OVERRATED NIGERIAN WEDDINGS

If I'm, to be honest here I prefer attending only wedding receptions because I find the weddings boring. And even at the reception, I'm like can we just eat and go because literally, that's what 85% of the guests came to do. There are a lot of wedding activities I feel are overrated, especially in this part of the world (Nigeria) where we copy the white man style of wedding. The only weddings I find interesting are the traditional weddings especially because it is particular to a culture and very hard to go as a guest without learning something new. Too bad a lot of Nigerians put more effort in the church / white weddings of which I see many don't even know why it's done except for the reason of doing what is popular in the society.

Image by freepik

The first thing I find overrated is the (fake) wedding vows couples make. A lot of couples forget these vows after taking a few steps from the altar they made. This is because they just said the words. After all, the pastor said say these words to each other. Many do not even know the meaning of the things they say. To begin with, they don't even know the reason they should be doing a white wedding. I'm writing this praying my partner doesn't ask for a church wedding, because It's the white man's culture to begin with. I find it hilarious when the couples make mistakes while saying their vows and the pastor would have to make them repeat it again. The truth is in the end it's only the pastor that memorized a vow.

Another thing I find overrated is the need for a bridal train… Come on, that's just a waste of money… I'm probably talking like this because I do not appreciate the white wedding in the first place. If there's a need to spend money on that, I would prefer we do it at the traditional weddings and not what they do nowadays. Weddings don't have to be that difficult. I mean in Nigeria you would have to wed three times before the society sees the couple as weds meanwhile, the couples could have the traditional wedding after the customary introduction, hold a feast (if they like) after the unique traditional wedding that by the way reminds us of our cultural heritage and values, and if the couples wish they could invite a pastor to bless their union during the traditional wedding or after it…

Image by rawpixel.com on Freepik

They could later go to court to make their marriage legal. But nowadays weddings are planned even more than the marriage the couples are going into in the name of it a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I'm really praying when the time is right my partner doesn't make church wedding as essential as it's meant to be. I have a friend who has spent a lot of money moving from Port Harcourt to Lagos for his traditional wedding and will still plan on holding a church wedding and doing a reception after it here in Port Harcourt. I don't want to talk about the fact that the couples have to smile for hours and play uninteresting games given by the MC (master of ceremony). Weddings should be simply the joining of two love birds who have the consent of both parents and the law… every other activity isn't as necessary as people make it to be.

THIS IS MY RESPONSE TO HIVE NAIJA'S PROMPT FOR THE WEEK