mist fans, mobile toilets and anything that would make your wedding guests feel comfortable at the venue.

5. THE DURATION OF THE WEDDING CEREMONY

No Nigerian wedding guest wants to be kept for too long at a church or joining wedding ceremony. The whole ceremony shouldn’t be more than one hour or at most one hour thirty minutes. The MC should be able to run through the wedding reception between two to three hours tops!

6. THE WEDDING AFTER-PARTY

It is generally believed that the real Nigerian party starts when the after-party party begins. The after-party is the main party after the reception ceremony is over. Nigerians even prepare more for the after party than the main event itself.

In as much as I encourage my couples not to over stretch their wedding budget to accommodate an after-party if they truly cannot afford it… this does not mean that your wedding guests won’t be looking forward to your after-party and all the paparazzi that comes with it.

So if your budget can accommodate this, then feel free to splurge on your wedding after-party because it is a big deal to a lot of Nigerian Wedding guests.

7. SMALL CHOPS

Small chops are appetisers before the main meal. I normally tell my couple, that they either provide small chops for the entire guests or a large percentage of their wedding guests or they don’t do small chops at all. Nigerian Wedding Guests are very particular about getting small chops to eat. We have had wedding guests fight over not being served a plate of small chops at the wedding.

You can also read: Why You Should Not Lie To Your Nigerian Wedding Vendors

What other points do you think we missed? Please share your thoughts in the comment section.

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