See Obianuju & Chidube’s 20 Guests Wedding in Lagos

Obianuju and Chidube‘s wedding was meant to be on the 30th of April, 2020 but had to be rescheduled to the 13th of June, 2020. They had their big day planned in 2 weeks with 20 guests in attendance. It was a day they will both remember for a lifetime.

The couple shared both sides of their story below. Their wedding planner, Etal Events also shared how they planned their wedding with the guidelines even by the government on social gatherings!

Enjoy!

How We Met
By the bride, Obianuju

Dube and I were introduced by a mutual friend who was convinced that we would be perfect for each other. Dube had just relocated to Nigeria two months before and I had just come out of a relationship two months prior so when our mutual friend whispered the idea of a hookup, I said: “nope not interested”. That didn’t deter him though, two days later he shows up in my office with Dube who also had some business he was trying to do with my company. He walked in, said hello, sat down and the first conversation lasted 3 hours and it was at work. He insisted that we finish off the conversation.

Our First Date
By the groom, Dube

That evening we went to dinner at Shiro and it was the most fun night, I told Uju on day one that she was going to be my wife and she laughed it off. She was very unsure of me, we spent hours that day talking about everything and we didn’t make it home till the AMs! I was convinced though God had told me, this was it! I didn’t know how I was going to make it happen but I knew it was going to happen!

Our Love Story
By the bride, Obianuju

I have to say that I didn’t go home after our first date feeling like I had met my husband like a lot of people say. I went home feeling like I had met someone special but we had been so open with each other that day that we bore it all; a lot about our pasts, good and bad! Now I have always been a fun girl but still conservative and living life on the side of caution, waiting for my perfect prince who loves God with all his heart to come and swoop me away, I’d seen and read too many peoples fairy tale stories and I was assured mine would be no different. Alas, I was wrong, I met this man, who had LIVED life, partied, dated, travelled the world and made more mistakes along the way than I cared to count and I was adamant that as much as I loved and cared about him he wasn’t the perfect man I prayed for. However, God was about to teach me a subtle lesson.

Dube’s side of the story:

I can honestly say we started dating from day one because, after that first date, I never relented, we saw each other every day and spent almost all our time together, stuck together like glue, we did everything together, from day one! This was surprising for everyone who knew Uju because she was a tough and cautious girl. Uju spent a lot of time asking God to take it all away if I wasn’t the right one. She had waited way too long to make a mistake but no matter what came our way, the one thing I said with confidence to her daily was that she was going to be my wife because God had told me so.

Obianuju says:

Dube didn’t just say he loved me, he proved it. He was there for me in everything I did, We loved each other with complete passion, we had many disagreements because we are completely different people, our values align but our characters are like night and day, the one thing we have in common is that we are honest, raw and completely unpretentious so we got to see each other’s flaws very quickly and it was flight or fight. I wanted to choose flight but Dubz chose to fight for what he wanted. Yes, I had many questions about us but the one thing I never questioned was if he loved me and wanted to marry me!

The rest they say is history, my summary of this is that I prayed to God so hard for a man that would love him, and I had my perfect specimen in mind, God sent me Dube. He was the man I prayed for but he wasn’t in the package I prayed for it in, he wasn’t perfect, he was good looking but he didn’t have a perfect story, he wasn’t how I imagined, so I would have walked away. I was going to walk away so many times if not for Dube who just would not let me go. I’m so thankful he didn’t give up because I discovered a man who is God,s love in human form (that’s what I call him) a man who is kind, kind to everyone he meets, no matter who you are, a man who radiates warmth, joy and happiness. My initial worries that he was faking this love to me faded away when I saw that it wasn’t about me, this is how he is to everyone, and that was what made me decide to marry this man! -Obianuju

Fast forward to 11 months later, I got home from work and Dube was insisting that he wanted me to meet his uncle at Churascos in VI. I was tired but he insisted so I put on my joggers and trainers because it was a cold night and we left. While we were in the car he said that his uncle was now at civic Centre by the waterside so we headed there, got there and he started leading me towards the jetty and I was wondering at this point what’s his uncle was doing here?  Anyway we got to the boat and I saw a boat by the jetty lined with petals and someone beckoning me to come in and at this point, I was beyond stunned, we got in and the boat started to move and off we went, it was night and I was part excited and part scared because this is Naija! Lol, when we got to the Lekki Ikoyi bridge, fireworks went off and I was soo stunned and in awe, I turned to look at the fireworks and turned back to see him on his knees, didn’t hear a thing he said though but I said yes!! That was July 26th 2019.

I can’t say much more all I’d say is the tongue is a tool, life and death is in the power of the tongue, God showed me, my wife, I spoke it every day and I committed it to God, it was a long and windy road, tears of joy and pain shed but here we are today! Our souls have found rest! We are extremely grateful, deeply thankful and incredibly blessed.- Dube

In planning a ceremony that followed the state’s social gathering guidelines, here’s how the planner, Etal Events pulled it off:

Before the big day:

We had just finished styling a 10 guest civil wedding and posted the event on our Instagram page when the bride Uju, reach out to us via Direct Message (DM). She thought we had done a beautiful job and wanted us to replicate the event for her and her husband to be. We took a virtual meeting where we spoke about what she loved and how her wedding was meant to hold on the 30th of April 2020 but had to be moved indefinitely because of the rude shock COVID-19 had posed on lives and the entire world. Dreams shattered and hope dashed, we convinced her that we could give her a 20 guest wedding of her dreams. She was flushed with excitement as we spoke about different ideas and venue selection for the event. We asked for a date she will love to proceed with, and she said in “two weeks “ we were even more pumped to deliver this beautiful event for a bride that gave our team a right to creative direction

The venue selection process was narrowed down to a space that will naturally accommodate 100 guests in other to maintain the social distance rules set in place by the NCDC. The waterside Lekki was the perfect space. It’s a glass house overlooking the sea with an amazing sunset view. The hall gave various rules and regulations including a shutdown time of 8 pm, a compulsory temperature check, an automated hand sanitizing unit, an automated hand wash unit and a no face mask no-entry rule. We made sure all vendors set up a day before the event and these safety measures where applied. After setting up the day before the event, the hall cleaned and disinfected the venue overnight.

On the Event day

At the bridal suite: To ensure the hygiene of the couple, we made sure we had just one Photographer, videographer, one hairstylist and 2 makeup artist. They all complied to the no mask, no entry rule and also got their temperatures checked by the bridal coordinator.

At the venue

Catering was handled by Sauce Factory and to ensure the hygiene and safety of guests the following processes were put in place:
1. Warm towel service for guests upon arrival
2. No verbal order placing process, guests had to tick boxes provided on the menu cards
3. Onsite plate disinfection and warm-up process
4. Provision of fresh sets of disinfected and sealed cutlery
5. Service team fully kitted in protective gears.

The cocktails by Barcode were already pre-packed in a jar and handed over to them by our lead producer. Drinks were handled by our team in order to reduce the number of wait staff at the venue. Canapés were served by Cuisine fantastique and were preset on a shelf for guest to pick with a glass of champagne as they walked into a beautifully decorated venue ornate by Etal. We made sure that seats were spread out properly to maintain social distancing and also tried to minimize contact with the guest as much as we could. A coordinator was going around from time to time to remind guests to sanitize their hands and remember to use their personalized face mask provided by us when not eating. The event was made more special with the couple’s family and friends being able to join via zoom and share their love and goodwill messages with the couple. It was a beautiful event and we are glad Uju & Dube did not have to wait to celebrate their happily ever after.

Credits

Planner: @etaleventsng
Photography: @keziie
Dress: @imadeduso
Makeup: @rtmbeautyandmakeup
Hair: @Hairbysleame
Bouquet: @adelasflowers
Venue: @thewatersidevenuelekki
Decor: @ornatebyetal
Catering : @saucesfactory
Canapés & grills: @cuisinefantastique
Cocktail: @bardcode
Special effects:@sydeninteractive
Cake: @heladodelicia
Videography: @ladimilanfilms
Bridesmaids dress: @jeweljemila