Photo credit: TechCabal
Thousands of weddings are held every year in Nigeria’s booming million-dollar wedding industry. Blessing Oluwawamiri Alakija, wedding planner and founder of Bblizz Events, says that on average, newlywed couples spend as much as ₦20,000,000 ($12,500) or more for a 500-guest wedding. But budgets do not necessarily depend on the number of guests, she says, rather on the desired quality of the wedding. Couples wouldn’t invest millions in their big day without some assurance that things will run smoothly and, increasingly, that assurance comes from a number of technologies.
“Our events heavily rely on technology,” Alakija says.
“From virtual consultations with clients across Nigeria and the diaspora via Zoom, to sharing digital mood boards, tech helps us streamline communication, improve precision, and save time,” says Oyindamola Adeleke, a wedding planner who runs 234 Event.
Tech’s influence on Nigerian weddings goes far beyond Zoom calls and digital mood boards. From how couples share their engagement stories on social media to online gift registries, technology is involved in every aspect of the wedding experience.
Take, for example, how couples find wedding vendors.
The ‘S’ in ‘weddings’ is for social media
An intending couple knows that the choice of a wedding vendor can make or mar their big day, so extra care is placed on who they contract to bake a cake or beat a face. Nigerian wedding vendors, including photographers and makeup artists, agree that social media contributes significantly to how couples discover and book their services.
“Most of our bookings come through social media,” says Joshua Aderounmu, a wedding photographer who runs Tush Studios. “Prospective clients only have to reach out via direct message on these platforms.”
Platforms like Instagram, therefore, double as portfolios, helping vendors showcase and market their craft to potential customers. Wedding planners like Alakija and Adeleke also depend heavily on social media to showcase their work to potential wedding clients.
“We rely on Instagram and WhatsApp to showcase event transformations, before-and-afters, vendor shout-outs, and testimonials,” Adeleke says.
But visibility is just one piece of the larger picture. Though social platforms help vendors establish their aesthetics and reach new audiences, trust remains king.
Ifedayo Akapo, a wedding photographer, says while social media showcases his style and personality to would-be clients, referrals are what seal the deals. “Most of my best clients come through word of mouth because someone they know loved what I did. Both matter, but referrals turn leads into loyal [customers] faster,” he says.
David Shonowo, also a photographer, agrees, adding that 80–90% of his work comes through referrals. Makeup artist Davina Folowosele, founder of Halevigne Beauty, says likewise. “The majority of my jobs have come more from referrals than social media,” she says.
For couples, beyond one of many tools to vet potential vendors, social media platforms are like real-time postcards documenting and communicating relationship and wedding planning milestones to their circle of friends and family, as well as “online in-laws”, a term used to describe more distant social media followers.
For makeup artist Folowosele, social media worked as an “online diary” when she was getting married in 2024.
Virtue Ekong, married in 2024, says social media was primarily used for sharing and receiving wedding information, documenting beautiful memories, and engaging with friends and family. “It added a fun, interactive element to the experience by allowing us to celebrate moments in real time with people on our timeline,” Ekong adds.
Gift registries, wedding apps and websites
Not long ago, newly-wed couples were subjected to an overflow of household items wrapped in bylong gift wrappers that they then packed away into a cupboard never to use again. Today, couples are setting up online gift registries with specific items they need to begin their new home and in what quantities—like Shonowo, who used Wishgum, a digital wishlist and gift registry, to receive wedding gifts. Or they are setting up payment portals to receive cash gifts that would normally be delivered in an envelope.
Receiving gifts digitally is not always seamless for Nigerian couples. Folowosele says that she eventually had to resort to collecting gifts through her account directly, because “the interface of the Nigerian inclusive [payment] gateways weren’t as attractive as the ones I fancied, and it wasn’t just straightforward to set up.”
On the vendor side, the array of fintech services available contributes to how cash flows between clients and businesses. Aderounmu says though his studio primarily uses Paystack to receive payments from wedding clients, he usually adapts to whatever suits them, including international transfers.
Alakija prefers invoice apps and OPay: “It has simplified my banking experience.”
While some vendors like Alakija are already embracing tech-enabled payment tools, others like Folowosele are still navigating limitations in integrating local platforms. Yet, across the board, tech remains a wedding game-changer in more ways than one.
Wedding or movie?
Spend a few hours on social media platforms, and you will glean that Nigerian weddings today are now designed to generate full-blown cinematic experiences. Couples are increasingly opting for more than a simple wedding photo book or bland documentary video of the day to look back on.
“Wedding coverage today is purely cinematography. We shoot like it’s a movie,” Aderounmu says. “Hence, the introduction of drones. It adds creativity and class to footages.”
There’s also the now-ubiquitous 360 video booth. Initially seen as a luxury, it’s now a staple. “Guests love it. It’s become part of the social media ritual for weddings,” Aderounmu says. “They come, they dress up, and they expect to leave with 360 footage.”
Drones, gimbal stabilisers, wireless audio systems, and 360 video booths make filmic and photographic outcomes not just media by which the couple might remember the day but “content” to be shared with and consumed by an online audience.
In more recent times, even artificial intelligence tools have become part of vendor work processes, improving efficiency and ease.
“AI is infused into all our post-production tools like Photoshop, Lightroom and Premiere Pro. We use it to select, add, remove, and even change backgrounds,” says Aderounmu. “It speeds things up and gives better results.”
Wedding photographer Akapo says his work tools now include Luminar AI and Adobe Camera Raw, which keep her from spending hours tweaking and editing the hundreds of photographs that result from a single event. “Topaz Gigapixel AI is great for upscaling images without losing quality. Adobe Photoshop’s Neural Filters let me do creative touch-ups and style changes fast using AI-powered tools,” he says.
Aside from editing, planners like Alakija and Adeleke also use AI tools to plan weddings more efficiently, from generating content ideas to automating emails and designing guest experiences.
Love is in the cloud
The volume of media a single event generates means that cloud services are essential to the success of a Nigerian wedding.
Photographers like Akapo rely on cloud platforms to “back up and share clients’ galleries.” He says tools like Google Drive, Dropbox, or WeTransfer are “fast, secure, and easy for clients to access.”
The hybrid wedding
In 2020, after the COVID-19 pandemic sent everyone indoors and put much of life and business on hold, love and marital commitments carried on. Couples invited their friends and family to Zoom chat rooms and said their “I Dos”. Five years after, and Zoom weddings are still a thing, even if less so.
In fact, they’ve opened up an opportunity for hybrid events where couples can physically marry but carry along loved ones who may not physically be in the same location as the event.
Especially with the rise of the japa wave, which has seen many Nigerians relocating abroad and separated from loved ones, livestreaming ensures that no one has to miss out on the big day.
Alakija has worked with tech companies to offer livestreaming services and virtual participation for wedding guests across the world.
For vendors and couples alike, tech is the engine behind seamless experiences and unforgettable moments. Without it, many weddings simply wouldn’t happen the way they do.
*Exchange rate used is $1 to ₦1,600
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This article is a collaborative publication between BellaNaija and TechCabal
