Weddings - Lagos Styleeee

I was invited to my colleague Sarah’s wedding last weekend.  She is the admin assistant at work and  told me that if I didn’t come to her service she wouldn’t do any favours for me e.g. filing or telephone calls or letters!  She was joking but had a serious glint in her eye when she said this! So I thought I had better make the effort.

Effort it was!  The venue was a two hour drive away and I was told to add anything from one to four hours onto that estimation to account for the hectic, abysmal Lagos traffic.  This didn’t amuse me. Also at Nigerian weddings everybody wears the same material, chosen by the bride and groom.  Sarah’s theme was purple and silver and she made available her choice of fabric for her guest to buy.  Of course I didn’t get to her in time and the material had run out.  Soooooo I donned the one purplish dress I could find in my wardrobe and set off on the dusty road.

I brought supplies such as magazines, water, tea in a flask, my Ipod and a pillow.  Luckily they were not required.  The journey took less than two hours and I ended up giving three other people a ride to the ceremony.  The journey was quite entertaining; we sang along to Lauren Hill’s Jesus music and chatted about school and other things.  As we got further and further out of town, the roads got worse and we passed through various villages and small towns.  It got more rural and run down.  Surprisingly, people seemed happier and more laid back than in Ikoyi and Lagos. 

We paused in traffic at a roundabout upon which a large statue had been erected.  I craned to catch a glimpse of who it might have been.  All of a sudden two large hands and a shouting face slammed and pressed against the passenger window.  A man was shouting but smiling at me.  I almost hit the roof with fright.  The man was half begging, half trying to tell me about the statue I think.  His friends joined him and quickly a small entourage formed around the car.  Thankfully the traffic moved just as they started taking photographs with camera phones.  I was reminded that it is still pretty unusual for ‘oyibos’ or white folk to be out and about generally in the more rural parts in and around Lagos.  I was a novelty.

Eventually we pulled up outside Sarah’s chosen church.  Many people had made it from school which was lovely.  We took photos and then went into the church.  It was a large hall with a stage rather than a pew or pulpit and there were huge speakers everywhere.  Singers sang gospel and photographers swarmed the crowd.  I stood out so was snapped a million times without the grace of any warning.  Blinded by the lights and slightly deafened by the hymns, eventually, we all sat and the service began.

It was upbeat and joyful and it was lovely to see Sarah and her husband beam at each other all the way through the ceremony.  They were clearly so in love and excited to be committing to each other.  The service was religious but still very different to any church wedding I have ever been to in the UK.  There was lots of advice given to the couple about how to look after each other in the bedroom and how to get the family started; totally shocking to me but HIGHLY amusing.  I stifled my giggles until outside the church, where everyone was having a laugh about it.  Apparently that is normal but this pastor had taken it quite far.  We all agreed advising a woman about what to wear to bed was unnecessary but hilarious.

The day continued at a hall near the church.  We danced, sang and listened to some more pastors say their thing.  We danced Sarah into the hall and the celebration was in full swing.  Unfortunately the lack of a toilet and the mounting traffic on the road home meant my party and I left rather early and missed the food.  Overall the experience was great but the next Nigerian wedding I go to will be the type you need a golden ticket to get in to and are given a digital camera as a wedding favour!