Are you engaged and preparing for your Nigerian white wedding, but need a checklist (or to-do list) to stay organized? I can help – in this post, I created a Nigerian white wedding planning checklist as a ready-made wedding to-do list you can use right away. You see, planning a wedding is overwhelming and stressful whether you’re the bride or groom, especially if you’re planning on your own without the help of a wedding planner.
Below is our straightforward, short-form Checklist for planning a Nigerian White Wedding. To ensure that you’re organized all through and won’t forget anything, just print out this checklist or bookmark this post and then start doing the listed tasks one by one. Now, swipe or scroll down to check out our complete Nigerian white wedding checklist.
Wedding Checklist for Planning a Nigerian White Wedding
- Choose a date for the wedding
- Set a Wedding Budget and number of guests
- Choose a Location for the wedding (what country, what state, what city)
- Make a To-Do List or Wedding Planning Checklist (such as this one, NaijaGlamWedding’s Wedding Checklist)
- Decide your event Look & Feel – Decide the style (for bride, groom, bridesmaids, groomsmen) and colour combinations and venue look
- Research Wedding Vendors – make a list of vendors you will check out.
- Register and Start Attending a Marriage Counselling Class
- Choose Your Planning Squad/ Planning Assistants
- Assign a few Planning Responsibilities to Your Fiancé
- Choose your bridesmaids and groomsmen and inform them
- Book a wedding venue
- Book wedding vendors (cake, caterer, venue decorator, photographer, videographer, invitation cards printer, wedding car hire and drivers, makeup artist, hairstylist, Gele Headtie Artist, MC, DJ and/ or Live Music Band, etc.)
- Have your Pre-Wedding Photo Shoot/ Engagement Shoot
- Shop for Wedding Rings
- Book ushers and servers for your white wedding event. Also, book rental items such as canopy tents, chairs, tables, etc;
- Research honeymoon destination and place
- Purchase your wedding gown, veil & lingerie, shapewear
- Buy bridal accessories (shoes, jewelry, headpiece, bouquet, etc);
- Buy the bridesmaids dresses
- Book honeymoon accommodation and transport (and process visas, if necessary)
- Start shopping for your traditional wedding attire fabrics and tailors
- Confirm traditional wedding logistics and/ or travel plans
- Shop for wedding souvenirs
- Purchase groom and groomsmen wedding suits and accessories
- Purchase bridesmaid dresses and accessories
- Have your Marriage Introduction and Traditional Engagement
- Buy outfits for the mother (of bride and groom) and fathers (of bride and groom)
- Finalize the wedding venue look – venue decoration design details and wedding hall seating arrangement;
- Purchase drinks and food (either using hired caterers or in-house caterers by family members);
- Write out your wedding day itinerary and hand it over to your bridesmaids, groomsmen, and vendors – so everyone knows the order of things and how vendors should set up;
- Confirm that bridesmaids & groomsmen outfits and accessories are ready, and that they also fit well;
- Book a Trial Hair and Makeup with your hairstylist and hairdresser, to confirm that they can deliver your expected wedding day look.
- Start Your Wedding Beauty Regimen. That is your wedding skin/ beauty and grooming (including skin treatments and weight loss routine). Ensure to use professionals if you want results.
- Appoint your wedding day chairman (Optional), wedding day assistants, food servers & ushers
- Send out your white wedding Invitation Cards and/ or Bulk SMS to guests
- Put together your bridal emergency kit & hand over to a bridesmaid.
- Finalize Agreements with Vendors – regarding what they should do, when to do them, and payment terms. Get written agreements, if possible.
- Target to Complete all Wedding Planning Activities around 1 to 3 months to your wedding date
- Attend your pre-wedding party (bridal shower/ bachelor party)
- Do a final wedding gown fitting & make any necessary alteration at 1 to 3 months to your wedding
- Conduct a Check on your Wedding Venue Facilities – AC/ Lighting and Sound Testing:
- Book Hotel accommodation for day-before-wedding – it should be a hotel close to your wedding venue, to ensure you are not late due to any sudden traffic delays.
- Book a hotel accommodation near your wedding venue – for a night stay a day before your wedding, and take off from there to the wedding venue. This avoids any undue lateness.
- Pack your luggage (in advance) for your honeymoon – so that you don’t get caught in a rush or forget something.
- Review and Finalize Details, day of wedding to-dos and arrival times, Payment and other Agreements with each of Your Vendors
- Get a manicure & pedicure 1-2 days before D-day.
- Two days before your wedding, arrange all your wedding day wears and set them aside.
- Check-in to a bridal suite (hotel) that is close to your wedding venue (if you can afford it), to ensure you arrive on time to your wedding, no matter what. Staying close to the wedding venue makes life easier to have you and all your bridesmaids in one place a day before the wedding;
- Ask your driver, photographer, videographer to be at your bridal suite 2 to 3 hours before the wedding ceremony;
- On the D-day, dress up at least 2-3 hours before the wedding ceremony.
- Have your first-look photoshoot
- Leave for the wedding venue and get married!
*I also created a version of this Nigerian White Wedding Checklist that includes extra planning tips and details such as the tasks to do in 10 to 12 months before your white wedding; those to do 7 to 9 months before, and so on. Click the ‘NEXT PAGE’ link below to check it out.
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Very helpful tips, thanks for sharing
My pleasure, Nelson. Thanks for reading.
Hi stella,
I’m getting married soon. I’m ibo & my fiancee is yoruba. How do you think we can go about merging the two cultures during our traditional marriage. For eg, will the MC speak only english?
Hello Ada. Congrats on your upcoming wedding. Now, here’s my take on your question:
-It depends on the language that the parents and most of the guests understand. What some people do is to have an MC that switches between Igbo and English. They also did that at my sister’s wedding. Another way to merge culture during inter-cultural weddings is through food and music – serve a mix of their food and your food; a bit of their music and your music. For food, they don’t necessarily have to serve amala as the visiting in-laws would be expecting to have a taste of Igbo food but have an inclusion of general food (egusi soup, jollof rice) that both Igbos and Yorubas also eat, for those who only eat what they are used to. But definitely serve more food from the bride’s culture.
-Dressing is also another way to do it, and most couples do this already.
Hope that helps.
helpful tips thanks for sharing
Sure. Thanks also, for reading.
Very detailed. Very helpful.
Thanks for the feedback.
Thanks a lot for this! This site is very helpful.
I have a budget of 800 for my wedding. So I’m thinking of doing a reception to cover both trad and white in a hall far from the house. I don’t know how to go about it because i want to wear both traditional wear and a wedding dress. Do i come from church and dance before doing the igba nkwu or ….how? How do people do it?
Hello Becky. Thanks for the feedback – I’m glad you found NaijaGlamWedding tips helpful.
I have a reply for you below, and also wrote a detailed post to help you answer those questions and also included a sample program of events when having a traditional and white wedding on the same day (be sure to read it).
Here’s are some tips to go about having both a white wedding and trad (Igba Nkwu) on the same day:
-The couple go from church to the reception venue
-Couple dance into the reception, in their white wedding attires (short dance)
-MC introduces the event
-The wedding cake is cut; toast is made
-The couple have a short dance and dance out for outfit change to their trad wedding attire (this should be very quick)
-While guests are waiting, cake slices are served with/ without small chops
That’s how I have seen most couples do it. There are more details and a checklist of steps in that post I wrote for you (links above).
I hope that helps you.
Thank you so much! Really helpful.. I’m no longer confused. Hayy 🙆
You;re welcome, Faith. I’m happy to be of help.
All the best, darling!
Thanks so much for this Stella. I’m glad I read this. Can’t afford a wedding planner, but with this I can now plan with my fiance, a few trusted friends and family members without being too stressed out on my day. Thanks for making this readily available
Awesome! Happy to hear that, Becca. Be sure to read our other posts intended to guide you self-plan your Nigerian wedding. >On that D-day, you’ll need someone else to co-ordinate everything, so you can relax and enjoy being the bride -so, also read our Ultimate Guide for Planning Your no-hassle, Wedding Day Coordination.
>You would also benefit from our guide on how to self-plan a classy wedding reception (click).
Hope those help. Feel free to read our other related wedding planning guides (some are linked and referenced within this article and every other).
You are simply amazing Stella. OK I am engaged to my fiance who isn’t NIGERIAN, he is white, so he is coming sometimes in May to do the introduction and have us do a court wedding, first question
(1) since he doesn’t know about our tradition and all that’s expected to be done and said on the introduction rites, (and he s coming down alone) what can be done,?so he doesn’t do or say something wrong on that day.
(2)after the introduction, can we do the court wedding without having paid the bride price?
(3)Can the bride price be paid on the day of introduction?
Forgot to mention am igbo, both parents are in Lagos.And if he goes back, he s due back again in August, I don’t want to do anything big, I just want to have a feel of the traditional setting decorate a venue take pictures with my different attires and have a little reception for a guest of 100people, any guide on how to pull this off and still have something classy. Help a sister Biko.
Hi Ugonna,
I’m glad to have you around – thanks for reading, and also for leaving a comment. Now onto your questions – see my reply below:
– (1) You said your husband-to-be does not know about our customs, and asked what can be done: I think you should familiarize him in advance with Igbo and Nigerian marriage customs and customary wedding rites. We wrote an a series of articles on exactly that, and have got great feedbacks from grooms at home and abroad who used that post to know everything there is to know before their Igbo traditional wedding, or meeting their inlaws for the first time.
==> get him to read this article and the 3 posts that make up rest of the series: Everything a non-Igbo Groom Needs to Know Before His Marriage Introduction or Traditional Wedding Day
Everything a non-Igbo Groom Needs to Know Before His Marriage Introduction or Traditional Wedding Day
=>Preparing to Meet Your Igbo Inlaws: Process Explained for Non-Igbo Grooms
=> What Happens During the Igba Nkwu – Grooms’ Guide
What Happens During the Igba Nkwu – Grooms’ GuidePreparing to Meet Your Igbo Inlaws: Process Explained for Non-Igbo Grooms
– (2) When to Do the Court Wedding: Yes, people do court wedding after the introduction (before payment of the bride price). It’s done, although that is the usual; but where the groom and maybe bride are coming from afar and do not have much time to spend, it is done to quicken things – but be sure to let your family know that in advance, and that he would do pay bride price soon after.
– (3) Yes, the bride price can be paid on same day of Introduction. Again, this is not usual but done when the couple or one of them is coming from afar and do not have a lot of time to spend or space things.
**You mentioned that your parents live in Lagos and that’s where you plan to have your trad wedding. My dear, that is also done these days. The number of guests (100) you’re planning for the reception (sort of, Igba Nkwu) is more than enough; there’s no rule about the number – most people even do it a parlour size. I suggest that you just make it a PARTY all the way, no casual thing – because 100 guests is big enough to make it classy. Hire a good photographer team (because it’s what speaks after the day is gone), hire an MC (or get a smooth-talking family member or friend to handle this), hire a DJ.
My sister had hers last year and she said she wanted it small and her Yoruba inlaws were more than 30 that travelled all the way – add that to our family and friends and you have about a hundred. So, we thought “this is already a party crowd, why not make it count”. So, we quickly changed plans that day – and hired a music band, canopies, and MC and a photographer – which were not in her initial plan or interest. And she loved it!
So, my dear, you’re already on the right track.
This is a very comprehensive wedding list. Thanks for making it readily available!
Thanks for the feedback, Jessica. I’m glad to know this post helped you.
Stella, I feel like I should get married now. you did a fine job opening my mind.
Hahaha, Atuba. I’m glad I did – getting married is a good thing na. We here love featuring weddings, and your own is now on the line.
Thanks for reading. Hope to see you around.
Hi, great article,what would be ur advice for some1 that has just 3 months to plan for a court wedding and reception,low budget about 500k, so can’t afford a planner?
Hi Eve,
Here are my tips:
1) To-Do List: Use the above wedding planning checklist, BUT do things in a quarter of the time (say, where you see 4 weeks, do yours in 1 week).
2) Low Budget Wedding Tips: Click here to see and follow our tips on how to save costs during wedding planning
3) Wedding Budget Examples: Click here to see an example of a N500k wedding budget – see if you can pick an idea from there (not compulsory) or customise it to suit you.
4) Start by breaking down how you want to spend that N500k. That breakdown should be your spending guide – and try to stick to it, in order to avoid overspending. CLICK HERE to see our step by step guide on how to do a wedding budget from scratch.
BONUS TIPS:
–Steps to organize a wow wedding reception
–21 steps to follow when planning a wedding
Hope the above tips help.
Hello Stella,thank you for this wonderful post. Please is it possible have my book launch on the same day of my wedding. Thank you
Thank you too, Okive – we love hearing feedback from our readers.
Absolutely! Yes, it’s possible to launch your book on your wedding day but there are pros and cons. Your wedding day could be a great opportunity because you’re going to have a huge crowd of people. But then that depends on whether your wedding crowd is the same type of people that would be interested in the topics in your book, and whether they are the kind of audience that would readily buy.
*On another note, you don’t want people to think that you’re using your wedding to ‘twist them’ into parting with money to you. You know how some Naija people can feel.
*On another thought, I’d say that you should launch before your wedding day, so that your launch day is targeted at selling some of your books and focusing publicity on your book alone. AND announce/ show the book to your wedding guests, as part of the programme – so that guests get an idea that you’re not there to sell but just to announce to them and let them know where the book is available in case they need to buy.
This was very helpful,thanks a lot. but what if you don’t have that much time to plan? i want to know how possible it is to plan within a short time of 6months. thanks again.
Hi Helen, thanks for reading our white wedding checklist. Now to answering your two questions:
Q. If you don’t have time to plan your wedding, here are 2 things you can do:
1) Hire someone else / an event planner who has the time to plan it for you, and do all the waka/ legwork.
2) OR Scale down your wedding to a more manageable size. Small weddings can be planned better in s short time – whether it’s a low-key weddings or one with few guests and low budget.
Q. Is it possible to plan a wedding in 6 months?
ANSWER: Absolutely. Yes, it is possible. You can use our above wedding planning checklist timeline, BUT then where you have 12 months, use 6 months; and where you have 4 weeks, use 2 weeks. The idea is to half all the suggested time durations for all activities.
*If you can start off by booking your venue, and then booking your most important vendors, you would have less to worry about. Also ensure to send out your invitations early.
Hi am yin am not igbo girl but my bf igbo i need to know about the tradetion about wedding.what is the firts step to do let say exampla am a igbo girl. What is the firts wedding 2nd is engage . after tradational wedding the brides need to take the groom him house ? And after wedding what is the nxt step
Dear Yin, you can find about everything you need to know about the steps involved in Igbo traditional marriage events here (click). Hope you know that in Nigeria, the man goes to marry the woman in her own people’s traditional wedding customs (not that man’s).
stella you re such a blessing. God bless you real good.
Thanks, Emeka. I’m glad that this post helped ease your wedding stress.
You’re simply the best! Thank You!!!
You’re welcome, Helen. Happy wedding-planning:)