My wedding was over five years ago, but with everything that happened and transpired within that period, I really don’t think I’ll ever forget it. I remember the details of everything like it was yesterday.
First, I’ll like to say that when you want to propose to a woman, please time your proposal right. My fiance (well, now my husband) proposed to me while we were bowling at Get Arena and if anything, I was shocked to my core. I mean, I knew we were ready to tie the knot, and even a part of me wanted him to get it over with already (but he a man, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned about men, it’s that you should never push them) but to propose to me at a bowling alley? With everyone watching and taking pictures? Well let’s just say it got me for sure.
Now, when all the proposal frenzy had died (I told my mum and she was quite literally singing for two day straight), it was time for us to get down to planning. Seeing the whole marriage thing and what people usually go through, I was determined to make mine completely different. I got a reputable wedding planner and I was pretty sure that she had everything under lock.
Well, it wasn’t so. My mother decided to weigh in at basically every stop; she volunteered to get the gown, she wanted to arrange for her friend’s catering company to handle the food, etc. Basically, she relieved my wedding planner of her duties and took the whole burden of planning the wedding by herself. My mistake, however, was not siting her own and explaining the fact that this wedding was mine and I had the right to run it how I saw fit. Rather, I thought that since the woman was good at planning and organizing stuff, it was all in good hands.
As you can expect, all turned out not in good hands. Two months to the big day, I didn’t have a venue, the rings were not ready, and my wedding gown was still being amended to fit the specifications of my body. Basically, my wedding was a fiasco and it hadn’t even started already.
Eventually, my mother admitted defeat and we decided to get someone that was going to help with thee planning. I called the wedding planner I got before, but she was already booked for another wedding and her hands were pretty much full. I didn’t know what to do.
From then on, everything was on overdrive; I’d wake up early every morning to get things done, and I was travelling all around Lagos to get this done and to make sure that we had gotten that. Even my husband did his bit to help out and even though it cost us quite a lot, we were able to get the event put together and it all worked out.
From all these, what needs to be learned is that no matter how organized you might think you are, the input of a professional will definitely be needed. Yes, they’ll charge you; however, when you put the amount of stress you’d otherwise go through into consideration you’ll be more than happy to pull out your check book.
Image: Easy Marriage
Dahunsi Oyedele
