Hi Olatokumbo, welcome to NaijaGlamWedding blog. Here’s my reply to your questions:

1) No, you must not hire a paid wedding planner. If you decide not to, you have to pick a few people (friends and family/ relatives) to help you with the planning.

2) Nice colour combo you have selected there. On colour combo ideas for your family and aso-ebi, look through hundreds of colour combinations listed in my colour combination guides here. I am sure you’ll find some colour combinations that will suit them.

*Also, you can pick from my featured celebrity wedding aso-ebi colour combinations – you know that our celebs engage top fashion stylists to choose their wedding guest outfit fabrics and colours, and I featured them for you to choose from.

So, look through and let me know what you choose.

Hello Seyi, I agree that someone has to officiate/ coordinate the wedding programme. A sample order/ flow of events is already provided on the above post. It’s the number 2 question (what is the correct order of events), with a bullet list of program of events. Please scroll up to see it.

You may be able to relate to the flow used by a couple that recently did a low-key Yoruba traditional wedding without an Alaga. So, when I got your question, I reached out to the bride, Temitope, on Instagram to ask her how they pulled theirs off. Her reply was:

They didn’t have an Alaga. Her dad’s elder sister moderated the engagement, and only asked everyone to introduce themselves, after that their parents blessed them, and finally, they took pictures. She said it was a brief ceremony, with everything lasting between 30 and 45 minutes.

We recently featured their picture-perfect micro wedding here on this blog. They had the most beautiful low-key Yoruba traditional and white wedding during this pandemic. You can check it out to pick an idea or two on how they pulled it off.

I understand how you feel – Alagas make Yoruba trad weddings exciting. I also understand your parents’ angle, as per keeping the lowest number of attendants to guarantee safety in time of the pandemic.

Don’t worry, your event will still turn out amazing, without an Alaga. Just be sure to make up by getting a quality photographer, because the best-captured photos will make a no-Alaga wedding look better than you imagined. Also get a great DJ or music playlist to turn up the fun and excitement.

Let me know how the above tips help.

Hello Segun, it is not Yoruba culture, but if the bride’s parents cannot afford to buy new outfits for your wedding and the groom is willing and capable, he can buy for them.

So, it’s not compulsory, but if you have money and feel like helping, you can support them to look nice at your event.

This reply was supplied by Yoruba members of our wedding community, as I am not Yoruba.

Please I want to know if it’s part of Yoruba culture that the groom buys clothes for the bride’s parent to wear for their traditional marriage.

Dear Bola, I feel your pain in this matter. I’m not Yoruba and so I reached out to my Yoruba peeps, and here’s what they say:
-that it is compulsory for groom’s parents to prostrate/ kneel when greeting the bride’s parents, no matter who they are.
-one wedding planner told me about a wedding where the groom’s father is a prince, and was seen not to prostrate to his in-laws.
-they advice that in a case where the groom (with his parents) are not Yorubas, the groom should make out time to inform and educate them about this, in advance.
>Groom should let them know that ‘prostrating and kneeling’ action does not signify that the Yoruba inlaws are in any way superior to them, but that kneeling and prostrating is a normal and general Yoruba style of greeting, just like handshaking is the whiteman’s way of greeting.
>The groom should let his parents know that even the bride’s Yoruba parents prostrate and kneel to greet other people.
>Your groom should let the parents know that the Yorubas view that gesture (kneeling and prostrating) as a sign that their non-Yoruba inlaws wholly accept their son marrying a Yoruba woman, and also accept their culture.

Finally, ask your groom to plead with his parents to go on this journey with him, letting them know how important their support means to him.

**I have seen videos of white grooms and their parents doing the prostrating and kneeling, and heard how they didn’t find the ideas funny at first, but had to do it for their son’s sake.

Hope that helps. I wish you both all the best.

Hello Fasusi, thanks for reading. That’s surprising, but who knows if their village elders have reviewed the dowry. I am sure not all Yoruba villages have the same, exact amount for dowry.
>It’s a tricky situation. You could find distance elderly uncles who know that village to help you find out, but then, it could also look like you’re saying your future father-inlaw is lying *which could be termed ‘disrespectful’ and spoil your future relationship).

>Another way is to try and do the dowry without questions. It’s likely that he may refund it to you, like some Yoruba father-inlaws do.

Or discuss it with your father or an elderly uncle, to see if they think it’s a good idea to escort you to ask for a downward review.