How to Raise Money For a Nigerian Wedding

The biggest challenge for any wedding is the arduous task of raising money which would be used to pay for your wedding. This is why I want to share tips on raising money for a Nigerian wedding. As much as you want to make your wedding glamorous and worthwhile, you would not want to start your married life crippled with debts.

"He who finds a wife has found a good thing". This famous phrase coined from the Bible shows the importance of marriage to Humans.

With the right person, love can be one of the greatest and mythical forces in the world. When you meet that special partner, you are only expected to start preparing for the rest of your life with them.

It has been realised that in Nigerian weddings, most of the cost of paying for a wedding is covered by the groom. This is because the groom covers the larger share of the wedding budget while the bride's parents cover the rest, alongside donations from family and friends.

This might not apply to everyone for different reasons, such as either or both partners being an orphan or either of the marrying couple not being well established financially.

According to two married couples interviewed purposely for this article, paying for a wedding can be one of the most significant expenses a couple can face.

Therefore, we would be looking at some ways in which you can raise money to pay and have a worthwhile wedding that you deserve.

Ways to raise money for a Nigerian wedding

1. Sales of uniform wedding clothes (Aso-Ebi)

This is the most popular and convenient way of raising funds for your wedding. It involves sales of uniformed clothes, popularly known as Aso Ebi, which would be used at the wedding. The clothes would be bought in bulk at a lesser price and sold out to would-be guests of the wedding festivities at a much higher price.

This would give a uniform and unified feeling to guests who bought the clothes. It would also provide a sense of belonging and camaraderie to those using the clothes. Moreso, purchasing and using such clothes is seen as a sign of status and prestige by some of the would-be guests of the wedding party.

There is also an incentive for buying such clothes by guests as material gifts will be given to them by the couple on the wedding day.

All of this will contribute to quick sales of the clothes by the couple to their family, friends and well-wishers, and this, in turn, will help generate funds for the wedding.

2. Raise money for your wedding with savings

Right from the moment of your marriage proposal, SAVE UP. This would help you as you would have ample time to save some money without stretching your finances.

Saving up for your wedding helps as you would not be under pressure and have breathing space to prepare for your wedding without added stress.

 Moreso, saving up would help prevent you from riddling yourself with debt which might be incurred from paying for the wedding through a loan.

In an interview with my married friends Kemi and Eric, they said this about financing their 2019 wedding: According to Kemi, "Immediately after Eric proposed to me in 2018, we both made plans by both saving money in preparation for the wedding, and when the wedding came around, we had almost no stress with finances unlike some of our friends who got married within the same period".

If you feel like you need more time to save more for the wedding, extend the date for the wedding so that you would be more prepared.

3. Ask for donations from family and friends

Your family and friends can also help to chip in and contribute to paying for the wedding. But the singular mistake made by most couples is that they assume their family and friends will do so when they have not asked what would be done in detail.

Parents might not have a considerable amount to drop for you to have your wedding but would want to focus on a particular part like paying for the hall to be used. It would be best if you met up with them to know what they would be offering so that you can plan and budget for other expenses that would be needed.

For one couple, their parents played a significant role in funding their wedding. The wife stated, " Our parents helped with the payment of the hall where the wedding ceremony took place and the fees of musicians who played at the occasion".

These donations will help reduce the stress of the cost of the wedding on your finances.

4. You can raise money for a Nigerian wedding with an additional but temporary source of income

Getting another temporary source of Income would help you boost your finances in paying for your wedding. 

This might include getting a loan for an investment in a very familiar business or giving out your services through a handicraft you are skilled in.

This does not mean getting a second job but having a temporary side hustle that you would use to make extra bucks on the side. It is not intended to be permanent as you would not want to make an already stressful wedding planning more tiresome. 

While thinking of how to raise money for your wedding, it is essential to be realistic in setting the budget for the wedding so that the funds created will be used wisely. To achieve this, you must plan it well and cut out excesses that are not needed and use the money raised through these various means to have a glorious wedding.

You might also be interested in Tips For Choosing a Wedding Venue and How to Plan a Budget Wedding in Nigeria.