ETP Talks: My Wedding Party!

At long last – we had our church wedding and wedding party and I enjoyed every. Single. Second!! We held the wedding party a year after our court wedding so our anniversary remains the same haha, and before I get into the post I have to especially thank our photographer Nelson Niteh and videographer Dellali Defor for honoring our payments from last year – for those that don’t know, we were forced to cancel our wedding a few weeks before the day. Going by the contracts we had agreed to, our payments were meant to have been forfeited but Nelson and Dellali had been carried along with all the painful drama we had experienced at the time and so kindly offered to provide their services when we were ready. This was such a relief and we are incredibly grateful for their care and concern – book them for your events guys!

So let’s get into it! We got married on Thursday 7th of September (yes a weekday, it was a compromise with Nelson and Dellali so they could still book weddings on the weekend) in our home church, new generation church! I say home because it truly has become such a safe place for us, we were received with a love that’s so genuine and generous. We’ve been members since shortly after we moved to Nottingham and I’m so grateful to have found it. Being a 2 minute drive from our home, we were able to get dressed at home and turn up to the all-in-one wedding venue for both the service and the reception, which made things really seamless!

The church set up (vendor list at the bottom of the post)

The reception in the church’s adjoining hall, loved the set up so much

Before I carry on – Let’s rewind back to the day before when we: myself, Samuel, Joyce, Perdita, Alex, Omowunmi, and Halima set up the entire hall alongside the two decorators! Our bishop was on hand too and provided extra chairs and tables at no added cost – God bless him!! This whole hall was put together by us and I’m so so grateful for my tribe honestly, coming round the day before to help with prep was so necessary- thank you guys!!

Every single chair cover, each piece of cutlery – my people did this!!

Non-alcoholic wine but the whole event was lit! Love itt

Back to the wedding day – while I and my bridesmaids were getting glammed up at our house, my brother Isaac, Michael (who was also our MC!) and Efosa our sure guy were sorting out the drinks and ice boxes at the hall – God bless you guys mennn!

Over at our house the girlies were glammed up and we had our bride reveal shoot in our garden 🙂

Waiting for Nelson & Dellali to give the signal to turn around haha

Their energy all day was amazing – we were up since 4.30am 

How blessed am I to have friends that are beautiful inside and out ❤️

Everyone got along so well too – none of that drama around here! So grateful – I shared roles a few weeks before and each of them delivered

There was a time when opening my wedding planner would give me anxiety; I had been using it to plan whilst my former church had kicked us out of the marriage process – because my parents had insisted that I got married at the church and believed the church would change their mind – they didn’t. When we finally decided to have the wedding at our new church, it took a lot of courage to pick this book back up, due to the reminders of the pain, the tear-stained pages…but I’m so glad I did. Being able to actualise the plans without any external hindrances was such a blessing.

Rebecca did magic with my hair! Absolutely loved the style

My wedding dress was designed by me and brought to life by my long term fashion designer Esther of Made By Needle Queen! The process to making it was tedious, lots of video calls since she made it without taking my measurements (I trust her a lot) but she delivered!

However I intentionally lost 22kg between when she made the dress for my original wedding date and the day I actually wore it – so my darling Kemi who lives nearby helped me to resize it and my reception dress – free of charge! An actual angel!!

Anu!! My friend that took her role as wedding coordinator so seriously people thought she was a hired professional! Kept us moving along schedule, took over my instagram and provided live updates on my stories, recorded, collated and uploaded TikToks and reels in real time – what did Anu not do? My gratitude for this babe knows no bounds!

Getting glammed up in our dressing room at home was really nice; so grateful to God for His provision

Was the last person in the nail shop the night before; was so busy setting up the hall I almost didn’t make it – grateful my girls made me drop the decor and go to the salon lol

Just before I got dressed! Really enjoyed this beautiful robe that Perdita got me last year, it felt good to finally get to wear it

My beautiful sister Joyce and her self-portrait – when the beauty deserves being immortalized!!

My sis-in-love Lowellyn and my Niece Kyara (1 of my beautiful flower girls!) Low got fantastic behind the scene photos and supported with Content creation – she’s an angel truly

So let’s head back over to the church where Samuel and his groomsmen were waiting – we kept the tradition of the groom not seeing the bride on the wedding day until they meet at the altar – Samuel thought it was silly but he indulged me nonetheless – that’s true love haha

Samuel and his best man Simpson! His home is 5 hours away and he came with his family the night before and provided all the support we needed to pull the event together – super grateful to him!

Samuel and his groomsmen – can you guess the three that are doing GP training, who’s doing a surgical training or women’s health training?

A moment for all our dresses!! Made by the fantastic Esther of Made by NeedleQueen

Whilst we stood outside the church, people that were driving by kept blaring their horns, shouting “congratulations” and saying how much they loved my dress – it was giving main character vibes and I loved it for me haha

Bending to greet my elders as they entered the church – a Yoruba babe through and through haha

Shout out to Modupe for opting for comfortable footwear! A wise woman I Stan

As at 12.30pm when we started (scheduled time was 12pm) the church was full!! All our guests came on time and happily sat in the church – I was so grateful – majority of our guests traveled from hours away, some slept over the night before – all so they could make it on time. Thank you so much for your love ❤️

Our amazing Bishop Sean Samuel; his message was so powerful and succinct – the entire ceremony lasted 45 minutes and his sermon had everyone engaged all the way through – plus he made us kiss three times haha

The church’s media team were on job with displaying our photos on the screens 🙂

Omowunmi and Biola opened the bridal party’s entrance

Then our flower girls Kyara and Melody (assisted by mama Low) did their job so smoothly!

Temi The Bridge’s response to seeing me is one for the books! Thank you for sharing in our joy 🙂

Bolatito’s facial expression at my entry is too good to miss – my babe through and through haha

My siblings walked me down the aisle in the absence of our parents. I was so happy to have them both there; it was a symbol of how we’ve always stood by each other over the course of our lives – I love them with every fiber of my being.

It was a pity that my parents decided to be absent on our wedding day; stating that they thought it was unnecessary since we had already done the court wedding the year before. Nonetheless, they prayed with me on the morning of the ceremony which was their idea of a compromise. I decided to focus on all the love being poured out by the rest of my huge family and fantastic friends instead that day, and I’m so glad I did!