Funke Bucknor-Obruthe, in this new episode of FunkeSays, discusses how to select your wedding theme using your decoration and also how to manage your budget. Funke, with the help of a special friend from Decor by Furtullah, showed an example of “The Great Gatsby” theme in Part 1 and focused only on table setting. They demonstrated with centerpieces, napkin rings and candles. According to them, you can focus on the table setting and not go all out to achieve your goal. Also, you don’t have to place an expensive centerpiece on all tables. You can have them on alternating tables.

In Part 2, they showed a different example – a romantic and musical decor. The decor includes hanging bubbles as part of the centerpiece, candles and transparent glass holders. A lot of pink and lavender used to make it romantic.

Watch both videos to learn more

Part 1 of 2

Part 2 of 2

About #FunkeSays
#FunkeSays is a vlog series from Funke Bucknor-Obruthe of Zapphaire Events and Decor by Furtullah. She is an esteemed event planner in Nigeria and author of “The Essential Bridal Handbook”. She shares information from her handbook via the series. To stay updated, follow @FunkeSaysvlog on Twitter.

Photo Credit: O’mide Photography

If you missed the first part of “How to Choose Your Service Providers – Entertainment and Audio Visual”, you can read or watch it here. In the second half, Funke shares her tips for selecting your wedding band/DJ, MC and screen/projector/livefeed service provider.

Tips for choosing your Band / DJ

1. Determine the kind of music (R&B, Oldies, Pop, Nigerian, etc.) you want to hear. It will help you research your wedding band or DJ.
2. Ensure you are comfortable with the Band or DJ.
3. Ask questions – How many people in the crew? Will they bring a generator? How many hours will they play for? Will they bring a PA (portable audio) system?
4. Provide your requests – Let them know the songs you want them to play at special moments. You should give them songs for different moments and don’t assume they know what to do.

Tips for choosing your Projector / Screen / Live Feed service provider

1. Ensure the screen is big and clear.
2. Ask questions – Will they bring their own sound? Will they get the sound from what already exists? How many people are in their crew? Ask if the videographer is providing the live feed or the people will providing it?

Tips for choosing your MC

Ask questions to ensure the MC has poise, can hold down the crowd, is entertaining (say a comedian), has a good command of English. In addition, find out – What time he/she will arrive? Is he/she time conscious?

Watch the video to hear a lot more!

About #FunkeSays
#FunkeSays is a vlog series from Funke Bucknor-Obruthe of Zapphaire Events and Decor by Furtullah. She is an esteemed event planner in Nigeria and author of “The Essential Bridal Handbook”. She shares information from her handbook via the series. To stay updated, follow @FunkeSaysvlog on Twitter.

Hope you follow the awesome vlog series from Funke Bucknor-Obruthe. In this new episode of FunkeSays, she enlightens us on how to choose the best entertainment and audio visual providers (photographers, videographers, sound crew, band, DJ, etc.). The vlog is broken into two. Part 1 centers on Audio Visual providers and Part 2 will be on Entertainment providers. We have focused on Part 1 in this post.

According to Funke, the steps to select your photographer are:

1. Research your photographer
2. Negotiate prices. Ensure you ask a lot of questions and understand what they will do.
3. Let the photographer know special moments you want captured
4. Determine the number of albums you will get. How many CDs or Albums? Also, will the pictures be on a blog or website?
5. Go with your gut feeling

To select your videographer, it is the same procedure for photographer. In addition, find out how many cameras, cranes, drones and who will cover the wedding.

When it comes to feeding your service providers, it is very important to know if you have to feed them.

Watch the great video to learn more

In the next episode, Funke will discuss Choosing Entertainment providers (i.e. Band and DJ). Stay connected!

About #FunkeSays
#FunkeSays is a vlog series from Funke Bucknor-Obruthe of Zapphaire Events and Decor by Furtullah. She is an esteemed event planner in Nigeria and author of “The Essential Bridal Handbook”. She shares information from her handbook via the series. To stay updated, follow @FunkeSaysvlog on Twitter.

This episode of #Funkesays focuses on choosing food vendors. It is very important that you select the right food vendors as a wedding without good food is a disaster. Also, mistakes can be made such that some guests are left without food or the food is served cold.

Here are things to consider when selecting your starter, main course and/or dessert vendors:

Selecting your canapes, starters or small chops vendor(s)

• A wedding in Nigeria must have small chops
• Find out if the vendor provides food tasting
• Will they provide the cutlery, etc.?
• How many waiters will be provided?
• Do you care about what the waiters wear? Perhaps you might want them to match your theme. If so, let them know on time.
• When is the setup time and the closing/departure time? Do they depart after the last guest departs? Do they leave all the food there for guests to still consume?
• When do you want the food to be served – at the beginning, during or towards the end?
• How many serving stations or food points will they have? Is it 2-point, 3-point, etc.?

Selecting your main course vendor(s)

• Same things as for the starter vendor(s) apply
• Have a food tasting
• Provide the vendor a variety of what you want
• Choose your menu according to your event, theme or culture.
• How many stations or food points? Is it adequate?
• Will they bring the cutlery, chargers, etc.?
• Are they going to bring champagne glasses, wine glasses and/or water glasses?
• How many waiters will they bring and how are waiters allocated to tables. Ideally a waiter to 2-3 tables?
• Is there a menu card so that people can tell the waiter(s) what to serve? It is important to have enough menu cards on the tables.
• Is it a plated service or buffet service? For buffet, guests get up for their food and for plated, guests remain seated while served.

Selecting your desserts vendor(s)

• Desserts can include waffles, sweet stations, yogurt and fruit desserts.
• How many waiters?
• What kind of desserts will be served?
• Are the items proportional to number of guests? Make sure desserts are enough to go round. Don’t anticipate that many guests will not want dessert.

It is important to communicate effectively. Provide the right date and time to get to the venue. Also, provide the time to serve the food. Sometimes a vendor might go to the venue on the wrong day. Clarify and document every single discussion. Make sure you planner follows up on all the details. If possible, follow up so many times to avoid any mistakes.

Watch the great video to learn more

About #FunkeSays
#FunkeSays is a vlog series from Funke Bucknor–Obruthe of Zapphaire Events and Decor by Furtullah. She is an esteemed event planner in Nigeria and author of “The Essential Bridal Handbook”. She shares information from her handbook via the series. To stay updated, follow @FunkeSaysvlog on Twitter.

Last time, Funke talked about how to plan a destination wedding. This latest episode of FunkeSays covers the topic of small and intimate wedding. You can either want a small and intimate wedding OR a big wedding. Having a small wedding is easier to plan but harder to achieve.

She shares the following practical tips to help accomplish your small wedding:

1. Be realistic with your goals e.g. number of guests, etc.
2. Communicate with your family members – make sure they buy into the idea
3. Design your dream list
4. Plan and set expectations e.g no additional guests or children.
5. Choose an unusual time of day or week to reduce guests and even cost.
6. Cut out non-close friends. Cut out co-workers who are not your friends outside the office. Have an A-list of people who must be at the wedding. Also have a B-list of people who really want to attend and you are not sure you want to invite them.
7. Divide guest list among your families and try to make it equal.
8. Send save-the-date invites to only those you want to invite.
9. Lastly, make the wedding fun and all about family and friends.

Watch the video to get more details

About #FunkeSays
#FunkeSays is a vlog series from Funke Bucknor–Obruthe of Zapphaire Events and Decor by Furtullah. She is an esteemed event planner in Nigeria and author of “The Essential Bridal Handbook”. She shares information from her handbook via the series. To stay updated, follow @FunkeSaysvlog on Twitter.

Are you considering a destination wedding? The latest episode of FunkeSays discusses how and why you should plan a destination wedding.

Here are some great reasons for a destination wedding:

• A destination wedding can be fun
• It can be small and intimate
• It can be cheaper given a smaller guest list
• It allows your family and friends to plan a mini vacation

She goes on to provide the following great factors to consider:

1. Location – Can your friends and family get their easily? Do they need visas and how easy can they get them? Is it a place people will want to go or have a mini vacation? What are the flight ticket costs?
2. Planner – You need to hire a planner either based in that location or from your home country. A planner in that location can get you great deals while a planner from your home country will relate best with your guests.
3. Travel – You need to arrange travel. It is important to work with airlines or travel agencies for group discounts. Also try to get great deals on hotels.
4. Insurance policy – What is covered if anything happens such as a hurricane.
5. Budget – Prepare a budget for the wedding
6. Communication – Timely Inform friends and family so they can plan ahead.
7. Legalities – You need to ensure you are covered on the legal side. License for wedding is valid. Check contracts with Vendors e.g. deposit and cancellation policies.
8. Hospitality – Ensure guests are extremely welcomed. Provide enough information and activities that will be fun.
9. The Wardrobe – You should consider the weather. Think about the following questions: How do you dress? What is the culture?

Watch the Video to hear from Funke

About #FunkeSays
#FunkeSays is a vlog series from Funke Bucknor–Obruthe of Zapphaire Events and Decor by Furtullah. She is an esteemed event planner in Nigeria and author of “The Essential Bridal Handbook”. She shares information from her handbook via the series. To stay updated, follow @FunkeSaysvlog on Twitter.

We are great fans of Funke Bucknor-Obruthe’s series and find her “Funke Says” vlog extremely valuable for brides and grooms. In previous episodes, she shared how to look fabulous for your big day, how to choose colours for weddings, etc. Now she tackles intercultural weddings – the sometimes confusing world of planning a wedding where the bride and groom are from different tribes, or even, countries!

Planning an intercultural wedding can seem difficult. Whose culture prevails? Where do the parents come in? How do you handle things that may be a taboo for one of the families? Who does what? How do you decide?

Here are some tips to help plan such a wedding:

1) Understand the culture – You need to seat down with the elders. Find out what things are considered taboos. Also, what do they like and not like. Ensure they have an open mind and are not judgmental.
2) Learn to compromise – For example, in Ibo culture, the groom pays for the wedding and in Yoruba culture, the bride pays for the wedding. So what happens when an Ibo groom is marrying a Yoruba bride. You can take aspects that you love and infuse into your wedding.
The same applies when marrying someone from a different country. It is very important that you are covered legally.
3) Choose your wardrobe – determine what you are going to wear, that is, your spouse’s cultural wear or yours. A bride could start with her cultural outfit and then change to her spouse’s cultural outfit to show that she has now embraced his culture.

Have an open mind and embrace the good and bad of a culture. No culture is perfect.

Watch the great video to learn more

Next episode, Funke will discuss Choosing Entertainment providers (i.e. Band and DJ). Stay connected

About #FunkeSays
#FunkeSays is a vlog series from Funke Bucknor–Obruthe of Zapphaire Events and Decor by Furtullah. She is an esteemed event planner in Nigeria and author of “The Essential Bridal Handbook”. She shares information from her handbook via the series. To stay updated, follow @FunkeSaysvlog on Twitter.

Are you thinking of your wedding colour theme? Funke Bucknor-Obruthe shares awesome tips to help you with the choice. According to her, choosing colours helps with picking outfits, decor, invitations, cake, etc. It is essential to pick the colours early. Here are various ways to choose:

1) Choose an accent colour – First, pick one strong colour e.g. red. Then, pick a neutral colour e.g. white, ivory, gold, silver.
2) Choose 2 different shades of colour – such as green and yellow, blue and red, etc.
3) Choose variations of the same colours – For example, you can have different shades of red. The mood light, flowers, center piece, napkin, etc. can all be different shades of red. Another example, you can decide to have white throughout including white decor.
4) Choose colour based on your personality – If you want bold, you can choose a colour like black. If you are conservative and also romantic, you can choose pale colours.
5) Choose colour based on the season – You can have an autumn or spring look.
6) Choose colour based on interest – Perhaps you love peacocks, sunflowers or the ocean. You can pick yellow for sunflower or blue for the ocean. You can have your bridal train wear variations of the colour(s) that you picked or some colour(s) that are completely different.
7) Choose colours based on trends You may love and want to pick colour(s) trending at the moment. Colours could be teal, yellow, salmon pink, etc.

Watch the great video to learn more

About #FunkeSays
#FunkeSays is a vlog series from Funke Bucknor-Obruthe of Zapphaire Events and Decor by Furtullah. She is an esteemed event planner in Nigeria and author of “The Essential Bridal Handbook”. She shares information from her handbook via the series. To stay updated, follow @FunkeSaysvlog on Twitter.

It is time for another great episode of FunkeSays. In this episode, Funke shares awesome tips to help you look fabulous on your wedding day. There are many ways to look fabulous but the focus for this episode is on hair and makeup.

She shares the following:

Tips for Makeup

1. Source for a professional make-up artist. Have an idea, get a trial and if possible take cloths for that day
2. Discuss what you want with the make-up artist
3. Drink a lot of water and eat healthily
4. Have facial weeks or months before. It helps your skin glow.

Tips for Hair

1. Source for a good hairstylist.
2. Find a style that complements your face.
3. Consider the accessories (veil, tiara, etc) you are going to wear.
4. Have a test run with the hairstylist and decide when to style your hair.

Tip for the Day Before
Relax and Sleep early

Tip for the Morning Of
Wake up early so you have enough time for pictures. You are relaxed and not rushed.

Watch the great video to learn more

Next episode, Funke will discuss Choosing Entertainment providers (i.e. Band and DJ). Stay connected!

About #FunkeSays
#FunkeSays is a vlog series from Funke Bucknor–Obruthe of Zapphaire Events and Decor by Furtullah. She is an esteemed event planner in Nigeria and author of “The Essential Bridal Handbook”. She shares information from her handbook via the series. To stay updated, follow @FunkeSaysvlog on Twitter.

Now you are engaged and have your planner, it is time to create your wedding budget. Neither planning a wedding nor setting a budget is not easy.

Following the previous episode How to Compromise When Your Parents Pay, Funke Bucknor-Obruthe shares great tips on How to Make Your Wedding Budget in this episode of FunkeSays.

According to her, you have to:

1. Decide how many people you are expecting at your wedding. The more people you expect, the more expensive it is.
2. Determine what kind of budget you want to have. A higher budget provides more flexibility and you can incorporate different items to your wedding.
3. Create a budget estimate and ensure it is a little bit high and not low where you can’t even do anything.
4. Talk to a few vendors to determine how much they charge. You can then have a better estimate for the cost for a vendor.
5. Prioritize the various aspects such as invitation, photo, food, dress and then allocate the budget.

Ultimately, your wedding is all about YOU.

Watch to learn more

About #FunkeSays
#FunkeSays is a vlog series from Funke Bucknor–Obruthe of Zapphaire Events and Decor by Furtullah. She is an esteemed event planner in Nigeria and author of “The Essential Bridal Handbook”. She shares information from her handbook via the series. To stay updated, follow @FunkeSaysvlog on Twitter.