00:07So I was born in Lagos, Nigeria and moved here when I was six months old.
00:11My parents kind of raised my brother and I in a Western way.
00:15I'm very British, but a British Nigerian on a journey to understand the significance of my Nigerian heritage.
00:22I'm a hybrid British, very British, very Nigerian individual who holds very dearly to my culture and where I'm coming
00:32from.
00:33And, you know, to get married in a way that reflects that was always going to be very important to
00:38me.
00:44Your marriage is very much a marriage of two families and two families coming together,
00:51represented by obviously the two individuals, me and Ruth.
00:54Traditionals tend to be very, very large. I still do want it to feel like it's a celebration of our
01:00love.
01:00I want it to feel personal.
01:12I went to a school where there was no Nigerians really at all.
01:16So being able to introduce a lot of our friends from different cultures to our culture, I'm really looking forward
01:22to.
01:22I'd love them to feel that sense of energy and fun, which we try to have as much of as
01:28a couple.
01:29I'm looking forward to the fun of the party. I think, for me, it's a celebration and it's very vibrant
01:33and it's very kind of beautiful.
01:42It's run very much by a master of ceremonies who's known as the Alaga.
01:46Well, there's one from each family.
01:47There's one from each family.
01:48And they always go around surrounded by the talking drummer.
01:51And it's very much their show, but obviously a show that's designed to kind of bring the two families together.
01:57They kind of perform kind of theatrical functions such as not allowing people to kind of come in until they
02:03paid money.
02:05And basically kind of a very beautiful break into song where the talking drummer will be kind of playing along.
02:11And they'll be singing songs.
02:21The big aspect is the music and the dancing. And if you spend a lot of money, you better dance
02:25well.
02:26And if you spend a lot of money on your traditional, you definitely have to dance well.
02:36There's an interesting part of Yoruba culture, which is called spraying, where you spray cash on the bride and the
02:45groom, parents of the bride and the groom.
02:47You have your girls who have got bags to collect the money.
02:52Yeah.
02:52So some people can check to house deposit and spray money.
03:03Another thing I'm really looking forward to is food.
03:06So I absolutely love food.
03:08I think it's probably important to say that, you know, most Nigerian people, the only thing that they will remember
03:15is the traditional is the food.
03:18Whether they ate enough.
03:19The last thing you want people to be saying about your wedding is that...
03:24They were hungry.
03:25Well, one, they were hungry.
03:26And it wasn't nice.
03:27And two, that the food wasn't good.
03:28Like, that's like social suicide, basically.
03:32If the glasses or the gaga is not recommended, remove the glasses of your faces.
03:39Yeah, so...
03:40I love you.
03:42Aha, okay.
03:43The families are represented by a colour.
03:46So my family will have a colour.
03:48I was family will have a colour.
03:50And I think I'm really looking forward to kind of, I guess, just seeing a sea of colours and seeing
03:55that merge together.
03:56But also our own personal outfit.
03:58So Ashokai is weave.
04:00The way it works as a couple would wear the same coloured fabric.
04:04To symbolise, I guess, building a new family and togetherness.
04:08And then also your girls and your guys will wear traditional Nigerian clothing.
04:12I think I will have around 30 ladies, who are my good friends, who will be wearing my lace that
04:19I've chosen and my head ties.
04:26And for me, I'll have, I don't even know how many, I'll have probably around the same, maybe more.
04:33F functions.
04:35Dance will bring lots of money to help me lie prostrate on the floor.
04:40One of the major acts of the ceremony is for me and my brother and my male cousins and for
04:50my friends to literally lie on the floor prostrate, literally on our stomachs, in front of Ruth's family, directly in
04:58front of her parents and all her extended family.
05:00Essentially, the deal is sealed and then Ruth is okay to kind of come in and be presented to her
05:07side and then obviously to my side.
05:10So we're all dancing.
05:11They kind of like form a circle around me and then, yeah, I'm kind of revealed to my groom and
05:19the whole audience.
05:21I think for me, what will be very emotional is when I go to sit with my parents and have
05:26them pray for me.
05:27Because I'm very, I always say besides I, all my parents are my best friends.
05:31So I think that's when it will kind of dawn on me that as much as I am excited about
05:35marriage.
05:36Yeah, there's a feeling of like sadness that that season of them kind of being my number one carers is
05:43over.
05:52Who's the traditional for? For us or for family? It's definitely for the parents.
05:59I think, you know, culturally, the traditional is a bit like a graduation ceremony for the parents, you know?
06:06And so, yeah, it's not about us, even though it is about us.
06:20In Western culture, we can discount marriage very easily.
06:23And there's that sense of, you know, if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out.
06:26And you move on and you get on with life. In Nigerian culture, marriage is seen as such a big
06:31thing.
06:32Even though I'd say I'm not that traditional, that aspect of our culture is something that I really appreciated.
06:40We are proud of our culture whilst understanding that you can hold where your parents have gone,
06:46where you've been raised, as kind of two sides of the coin.
06:51shooting
06:52저도
06:52on the other side of the coin
06:52were very�전
06:52because I personally believe that I'm thinking that your parents feel fantastic.
06:53They say the safety allocation and your people were different.
06:55And they say,
