What do you think of the Nigerian-Ghanaian wedding industry? Has it changed over the years and how?
Oh Gosh! I love love love!! that’s an industry which is growing so fast. I think I love the fashion aspect of it. It’s a killer point for me, the details are just everything. I love the fact that everyone is making an effort to give their all – every wedding they do, as a decorator, vendor, photographer. Everyone is going out there to SLAY! Everybody is making a statement in their own way. I love the fact that we all work together in one industry. You can’t even tell the difference as such, in blogs, if this is a Ghanaian or a Nigerian; it’s gradually becoming very similar. You have Ghanaian women getting married to Nigerian men and Nigerian men coming down to my country to marry the ladies there. It’s interesting for me. I like the future and the fact that it intertwines and I like the fact that there is this blend. Now Ghanaians rock a lot of Nigerian outfit – the Agbada, the Buba, the aboki hats, the gele. We like rocking our kénté quite alright but we like rocking the second outfit which I believe is a Nigerian thing that we have grown to adopt and we change into white outfits and typically not a coloured outfit. Since we are becoming one family, we are learning and I realize that brides change into a Nigerian style second outfit which I love to see and I love the idea. I think I’m one of the people who appreciate all the works of vendors, designers, makeup artists, etc. Nigerians are teaching us a lot I must say. We are learning because Ghanaians didn’t use to have a lot of make-up artists and all that; we weren’t too conscious about the finishing and the look but now we are because we are learning. I have a feeling that Nigerians are also learning from our details because I see a few of our traditional fabric used to create the set up, whenever I’m looking at your traditional setting and I really like that.
Above all, I love the cocktail; you know the one that looks like it’s boiling – dry ice. The cocktail oozes with a lot of smoke and you see the cocktail in the glass boiling. I find that so fascinating but above all the work of the photographer and videographer is what has helped everyone to recognize how beautiful weddings are. I enjoy watching Klala’s videos as well as those from Wedding TV, Lanre Esho, etc. speaking the culture of different tribes. I appreciate the fact that the videographer goes out to capture the essence of the event and the photographer captures the memories, the smiles, the emotions of the people and that is something that you can’t pay for. If you lose it, you can’t even reverse time to see that moment so I always say that if you have an event without a photographer it’s like a blind man walking with another blind man – there’s no future.
I want to ask something “what if all the bloggers were not in existence?” we wouldn’t have had anywhere to go, and seen what we see. We are eager in the morning to see what happened so much so that we wake up and go straight to our phones to check because the bloggers go out of their way to source all the beautiful material to put up for us to have a look. I think that is a lot of work that needs to be recognized and applauded and personally I have passion in seeing that beautiful things are featured. I realized that your blog page, your website, your gallery has all the features which doesn’t speak of one culture only and I noticed you capture all the essence of every event. You bring out the best in people through their works, through their photographs; you don’t just focus on the couple only. I see you post the children (ring bearer/little groom and little bride), the cake, the bridal details that people ignore and that’s what makes me come to your page. There was a time you posted a little bride on your page and that was what caught my attention and people hardly post the little bride. Nobody’s attention is on her, everyone’s attention is on the bride and the groom only. You like posting the bridesmaids’ attire which is also an inspiration that serves a great purpose for upcoming brides – they usually don’t know which colors to choose from but when they go on your page they are able to pick a few ideas and say “oh I love this color, I love this outfit, I love this design”. Also you don’t just post the picture, you post the designer marketing the person and helping the audience identify the maker and life becomes easier.
