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Money, Money, Money!

We touched on it briefly on our introduction post but before anything else is done, it's important to have the money talk and...

SET A BUDGET!

Odds are very high that you will go a little bit above this budget at the end of the day (notice how I didn't say 'lower' because that rarely ever happens). However, when you know what your mark is, even when you are off from the mark you are less likely to be tremendously off. 

Then arises the question of how much should I budget? How much does a typical Nigerian wedding in the abroad cost? How much is a Nigerian/African wedding in my American city?


A good place to start honestly is to google the typical cost of weddings around you and tack on an extra $10,000.

WAIT! Don't click out just yet o haba!

The truth is that there's a wide range of possibilities. If you want a BellaNaija wedding, then maybe even go ahead and double the typical wedding budget for your city. 

This is because those budgets you see are not created for our kind. Here are a few differences:

  1. The things the average American wedding considers as sufficient decor is 1/4th to 1/8th the decor you are used to seeing in a Nigerian wedding. I mean, Nigerian weddings have stages for bride and groom, they have dancefloors, they have a much higher guest count on average, amongst other things.
  2. Many of these budgets don't include anything outside factors contributing to the ceremony and the reception. This is great, except it doesn't tell the full story. Some include honeymoon but many Africans will still have a traditional wedding ceremony, a bride-price paying, an introduction ceremony, a welcome party or a rehearsal dinner (or both), a farewell party. The more parties... the more money.
Here in Houston, I have heard of people spending anywhere from $40,000 to $100,000 on their wedding. You might think at $40,000 you would be able to get a lot done but not when most venues start off at $10,000. So unless your father has a big back yard he's willing to loan you, it's highly unlikely with a budget of $40,000 that you would be able to afford a venue alongside a photobooth for your wedding. 

In the near future, I will be posting a link to my full wedding budget where you can also change the total wedding budget and see how much you should spend on each category of item. If you are interested in that, please leave a comment below

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