The Traditional Nigerian Engagement of Bukola and Francis

27 Miracles started their day bright and early at 5am making the commute to the beautiful Lake Mary Event Center where at 7am the place would be buzzing with vendors ready to start the festivities for Bukola and Francis! Bukola and Francis are from out-of-state but they chose Florida to marry as this is home of Bukola’s father. In Nigeria, the tradition is to have the daughter marry in the village where her father resides. In this instance Florida.

This will be the king chairs where the bride and groom will sit! Thank you to Pinky from Nikun Events and Orlando DJ and Lighting for the backdrop and lighting. The family brought different gift items that signify many things for instance honey for sweetness in the marriage and salt to be the seasoning of the marriage and the world. The Nigerian wedding ceremony is everyone in the family coming together to financially and spiritually support the couple. In lieu of gifts the families supply cash to the couple to help them get started in life. You will see those pictures later on.

Orijanel Hair and Make up started to work on Bukola for her special wedding engagement ceremony that would be taking place.

Everything was coming together preparation wise for Bukola. As she got her head-dress on she took advantage of the quiet morning to take a phone call!

Bukola selected the coral colors for her engagement ceremony as you see in the shoes, fan and purse with traditional gold jewelery to match.

One of the brides friends came to help her with her head-dress so that she was perfect for Frances when he finally would get his bride!

Finally our bride to be is ready to await her grand entrance to the ceremony but while she waited she had some time to pose for some pictures.

The bride’s sister Lolly, looks on as Bukola, her baby sister and the last of the girls, is about to embark on a life time journey called marriage. Lolly was so supportive to Bukola, her and wedding planner Rosie Moore of 27 Miracles were the ones that planned this beautiful wedding together along with Bukola. She was a great maid of honor!

Bukola and Frances Engagement 067 The Ladies are ready for the festivities to start!!! And now it is time for the traditional ceremony to begin. If you have never been to a Nigerian wedding before you will learn after you read this story all the details involved.

The ceremony begins with the reading of the proposal letter from the groom’s family. This proposal letter is presented to the mother of the bride who dances around to present it to the family and her husband. The ceremony starts with a Nigerian spokeswoman that directs the ceremony.

Frances’ family comes in playing the drums and singing as he meets the bride’s family seated below.

The Bride’s father accepts the money that the groom’s family starts to pay out.

So starts the reading for the acceptance of the engagement. Usually read by a member of the Bride;s family.

The Groom’s family below looks on proudly!

Once the Bride’s Family reads the acceptance letter, the groom enters
the room escorted by the men in his family to ask for the bride’s hand
in marriage

If a favorable reply is sent to the grooms family, the groom then comes in with his friends. As the groom enters the room, he drops some money in the room that will help the bride’s family.

The spokeswoman starts to explain to the men and the groom what the next step is.

The groom then kneels before the bride’s family to beg for her hand in marriage along with his male friends.

The groom awaits the bride with anticipation!

And now the moment everyone has been waiting for!!! The bride is coming!! The spokeswoman prays for the bride’s entrance as the guests await her entrance.

The bride gets the final touches before her grand entrance.

Singing the bride in!!!

Here comes the bride with her friends!

The groom’s first look of the bride…

The bride’s entrance!

Once the bride enters with her female friends and is covered with a veil.She goes to her mom and is unveiled and this is where a prayer is said for her.

It is a very emotional time. The veil is placed back on the bride by the mother. At that point she will seek prayers from the groom’s family. It is a very emotional moment for the bride and her family as well as the guests.

The Groom’s family looks on as they get ready to receive the bride to be.

The bride is ready to meet the groom’s family

The mother of the groom wipes a tear with the bride’s hand-made veil…

The bride is accepted by the family of the groom..

Now Bukola is welcomed into the family of Francis and is their new daughter to be…

The happy bride to be…

Meeting the groom….

The groom showers his bride to be in dollars….

The groom accepts the bride and carries his bride to be to her chair so that he starts to take care of her from this moment…

The Bride has a special gift for the groom, a matching head-dress…

Praying together…

The Maid of Honor, sister of the bride, shares some words of wisdom for the happy couple.

The Bride to be looks on to see what the special gift Francis her groom has for her…

Bukola’s family gifts are yellow with accents Francis’ Gifts are Blue
They are not opened there. Bukola will select the Bible, that has the
engagement ring tied to it.

They are officially engaged!!

The happy Bride to be shows off her beautiful emerald ring …

As the groom shows his affection to his bride to be..

It is now time to cut the cake and feed it to each other. It is a tradition where they each feed it to each other, including the drink and wiping the person’s mouth. It is symbolic of how the husband and wife have to take care of each other.