Nigerians may not know how to generate 24/7 electricity, but one thing we know how to do is party. Over the years, Nigerian weddings have only gotten louder, grander, and more over-the-top, but with every year comes a new trend, and not all of them are worth keeping.
So, Zikoko asked six Nigerians to share the wedding trends they think should be retired immediately and not a minute sooner.
“If I ever see a gorilla dancing at an after party again…” — Derin* (28)
I don’t know who started that trend of someone in a gorilla suit coming to dance at wedding after parties, but if I see one more gorilla dancing legwork to Asake, I’m going to lose it. Aside from the fact that it’s visually jarring, I also think it ruins the intimate vibe of a wedding and makes it seem more like a rowdy club. It needs to go.
“Those ridiculous wedding hashtags need to stop.” — Fola* (32)
At the risk of sounding like a hater, wedding hashtags these days are leaving the aesthetic behind to become downright ridiculous. When it first started, a wedding hashtag would be something like #ShAde2022 or #TiwAdeForever. Now, you’ll open wedding invitations and see #Tinu&AdeMergeInOneLove2025. Can everybody be serious? Please, let’s keep the hashtags short and sweet.
“Bachelor’s Eve/ Bachelorette’s a day before any important wedding events” — Peace* (26)
The trend of having the bachelor’s eve the day before the wedding needs to be scrapped. We almost missed my brother’s wedding because we had his bachelor’s party the night before. Having an all-night celebration right before a wedding day packed with activity is not practical. There’s no crime in spacing these things out.
“We need to end corset culture!” — Fade* (25)
When I was younger, I remember older women wearing simple, loose traditional clothing — like iro and buba— to weddings. The hidden benefit of that style of clothing is that at the reception, when you’ve eaten your fill, you can simply loosen the wrapper and carry on with your day, but with corsets, you won’t even be able to enjoy the small chops before the corset boning stops your enjoyment. Speak less of saving room for dessert. I believe the corset agenda was created to stop the baddies, like me, from enjoying wedding food, and we must fight back. No more corsets!
“We need to ban unfunny MCs” — Deja* (28)
Master of Ceremonies are meant to be very charismatic hosts who move the events of the day along. These days, a lot of these “hosts” think they’re comedians and they make the most upsetting, out-of-line jokes that can ruin the vibe of a wedding party. When I get married, I will screen whoever my MC will be. If you’re not an actual comedian, please keep the jokes for your group chat.
“Aso ebi that costs the same as my rent is not the move.” — Biola* (26)
The price of aso ebi these days needs to be laughed at and abolished immediately. It’s one thing for the aso ebi to be expensive, but a lot of the time, the material isn’t even high quality enough to justify the price. Beads and sequins fall off, dyes stain your skin and the cloth loses half its vibrancy after one wash. Please let’s keep the aso ebi prices demure so we can continue to afford to attend weddings. Aso ebi that costs the same as my rent is not working for me.
“Stop asking strangers to be on your train.” — David* (30)
I think it’s so strange when people ask acquaintances or strangers to be on their train. I’ve had multiple grooms-to-be randomly ask me to be their best man or be on their groom’s train, and we barely knew each other. One had barely spoken to me before, besides a passing nod at work.
He said his wife asked him to find tall, good looking people for his train so that the photos could come out nice. I asked him if he had asked any of his friends and he said no, because they’re not tall enough. I think people should focus more on the relationships they’ve built and what weddings are really about rather than on just the aesthetics of the ceremony.
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