The Nigerian wedding industry is growing fast and worth millions of dollars according to an article titled “Inside Nigeria’s million-dollar wedding industry” published by Torera Idowu, CNN. As the year draws to a close, wedding season in Nigeria begins.

Getting married in Africa’s most populous country is big business and said to be worth millions of dollars, according to market research group, TNS Global.

Nigerian wedding can cost up to $9,460-$13,515 with guest lists matching the super-sized budgets.

Some weddings in the country cater for an average of 1000 guests.

 “You can have five million Naira ($13,869.65) at one end of the spectrum, 20 million Naira ($55,478.60) in the middle and it can even get as high as 100 million Naira ($277,393),” prominent wedding planner Funke Bucknor tells CNN.

My big, fat Nigerian wedding: Inside Lagos’ bridal boom

The wedding industry is considered one of the major contributors to Nigeria’s economy.

It is credited for creating entire industries that didn’t exist or were previously unprofitable, such as makeup artists and luxury toilet hire companies.
Nigeria recently played host to the largest wedding related gathering in Africa, Wed Festival attracting around 10,000 attendees.

When the son of one of Africa’s richest women, Folorunsho Alakija, got married in June, he had a lavish $6 million wedding at the prestigious Blenheim Palace in the United Kingdom.

UK media reported that the ceremony featured one million roses by celebrity florist Jeff Leatham, a 12ft-tall cake and a performance by American artist Robin Thicke in the $43,000 venue.

“Nigerian weddings are constantly evolving and each is peculiar,” says events planner Leslie of 3a Event Solutions.

“Oftentimes the average number of guests expected differ from the actual number that turns up because Nigerian weddings are typically a communal affair and gatecrashing is presumed normal.”

Source: Regalestilo.com