Introduction: The Struggle

Organizing a Nigerian wedding in "the abroad" is a particularly interesting and unique struggle.

For some, you may have spent a good part of your life looking at pictures from BellaNaija online and admiring different outfits and styles. You may also have attended (in real life or via instagram) the weddings of your friends or celebrity friends (I know I'm not the only one that was live at Banky and Adesua's wedding from my living room sofa). All these things lead you to have certain expectations of how you would want your own wedding to go.

Then on the flip side there is the issue of your pocket. You might have a decent job and earning stream and you may think to yourself "just how expensive can this thing possibly be?". Well you are in for a surprise aren't you?

The average cost of a wedding in most American cities (not including special ones like NYC, LA, etc.) is about $31,000. If you are like me and live in Houston, TX then we are just a little bit more expensive at about $33,000-$35,000. Why? Beats me, I thought things were supposed to be more affordable here.

Anyways this cost estimate is actually not for your wedding. This is for the standard American wedding. You, my dear, are reading this because you are Nigerian. Your idea of decor for a wedding is not a wooden table in a barn with a tumbler and one fresh flower sitting in it. If that's your idea of decor then I truly envy you and the amount of money you are poised to save through this process.

There are a number of unique challenges faced by Nigerians in America trying to plan a wedding such as:

1. Finding a venue that lets you bring in your own food because who wants to pay $15-$100 per head when Aunty Bisi from across the street can make a whole cooler of jollof rice for $100.
2. Finding a venue that gives you more than 4 hours of reception time, etc.

There are many challenges on this journey and I faced all of them too. So I am determined to make your path just a little bit easier