Bridesmaid Duties Once Again: #IT2014

Honestly, I can't believe how frequently I've been blogging recently, my boss is currently away and so things have been generally less busy at the office. More time for blogging! Yay! Because more often than not, after an exhausting day at work, I just can't bring myself to put my thoughts into words. Anyways, today's post is another wedding one, my cousin Itunu got married to the man of her dreams, Tosin in December and I got to be a bridesmaid at the event. You may remember when I was a bridesmaid back in August at a different cousins wedding, they really opened my bridesmaid market! Haha. And then I attended the wedding of one of my best friends sister's. It's been weddings galore since I moved back and honestly, I don't even go to that many. If you live in Nigeria, particularly in Lagos, you know it's possible to go to a wedding every single weekend!

Anyways back to the koko, she got married in Ibadan and on the morning of the traditional wedding, I took a road trip there with my cousin Tomi and two friends, Funmi and Ore. Truthfully, I was exhausted by the time we got there, exhausted but ready for the turn up! It's hard to describe the colour of the aso-ebi, it was really sparkly and shiny and depending on what you chose to line the fabric, it looked slightly different. The effect was really gorgeous though and the gele was a really lovely coral and goldish colour... Do you know what, I think pictures would make this description easier! 

Do you guys remember my first post ever on 'aso-oke'? It's actually one of my looked at posts via Google.

Wedding Bells: "All Shades of Pink"

Hey guys, how you doing? Look, it's another post about a wedding! If you live in Lagos you know that there's at one wedding every single weekend that you could attend and so I'm sure you're not surprised that I've been to another one recently! I don't make it a habit of going to weddings where I don't know the couple though, what's the point? It's someone's special day, why be there when I know I really couldn't care less. As sweet as party rice is, is it ever that deep?

Warning: This post is quite picture heavy.

This wedding was the elder sister of one of my best friend's, Tomi. Remember her from Salford and Solita? It was on a Saturday and at drinks on Friday night, I was told I shouldn't dare trying to do my make-up myself *sigh* so I grudgingly got up early in the morning to head to hers and get my make up done professionally. The make-up artists wasn't my all time favourite EEDA this time but another girl called Sara, she seemed very nervous and inexperienced at first but she ended up doing a great job. Here's the only close up I took before I got dressed, it was more out of boredom and waiting than anything else.

I really like that she got my natural eyebrow shape.

The wedding colours were "all shades of pink" and so I opted for this dress from Monsoon that I wore to my mum's 50th a while ago. I didn't get dressed alone though and although the whole house was a complete madhouse with no less than twenty girls getting ready, we all managed to make it out alive and looking fabulous no less. By the time we were all ready we were about 3 hours behind schedule but of course we had to take pictures before we left!

The dress was slightly too big and that made me SO happy, bootcamp has been paying off! Lol

Starring Jen as "The Lady in Red".

Ayo looking flawless in orange!

I love how we all ended up wearing really bold solid colours, it was completely unplanned but really made all the pictures look so bright and colourful!

As the bride came down the stairs I tried to steal a quick snap of her and Tomi who was missing all the photo fun because she had to play the role of Chief Brides slave maid. You can already tell that they both look fab can't you?

I got a slightly better picture of the bride when she was posing with all her adoring bridesmaids. Don't you just love her dress?

The dress and veil were just to die for and I loved that she wore her hair half up, half down not the usual intricate bun that you see. It just made it feel more fun and more 'her'.

I took one last selfie before we all swooped into cars and rode to the venue which was the Grand Ballroom in Oriental Hotel.

You can see the jewellery a little more clearly here

The venue for the Civil Ceremony was beautifully decorated, Oriental is generally a very grand hotel and the decorators played with that and really made everywhere come alive.

I got in a cheeky shot of Tomi when she was finally standing still for more than 30 seconds!

The ceremony was very brief and included the signing of the marriage registry and lighting of unity candles by members of both families and afterwards we were ushered downstairs to the ballroom to be seated and were greeted by this lady whose skirt was giving out champagne! Haha. Rose of course, to keep to theme pink theme.

I know it's blurry but I just couldn't leave it out. I LOVED this idea.

When I walked into the ballroom I was gobsmacked! Like literally had the wind taken out of me by how beautiful it all was but not only that, it looked like the wedding of my dreams! Haha. Whoever knows me knows that pink is my favourite colour but when I want to avoid looking too girly I default to purple. The hall was a pink lover's heaven AND she had incorporated two of my favourite things, candles and butterflies!

The bride and grooms seat for the day. Ignore the pink tutu please..

Some of the centre pieces...

tea lights always add a touch of romance to the room.

A 'sweets' table which literally had everything from candy floss to peppermints to maoms all in pink of course!

But my favourite part of the decor had to be this elevated aisle right in the middle leading up to were the bride and groom were seated. With well over a thousand guests, it divided the room nicely into the agbalagbas and the young ones as well as made sure that whenever the bride and groom were on the move, they were the centre of attention.

Who said the groom can't be funky on the day and still look classy? #redbottoms

After a whole lot of eating and even more dancing and drinking, we defaulted to doing what we do best, taking pictures!

Finally you get to see the full length of Tomi's dress and all the details, isn't it beautiful? She looked so amazing I could cry for joy! Lol. Needless to say, A LOT of people mistook her for the bride.

Tomi and her very good friend, Lila who flew in from Hungary to be here for the wedding.

Tomizzle and I!

Jen, who flew in from London, and I!

Dee and I!

Ayo and I

At the end out of all the things I got to take home that day and the million and one ideas I have for my own wedding now, I was most excited about my sweets box! 

Wishing Ronke and Bode a happy and fulfilled married life, God bless your union.

Engagement Tales and Wedding Bells

One of my very many darling cousins got married 2 weekends ago and I was oh-so honoured and privileged to be a bridesmaid at her wedding! I haven't been a bridesmaid at any weddings in the last 10 years I'm sure. The last one I remember was my Aunty's wedding ages ago and I didn't really get to be part of the fun stuff so it doesn't really count. Lol. This time though, I was "of age" enough to be included in lots of little details and planning. I was super super excited when Salewa asked me to be a bridesmaid, I remember squealing to my mum that I felt like I had just been proposed to. Yes, I like melodrama, bite me.

So 2 weekends ago I was up front and centre at the introduction and traditional wedding, for those who aren't familiar with Nigerian weddings, the introduction and traditional wedding usually happen before the white wedding and is when the two families formally meet and various wedding rites are performed according to your traditions (think Yoruba, Igbo, Hause etc.). In Yoruba traditional weddings we have an 'alaga' who acts as a sort of MC for the day. The alaga can really make or break the occasion by either being really funny and amiable or annoying and long winded, I've witnessed both. There's also a lot of dancing and collecting of monetary and other gifts for the new couple and their families. At some point the grooms family then presents a whole array of gifts for the brides family, things like yam, plantain, cows, goats... Items that I suppose traditionally show wealth. These gifts are meant to act as a bride price but these days the brides family often rejects the gifts saying that their daughter is not for sale and they give her away freely. (Hola Feminists! We are making progress!)

The colours for the bride's family on the day were Mint Green and Silver and you can see what I made with my aso-ebi below. It's not as traditional as the ones I wore for my granddad's funeral in March last year "As a Real Yoruba Girl: Aso- Oke Love" and as much as I liked my iro and bubba, this look was a lot more fun. Excuse the background of the tailors shop, it's a LONG story!

                  

My make-up and gele for the day was flawlessly executed by one of my most talented friends Eeda of Eeda's Atelier, I was super sceptical at first because she insisted on using Milk of Magnesis as a primer on my oily, sensitive skin. Yes, MILK OF MAGNESIA, the one for tummy aches. Lol. But in the end it was the best thing ever! I especially loved the lip colour she used too, not the standard red that most other people had on. Check out her blog, Eeda's Atelier, for lots of helpful tutorials and tips.

The use of milk of magnesia and of course her awesome techniques were so good that at the end of the day, approximately 9 hours later, my face still looked like this!! Under this hot and humid Lagos weather, at an engagement that took place outdoors, I was floored!!

After all the boring rites are done with it's time for the real fun to begin, the dancing! Haha. We danced, ate and drank ourselves to exhaustion on this happy Thursday evening before getting ready to prepare for "the main, the main!" on Saturday. Oh and of course I took more pictures.

My gorgeous cousin and her now husband, I love the way he's looking at her in this picture... Kinda feel like I captured a special moment <3 <3

Bridesmaids galore!

"Give her a twirl won't ya darling?"

Celfie!

On Saturday morning as a member of the bridal train I had to be awake at an unfortunate 5.30 a.m. Most of the bridesmaids stayed over which meant waking up super early so everyone could shower and get their make up done before church started at 11. Imagine a bevy of girls all rushing about doing this, that and the third, yah. It wasn't a pretty sight initially I'd admit and one of the make up artists was SLO-OOW! I don't think she got the memo about the time constraint, either that or she just felt like being a diva.

Bride getting her make-up done

Bridesmaids helping each other out

My make-up of the day. Honestly I didn't love it initially because the lips were red and I felt the eyeshadow was too much but I changed the lips to a more nudey pink and felt a bit better. I look kinda like an elf in this picture don't you think so? Lol. But it wasn't my day so I didn't mind too much, plus the bride's make-up and hair were pretty perfectly done, I thought she looked like a princess which is exactly what every girl dreams of right?

Despite the car carrying the bridal party breaking down right in front of the steps of the church (we had to be pushed into a parking space) and the super slow make up artist, it was quite a stress free morning. Church started at 11.05, just five minutes after the advertised time, I kid you not. I've NEVER been to a wedding that actually started on time, EVER. So big shoutout to the Roberts clan for making it happen. I haven't seen the official photos of the wedding yet and the bridesmaids didn't get a chance to take one together at home but we made do in the car, haha. This is the least blurry picture of most of us that were on the train, terrible isn't it? Lol. Well it holds fun memories for us.

Details of the dress

LOVE the back of it too

The gorgeous Molly, our Chief Bridesmaid

During the reception, her now husband, Tayo, and his groomsmen did a beautiful rendition of John Legend's "All of You". Super duper corny but soooo cute, it honestly melted my heart. If I were the bride I just might have been balling like a newborn, but she kept it together very nicely. I think I have a video of that somewhere, I must do.

This was definitely one of the cutest weddings I've been to in a while, ever since then I keep daydreaming about really cute things I'd like at my own wedding, something I promise, I've never ben that into. I only wish I got to the reception venue earlier so I could take pictures of the great decor for future inspiration! Ah well...

Wishing Salewa and Tayo a blessed and happy married life! Love you guys!