Who else wants to see what a 500k Naira wedding budget looks like? Our readers have been asking to see samples and examples of Nigerian wedding budget. So, in this post, I’ll show you how expenses from a wedding organized with less than N500k budget? This is part 1 on the series in which I show you examples of budgets from small, low-cost Nigerian weddings.
You will get to see the different expense items that made up the total wedding cost, as well as how the money was spent – based on the number of guests that attended, the type of reception venue used and the ways costs were saved during the wedding planning.
Hopefully, seeing this sample real-life wedding spending will give you an idea on how to plan your own wedding in Nigeria with N500k (Five Hundred Thousand Naira) budget or slightly less (if that’s the budget you’re working with).
Total cost of the wedding: N485,400.00 (slightly over N400k) | Number of guests in attendance: 50
Now, the Details of this Under N500k Nigerian Wedding
Here’s the summary of this low cost Nigerian wedding:
- Bride + Groom Expenses N114,500.00
- Stationery + Souvenirs N35,000.00
- Venue + Decor N60,000.00
- Food + Drinks N135,000.00
- Entertainment + Visuals N60,000.00
Related: How to make your wedding budget (easy steps)
Below is the breakdown budget of the under N500k Nigerian wedding:
Wedding Attire for Bride & Groom
- Wedding rings (bride + groom) – gold or gold plated (GL) N15,000.00
- Borrow/ rent a used or pre-owned wedding gown, bouquet, veil N20,000.00
- Bride’s shoes N7,500.00
- Bridal Accessories: earrings, necklace, etc N10,000.00
- Bridal beauty: Hair/ Nails/ Makeup N15,000.00
- Groom’s Shoes N15,000.00
- Groom’s wedding suit N15,000.00
- Groom’s Accessories (e.g cuff links, belt, flower boutonniere/ pocket handkerchief) N15,000.00
- Groom’s Grooming (e.g haircut, beard shaving) N2,000.00
Stationery & Souvenirs
- Invitation cards & program printing N10,000.00 (To save cost, most guests were invited via Whatsapp messaging and sms, and so not many invitation cards were printed).
- Souvenirs to gift guests N25,000.00
Reception Venue & Decoration
- Venue (space is a free backyard) N0.00
- Venue rentals (canopy tents, chairs, etc) N50,000.00
- Decoration: venue decor, bride n groom’s cars N10,000.00
Reception Food & Drinks
- Wedding Cake (caterer costed this at N300/ piece for each guest) N15,000.00
- Food (at (N2,000/ serving) N100,000.00
- Drinks/ Juice/ Water (at N400/ guest) N20,000.00
Reception Entertainment & Visuals
- Photography (No videos; only photos) N40,000.00
- Master of Ceremony (MC) – done by a friend/ family member N0.00
- DJ only (no music band) N20,000.00
Miscellaneous N80,900.00
*Miscellaneous fund is calculated as 20% of entire wedding estimate above. (anything else or just-in-case of emergency).
MORE WEDDING BUDGET SAMPLES YOU SHOULD SEE:
- See N700k Wedding Budget Sample
- N1m Wedding Budget Sample
- Wedding Budget Breakdowns from 6 Other Couples
- 300-Guest Wedding Budget Samples from 3 Couples
How They Saved Cost in their N1m Wedding Budget
Here’s how this couple saved costs on vendor services while planning this small, low budget wedding:
- The wedding ceremony was at the court registry early in the morning with less than 20 close buddies, and the reception was in the afternoon
- The reception venue was the backyard of one of the couple’s parents
- The wedding guest list consisted of only close friends and family members
- The couple rented whatever they could, instead of buying new ones: the bride rented her wedding gown and bouquet
- They also asked friends and family to assist where necessary, instead of paying hired wedding vendors: the MC was a friend,
- The couple excluded some things, to reduce costs: they only paid for a photographer’s service and excluded video coverage; they hired a DJ and didn’t bother to hire a music band; they didn’t bother with venue decoration, they simply used their table-cloths borrowed from parents and close friends;
Disclaimer: The above example wedding budget is only but a guide, and should not be used “just as it is” – feel free to customize, reduce from it or add to it, it to suit your particular situation. The wedding cost saving tips in this post will be helpful.
NOTE: The wedding with this example budget took place in Nigeria and their budget breakdown reflects the cost of items in the Nigerian market at the time. Also note that the cost of wedding things in big stores, cities and high-brow neighborhoods are higher than in smaller Nigerian cities.
The above budgets exclude wedding planning services, not because they are unnecessary, but this article is especially for couples who are planning their wedding with the help of their family and friends in place of a wedding planner. We, here at NaijaGlamWedding, highly recommend using a wedding planner if you’re very busy and don’t have close friends or relatives to help with planning activities. So, please add the cost of hiring a wedding planner to your budget, if you think you need one.
Update: The initial sample budget on this page was a N500k wedding that had 100 guests. It is no longer feasible to host that amount of guests at that cost, given the high increase in cost of everything, and so the sample wedding budget above has been updated to reflect the current reality.
Related Articles:
- 9 Simple Steps to Cut Wedding Cost and Still Have Quality
- Save Wedding Costs: 9 Smart Ideas for Planning a Low Budget Nigerian Wedding.
- Yoruba Traditional Engagement List and Bride Price
- Igbo Traditional Marriage List and Bride Price
- Edo (Eshan) Traditional Engagement List
Why You Shouldn’t Be Ashamed of Having a Low-Cost or Small Wedding
Some couples consider a N500k wedding budget as small, and some brides are ashamed to say that they are having a small wedding. That’s wrong because with Nigerian weddings size no longer matters. Think about wealthy Nigerian celebrities having small weddings.
There’s nothing to be ashamed of small weddings. What really matters is the quality of your wedding, and how well-planned your guests perceive it. a small wedding that had guests all well wed, in a non-stuffy venue and served good music is better than a shabby big wedding.
Small weddings are classy when properly planned. Recently, there’s the growing trend on small, intimate weddings in Nigeria, celebrities who have small intimate weddings include: singer, Simi and Adekunle Gold, Tuface and Annie Idibia, Nollywood actress Stephanie Okereke, and the list goes on and on. On-air personality, Toke Makinwa had a secret, small intimate wedding.
Nollywood actress, Stephanie Okereke also had a low-key (but expensive) wedding. Nigerian musician, Tiwa Savage, had her low-key wedding in Dubai And, there are lots of other Nigerian celebrities that had such weddings, And every day, we are seeing more Nigerians go for small, intimate weddings.
Conclusion: Your N1m Wedding Budget Sample
I hope this sample budget has given you insights on how to go about planning your own N500k wedding. I expect you to tweak this sample budget to suit your taste and priority. Go out and do a market research, talk to potential vendors and get the price of wedding items and services in your area, and then plug it in. The idea for this post is just to give you a guide and starting point.
So, now you have an idea about how to organize a low-cost Nigerian wedding with less than N500k, using the sample budget above? What would you add or remove, assuming you have about or below N500k budget to spend on your own Nigerian wedding? Tell me in the comments box below.
Kikelomo says
hi Stella
am planning to have my wedding ceremony May.
but it both introduction and traditional, the same day,me and my husb is making a budget of 500k
so pls my question is can we do both the intro/ trdtnl together? and how can we go about the budget
Stella Anokam says
Hello Kike, welcome here. Here’s my response to you:
-Yes, a N500k budget can cover both an Introduction ceremony and the Traditional wedding *on the condition* that you keep your number of guests small so that your budget will be enough to cover food, drinks and a decent/ affordable venue.
-Budget Splitting/ Allocation: Use pen and paper to divide your N500k into the major things you will spend on (e.g. Food/ drinks, outfits, venue, etc.). Click here to see the full list of usual expenses at Nigerian weddings.
**You can go to our Free Automatic Wedding Budget Calculator, type in your budget amount (500000) and it will show you a Budget Allocation/ Split. Feel free to change the numbers up to suit you.
-Catering Budget: First decide on how much of your catering budget, out of your N500k you want to allocate to food and drinks and then find a caterer. Ask the caterer how much they charge per plate of food and drink per guest. With that, you should know how many people your Catering budget can feed.
-Venue: Based on your wedding budget split/ allocation, you should know how much you want to spend on a venue. Look for venues within that range.
-Next, make a wedding Checklist/ To-Do List to keep you organized step by step, as you plan from now till May. You can make your Wedding Checklist from scratch or use our ready-made 3 Months Planning Checklist.
The checklist is your ROADMAP that directs you on how to go about your wedding planning. It will list out what and what should be done, and ehen.
RECAP: Split your budget and allocate amounts to different things before you spend a kobo. To ensure that you don’t overspend, ensure to invite the number of guests that your total allocated catering (food and drinks) budget can fund. Similarly, use your allocated Venue Budget to guide you when you look for venues.
To be sure that you find a good venue, you need to inspect the insides and look out that the venue has certain things in place – some are non-negotiable if you want the best. I compiled a Wedding Venue Checklist that you can use.
Finally, have a Wedding Planning Checklist to be sure you don’t forget anything.
Hope that helps. Happy planning!
I love your post. It really helpful, well detailed and fully explanatory. My wedding is coming up this year but I don’t know if 500k would still be enough to plan for traditional and white wedding with the cost of things going up at this moment. Please help to breakdown the budget to fit in at this moment.
Hello Ola. I’m glad that my explanation was of help to you. Here’s my reply to your questions:
-With fewer number of guests, it is still possible to have a N500k wedding today in Nigeria. You just have to decide on how much of that N500k you want to spend on food and drinks, and then ask your Caterer how many people that amount of money can feed (based on their per-plate price).
-See your breakdown below:
Catering (food and drinks): N190,000
Venue, decoration: N100,000
Wedding rings, couple’s outfits & makeup/ hair: N85,000
Souvenirs: N25,000 (*You may decide to skip souvenir and use the money here to add to Couple’s outfit expenses).
Photography, MC, DJ: N100,000
*Anyone can get their automatic budget breakdown from our Wedding Budget Calculator page here. It’s free and you only need to type in your budget amount to see the breakdown. That’s the page I now send people to when they ask for breakdowns.
Why a N500k wedding is still possible today: The cost per-plate of party food and drinks has more than doubled and so with N500k today, you cannot invite as much number of guests as someone who had a N500k wedding last year or the year before.
N500k is still enough for a wedding today, ONLY IF you have few guests. With this budget, you cannot afford to feed many guests. Last year, the per-plate party food that was N1,500 costs about N3,000 today. Therefore, if a N500k wedding allows you to spend N200k on food and drinks. With that amount last year, you could invite 133 guests (133 x N1,500 per plate = N199,500. Today, with that same amount for wedding food and drinks, and per-plate price of N3,000, you can invite 67 guests.
Hope that helps. have fun wedding-planning!
Good evening…I am so glad to be part of this platform to get update because as it is now Ehnn…the cost of things is becoming unbearable..I was planning wedding jeje oooo before the issue of fuel.
I was planning a low budget wedding with sun of 500k.My won is from Esan,Edo and I am Yoruba but parents based at Warri.
Thanks, Adhie. I feel you ooo. The cost of everything is on the roof. Some couples are forced to go looking for extra money to have the size of the wedding they planned for. For those who are sticking to their initial budget, the way out is to down-size the guest number (to keep the food and drinks cost in check) and scale down one’s taste from grand to affordable but still classy.
We have a lot of tips and planning ideas to help couples plan a low budget and smaller weddings that does not scream ‘low budget’.
Budget-savvy brides will survive. My dear, enjoy your planning!
Please can you make a post about having a “PARLOR” traditional wedding.
I keep hearing this statement and I cannot find anything online about it.
I am from Oron, Akwa-Ibom state, (if that info is important).
But I think this should go for everyone from the south/east and even west.
Hello Victoria, thanks for that suggestion. I have mentioned it in some posts and had thought of writing a post on it but not sure whether many people are interested in reading about it. Now that you brought it up, I’ll keep it in our list of topics to write on. If you’re subscribed to our newsletters, you’ll be notified once it is published. Thanks.
Hi Thank you for this information. How can I get a decorator that will accept as low as 10k or even 20k
as stated in your breakdown for venue, car decoration in Abuja?
Hello Esther, you’re welcome. The easiest and the best way I always recommend is to ask at a church near your wedding location. It doesn’t matter if you’re not their member – just ask to talk to anyone in their decoration unit, and then ask that person to link you up with about 3 of their best decor persons. Most of them do outside jobs, including weddings, and some do venue decoration as a full-time job. That’s my suggestion.
*NOTE that decorators in big cities may be more expensive. Just bring out some time to ask around, I am sure you will find one within that range.
Am glad i stumbled on this article, it has really open my eyes to lots of things, my wedding is in 1st week of December and my fiance and I want a small low budget wedding with few guests of less than 100 if possible 70 quests, we are starting the arrangement early so we will be able to cover lots of budgets with our monthly salary before the d day, we plan to do everything on same day both trad and white wedding and we plan to make IV of just 50 pieces, we dont have a particular budget of amount for the wedding we just want to make the arrangement according to what our budget can cover. Is it ok like that or is it necessary to have a particular amount of budget? i wil be waiting ur reply.
the first one has a wrong email
Hello Ann. I, too, am happy you found our article helpful. I like how you’re going about your wedding spendings – you seem very organized, so keep it up. I advise that you budget for the remaining wedding things first, before spending on them – itemize what’s remaining and then put costs to them. See why I say so below:
Let me start with your first question:
-You said you don’t have a budget, but want to prepare for what your BUDGET can cover: What BUDGET did you mention that you’re looking to cover?
– The reason why it is advisable to make a budget first is so that you will not overspend, or run out of money close to the wedding and still have things not yet taken care of. Some couples get stuck close to their weddings, and have to shift the date to meet up. >Making a budget helps you to be in check.
>>Another reason why we advise to budget a specific amount for your wedding is that we don’t want couples spending more on wedding than necessary and starting their marriage broke. You want to also leave some money for the start of your marriage life – because wedding is only one day and marriage is a lifetime. >>We have seen many marriages that ended soon because there was always money troubles, even tough they spent so much for the wedding.
>>Your wedding budget making will be easy because you already know how many guests you want, and so can find out price of things (food, drinks, venue for 70 to 100, etc.) for that number of guests.
>>Most women do not leave the house to the market without making a shopping list and putting prices on items and totalling, and finally getting the cash amount equivalent to their list. That is SHOPPING BUDGET. It’s the same with weddings – you make a wedding expense list, set your budget before making spendings.
-Since you started without a budget, it’s not late to still make a budget for the remaining things you have not spent on. That will help you better spread your money on wedding things, as well as prioritize.
>>Do you do your market shopping without budgeting (making list and putting items prices)? If you don’t, why do differently with your wedding? Imagine going to the market without a list, without a budget, and tells the meat seller to cut up some meat for you – only for you to realize your purse is empty of more money? It’s like flying blind. Hope you understand?
>>You want to be SURE, not guessing, that you have enough money for the remaining things. You also don’t want to be under pressure close to the D-day. That’s why making a budget is a good idea.
– From your explanation, you’re on the right path. Starting with a specific guest count is the best way we advice, as it makes it clear how much is needed in every area. I like that you’re starting early to pay off your wedding expenses from your monthly salaries.
In summary, make a budget for what’s left. You can do the easy way – make a list of things and price them, add costs. After adding up, see what and what that needs reducing…
Hope that helps.
Thanks a lot for this. It has really been helpful. I am planning my wedding for next year and I have 500k. I will like to know if this is still possible to have such a low budget wedding considering the current economic situation Nigeria. Pls help me out.
Hello Imole, welcome here. Yes, it is still possible BUT you need to stick to a few rules:
-Keep the invite-list small, so that you do not have more people than the food you provided OR low quality food for plenty, just because you want to have crowd.
-Do not place order for the invitation card, until you determine how many guests your budget can feed (next steps will show you how).
-Make a list of what you will spend on, and then start by getting prices for fixed costs like photography/ video coverage, MC, DJ/ Music Band. These ones have fixed price, no matter the number of guests. >Total up those prices and subtract from your 500k, and the balance is what you have for food, drinks, venue, outfits and the rest.
– Next, decide on what do you want to be more memorable on that day – between the food/ drinks and your outfits. Your answer will determine the next set of things to spend on.
– Food and Drinks: Let your food budget tell you how many guests to invite. Do not randomly fix a number for how many guests to have on that day. After blocking out money for the above-listed and maybe allocating an amount for your outfits, use your change (remaining money out of your 500k budget) as FOOD and DRINKS budget.
HIRING CATERERS? One way is to shop for event caterers and find out their prices/ quotes. Some of them do so by cost per plate of food. That should give you an idea of how many people / number of food-plates your remaining budget can carter for. THAT is the number of guests to plan for, and do invitation cards for). >You should have blocked out some money (out of the food budget) for the drinks.
-CRASH-PROOF your wedding day: You want your guests to eat and enjoy what you provided, and not strangers, right? Make it invite-only OR find a venue not close to your house. That is the only way to ensure that your guests would not have to struggle for food with wedding-crashers (which is a sign of low-quality wedding). While you may not have an entirely crash-proof wedding, but that tip will significantly lower it.
Dear Stella, good job u are doing. God bless u. please what durable items and how cheap can I be buying them before the D day so it won’t be that day I will be hasty to get them?
Thanks, Oluwasola. I’m happy to know you like this article.
Some of the things to purchase in advance, before your wedding day, include:
-Wedding fashion, that is your outfits, shoes, accessories (wedding dress, groom’s suit; trad wedding fabric and sewing it – if traditional wedding is also in the plans). >Don’t get them too far ahead o, so that you do not get fat and the dresses won’t fit again 🙂
– Your bridesmaids/ aso-ebi girls and/ or boys should also be informed to get their fabrics or dresses ahead of time.
-Outfits for the parents
– Souvenirs
-Trad wedding LIST items (if the traditional wedding is part of the plan).
Those are the most common things I can think of. Besides the above, the other things can be purchased a few months or weeks close to the wedding – for example: if you’ll be cooking reception food in-house, you can always buy rice and meat a day of two before the wedding.
hi. Thank God i came across this article. Am planning a very small wedding with less than 100 guests. I intend spending like 200k. please how can you help me. its just the traditional and registry.
Hi Abidemi,
It would have to be one single reception party.
50 to 70 people could work – guessing that if you spend catering of N2k per plate/ per guest, you could cater to 50 guests. If you spend N1,500 per guest, it comes to N105k. If you spend N1,500 per guest on 80 guests, feeding would come to N120k.
So, work out the guest number that would work for you, once you know how much per-plate-feeding your caterer will charge.
All the best. Let us know how it works 🙂
Am not new here anyways but this time am for real am planning a church/traditional wedding same day @ 500k/600k and this kind of wedding I don’t even know who not to invite since is both…just guide me on planning it.
My man said he like navy blue suit while for trad.i like red….so also guide me on colors to match with it.And pls how much can the cheapest Gold go for.
Thanks
Hello Oby. Thanks for reading our posts and now leaving a wedding planning question. Below are my answers and suggestions:
– ON RED Wedding COLOUR COMBOS: The following colours combine well with RED- gold, silver, white, black, brown, orange, peach, pink, navy blue.
– ON WHO TO/ NOT INVITE: One of the ways to decide who to invite or not is not to invite people you have not spoken with in years. You don’t have to invite all your office colleagues – give invites to the close ones. >>You don’t have to invite all your relatives – send invites to only the ones you are really close to. >>Start out by making a catering budget – ask your caterer how much they can serve per plate and then YOU calculate how many people you can afford to feed – use that number to know how many people to invite. Here are some posts to help you on this:
=>How to Know How Many People to Invite
=> How to Trim Down Number of People to Invite – to Match Your BudgetHow to Trim Down Number of People to Invite – to Match Your Budget
=>Why You Should Write a Guest List Before Sending Out InvitesWhy You Should Write a Guest List Before Sending Out Invites
– ON COST OF GOLD WEDDING RINGS: Prices vary with design and weight of a ring. You can easily find out in a market or bridal jewelry store near you. Gold is usually sold as per the weight, so step out to the shops, see what you like and price them in a couple of shops to decide.
Hi, Stella,
i stumbled onto this and it’s been helpful.
My wedding is coming up on October 14th.
I have a Budget of 80k for Souvenirs for 200guest.
Could you suggest on how i can make this work?
Hello Moby, congrats on your upcoming wedding, and thanks for your feedback on our Nigerian wedding budgeting tips.
I wasn’t sure what you’re asking – did you mean ‘how to make N80k wedding souvenir budget for 200 guests work?’ If so, here’s my suggestion:
Keep your souvenir choice simple, and go for practical gifts that guests would find useful. Purchase items from a bulk-purchase market so that you’ll get good bargains at dozen-price rates. To keep within your budget, you may want to print stickers for a couple of the souvenirs.
If you’d want to give a wedding souvenir to every single of your guests, that comes to budgeting N400 per souvenir – have this at the back of your mind when shopping for the gifts. >>Some cheap souvenir ideas for Nigerian wedding events include:
– Jotters/ writing pads/ notepads, serving jugs, mugs, water bottles, carrier / shopping bags, chopping boards and knife sets, ceramic tray,
umbrellas, cooking spoons, tissue boxes, customized calendars.
I hope the above tips help you in choosing simple but great wedding favors that your guests will appreciate..
I want to do my wedding but I need a breakdown of wedding budget of 500000 five hundred thousand naira only
Hello Desmond, we use a wedding budget calculator/ breakdown percentage formula that you can quickly use to break down your N5 million Naira wedding budget or any amount. Try doing it yourself by clicking here for our budget breakdown percentage guide.
It is simple general formula for arriving at a rough-guide wedding budget. Let me know how it goes.
good day sir/ma,
pls i want u to help me i have 500k for my welding ,i dont know how to spent it and the arrangemnt
Hello Samuel,
A simple way is to divide that money into two and plan to use half for food and drinks, and the rest for the other wedding things (couple’s attire, venue, photography, decor etc).
(Imagine: If you invite 250 people and you spend N1k on each person for food and drinks, that means N250k would be spent to feed 250 people. But the fact is that, depending on the location of your wedding, a plate of food and bottle of drink for one guest is likely to cost more than N1k. **OUR TIP: Instead, plan on having a wedding for fewer number of people).
Generally, your ability to make that amount work well depends on making sure you invite not too many people; only invite the number of people that your food and drinks budget can cater for (to avoid a situation where some will get food and some will not, and most will leave cursing you – you don’t want that).
Hi , love ur post d wedding budge is real nice , now I have rest of mind. But my problem is hw to put my colours together
Thanks, Charity. I’m happy to hear that.
Wedding colour combo selection is one of the top headaches of about-to-wed brides; you’re not alone. However, there’s a way to keep it simple and easy on yourself – here are some tips:
– Keep the number of colours very minimal (2 is great, 3 is okay, is too much);
– Build your combo around your everyday favourite colour – this should be your MAIN wedding colour. Then choose one or two other colours that combine well with that colour. You can use this combo for your traditional wedding attire (2 prominent colours) and your aso-ebi colours (a simple way is to have them wear same colour and differentiate groups of people with a Gele or Fila/ cap colour)
– For white wedding, use one of your main colours for your bridesmaids.
-For reception venue decor – your main colour and a neutral colour (cream/ white).
**Another way is to look for inspiration from wedding pictures of other people on Pinterest or Instagram, and pick one to replicate for your trad attire; pick one you like to use for your aso-ebi; pick one you like for your bridesmaids, venue decor etc.
Thank you for your responce,,, there were really helpful….just want to know if printing traditional IV cards is important and is there a way I can do court registry without been there presently.. I mean getting the certificate in Ikeja court registry for my marriage… Without been present.
Thank you for your helpful tips on wedding plans, am really glady, I came across this article.
God bless you
You’re welcome, Ijeoma. I’m happy it helped. Here are my answers to your new questions:
-Trad IVs: Most people don’t do it, usually because people they want to attend the trad are very close to them and will still be there with or without IV. However, if you have plenty cash, trad IV is okay; but if you are on a tight budget, and have a few big people you want to invite and think they will frown at invitation without a printed card, then print a few for those peeps.
-Court registry: You have to physically be present at the court to get married in the court. But then, the whole court wedding thing is quick – doesn’t waste time.
Hope those answers help 🙂
Thank you for this articles on wedding plans… I need a traditional wedding plan,on all what to do to manage the cost of things..I budgeted 250,000 which includes the requirement of the list. My traditional marriage is coming up by 1 week of January.
Kindly respond with urgency.
Thank you
Hi Ijeoma, thanks for stopping by to read this post. Here’s an idea you can start with to break down your traditional wedding budget (but feel free to cut money from one thing to another when you hit the market):
Reception (food, drinks, cake): 40% of total amount you have (that should come to N100,000)
Venue decoration, rentals: 6% -> N15,000
Bride and groom’s outfit: 24% -> N60,000
Invitation cards, program: 6% -> N15,000
DJ, Photography: 14% 14% -> 35,000
Miscellaneous (just in case): 10% -> N25,000
*The above is simply a suggestion – you can take it or leave it, or tweak it to suit you. And the consideration is that you will not be paying for a venue, maybe use your family compound.
Hope that helps.
Hi Stella,
Great article. It’s glad to see a breakdown of activities required for a wedding. Thanks.
This is super helpful an article to me being recently engaged and my fiance is talking settling down plans already. My major concern is the wedding dress, I don’t want to buy a new one no matter how cheap. I would love to rent one instead cos I want to wear a different dress for the reception; one that I can always use after the fact.
Would you please recommend to me a store or stores in Nigeria where I can find quality wedding gowns for rent.
Thank you.
Hi Neye, thanks for visiting us at NaijaGlamWedding.com, and especially for commenting. Congrats on your recent engagement and I’m glad our wedding-planning tips helped you.
*I love the idea of a ‘second wedding-like dress’ or dinner gown worn during the reception. Here’s are some bridal stores that sell/ rent wedding gowns:
-Juli Collections and a couple of others in this wedding vendors and stores list we compiled (click). By the way, Imani Swank is currently doing an awesome price discount on some lovely wedding gowns (imaniswank.com and also on Facebook). You could also check Hadassah Bridals -search them on Facebook. I’ll also ask for more stores, from the vendors in our wedding community. Let’s know how it goes.
I just stumbled on your site and it is really helpful. I plan to have my wedding late November, I am moving it earlier cos after reading your post on avoiding popular wedding months. I have made up my mind I will convince my hubby for us to hold it in November. 100 guest and 500k budget, to be held during the week. My concern is how do I pull it off without offending colleagues at work?
Hi Christabel, thanks for taking action after reading my wedding planning tips. One of the ways to keep everyone happy is to have your way and keep everyone happy is to have the wedding far away, and after the wedding have a special party specially for those colleagues and friends you did not invite – this party is different from a thanksgiving party, as some people would feel offended if they were not invited to the wedding but invited to the after-wedding thanksgiving.
*I understand how you feel – It’s a common concern among brides – feeling remorse about not inviting work colleagues or friends/ some family members to one’s wedding. Thing is that if you try to invite everyone, you will blow your budget and still have some guests gossiping that you were incapable of feeding every guest well (you know Naija people and their mouths…). *Let me wish you a successful wedding in advance; and thanks for commenting.
I am planning a wedding of not more than 150-200k aside from tradition that is if my parent agree to make me do it for one day. i got a hall for 30 for a guess of not more than 100 guest. just want to have a wedding but nothing loud. Can i pull this through? pls reply
Hi Hope. Thanks for your question and welcome to to NaijaGlamWedding. Now to answer your question on how to pull off your dream wedding your way. One of the problems with having a less-than-200 guest wedding in Nigeria is dealing with ‘who to invite and who not to’ AND ‘how to get your parents to invite fewer people’ – read this to help you nail down your guest list, and your parent’s.
I wrote many helpful articles and tips on how to pull off a low-key and small read them from the links below.
–Practical tips to plan a low-key wedding in Nigeria
–How to plan a small Nigerian wedding that doesn’t look cheap
–How to plan a big-girls wedding with small money
–5 Ideas to Have a Dream Wedding with Small Money
**Finally, one-day trad and white weddings are becoming popular among young Nigerians, and the best way to make parents agree is to LAY DOWN YOUR CARDS ON THE TABLE. I mean, be open and honest with them about your budget – tell them that you have N150k and the only way it will be enough is to host guests in one single party (and that you would be happy to have the weddings day(s) or weeks apart IF they can afford to support you financially – if not, they should help you make the best of the money you have for the weddings. I think with some honest discussion, they will see your reason and agree.
Good luck and happy wedding-planning!
I like this post. Way to go. A wedding, a one day affair in my opinion is not something to go over the board spending on.
I agree with you, Hafiz. It’s better to also budget for the marriage ahead, and spend modestly on the wedding. Thanks for your contribution.
I love this great job. I can now have a rest of mind about this wedding. cos hv been tinking on how to spend wisely for this wedding. my wedding is coming up soon, by august. Thanks
You are welcome, Bridget. I am happy that our wedding budget example has helped you know how to spend your wedding money.
please i want the email of this break down so i can show my man cos our wedding is coming so so soon
Hi Eno, you can click here and download that wedding budget example – it’s the number 3 wedding planning tool on that page. All the best as you plan your wedding.
Great wrk
Love dis post
I try to download d wedding budget calculator but not working pls can u help me make a wedding budget of 500k with 200 guest to the mail. Thanks.
Thanks for the feedback, Toyin, and we are very sorry about that.
Our wedding budget calculator download link is now working and you can click here to download it – scroll down, it’s number 7.
We also wrote a very detailed article on how to use the wedding budget calculator – click here to read it; it will show you how to break down your 500k budget to know how much to spend on each wedding thing. Let me know if you were able to download. Thanks.
Hi, love ur post.d wedding budget calculator is nt working on my phone. plz can u help plan a traditional &church wedding with 700k. My wedding is coming up in six months time
Thanks for letting me know, Biodun. Our wedding budget calculator can open on Miscrosoft Excel – it won’t open if your phone does not have Excel. An alternative is to use our wedding budget allocation formula percentage – it’s the number 4 on this page (click) AND it is also on this page as a round/ pie chart graph, titled ‘wedding budget breakdown guide’.
(2) About helping you plan your wedding: We are a wedding planning magazine and not providing planning services – but we have a WEDDING VENDORS Facebook group (click) where wedding planners and other vendors hangout – you come there and can post a question asking for wedding planners to contact you.
Hope these answers would help…
i need to print this page oo
Eh yah! Thanks for letting me know. Now that I know that someone has asked, I will soon make a downloadable PDF of this article, so that anyone that needs it will get it.