Ashlyn's roommate in medical school invited us to her wedding. Both she and her fiance were Nigerian, so we were honored to be guests of their special celebration.
It was two days of equisitely decorated events! The first night was their traditional African celebration where the families were formally introduced. Towards the end of the night, the engaged couple entered two separate times in different outfits and sat on the stage to watch their family member and guests dance.
Take a look at this program. It said everything begins at 7pm. Well, we were among the few guests that sat around for 2 hours until around 9pm when the majority of guests began to arrive.
Ashlyn had a special role to play throughout the evening. Alex's aunt saved the day when she hand sewed this dress in 48 hours!
During the bride's first outing, Ashlyn and about 30 other girls in orange encirled the dance floor while the bride and her bridesmaids danced in the middle.
The next day was the Catholic ceremony in a church with the traditional American celebration. As in the first night, no expense was spared, including the mocktail bar. So cool!
The couple again made several entrances throughout the night with different changes of outfits.
Instead of bringing gifts, it's cusomary to bring lots of cash to sprinkle on the couple as they dance. After each dance, the floor is swept and all the cash given to the newlyweds. Eric and I had fun throwing dollar bills at them. It was tough to get close, though. With over 600 guests, the dance floor was crazy full!
This was my best close-up picture of the couple. Many blessings to Cindy and Nambdi!
