Last week, Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie shared never been seen pictures from her wedding on social media as she paid tribute to her late mother, Grace Ifeoma Adichie. London-based cake designer, Alice got engaged, and a wedding invite (written in pidgin English) went viral. Nigerian Pastor Paul Adefarasin and his wife, Pastor Ifeanyi Adefarasin celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary and Nollywood actors, Norbert Young and Gloria Young also celebrated their wedding anniversary. Here’s all the wedding news you missed last week.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s wedding photos. In a tribute to her late mother, the Nigerian writer shared photos from her wedding to her husband, Ivara Esege in 2019. She shared a picture of her parents walking her down the aisle and another of her first dance with her mother. In the post, Chimamanda also shared her thoughts on western wedding traditions and how they sideline the mother of the bride.
She wrote;
I have always felt that western wedding traditions sideline the mother of the bride — the father walks the bride down the aisle, the father has the first dance with the bride, often the father gives a speech while the mother doesn’t.
Our wedding, many years ago, was small and lovely, just as we wanted it. I asked family and friends not to post any photos publicly. I wanted privacy. But my need for privacy is now superceded by my desire to publicly honour the rare and wonderful woman I called my mother. And I hope this perhaps inspires any young women (and men) out there who are questioning any kind of convention.
Before the wedding, I decided that both my parents would walk me down the aisle. And I decided that my first dance would be with my mother. My father, who I often teasingly called DOS for “Defender of Spouse,” was very supportive. He wasn’t much of a dancer – I inherited his unrhythmic genes – but my mother was. And my mother’s joy on that day was a gorgeous glowing thing.
Convention is something made up by somebody and then repeated by others. If convention feels wrong for you, if your skin bristles and your spirit stalls at the thought of doing something “the way it is done,” then stop and act.
We can make changes. We can try and craft small slices of the life we want.
We can unmake convention to make things more just, more complete, more beautiful.
Not everyone will be happy with you, because it is human nature to try and conserve things as they are, but your spirit will feel full, and there is nothing more meaningful than knowing you have been true to yourself.
Alice is engaged! London based cake designer and founder of Cakealicious announced her engagement last week. She got engaged in Santorini, congratulations to the couple.
Are Pidgin English wedding invites back? Nigerian Twitter user ‘The BossLady’ shared a picture of her friend’s wedding invitation which was fully written in pidgin English. You’ll recall this wedding invite trend gained popularity in 2018 and was featured in our wedding trends report.
The Adefarasin’s are 26: The Senior Pastor of the House on the Rock Church, Pastor Paul Adefarasin and his wife, Pastor Ifeanyi Adefarasin celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary last week. Pastor Paul shared a lovely message to his wife, which he partly adapted from the popular hymn “Amazing Grace”
The Youngs are 19: Nollywood couple, Norbert Young and Gloria Young celebrated their 19th wedding anniversary last week
