TRUE BLUE: ABIMBOLA AND JACK’S DOUBLE CEREMONY AND PARTY IN THE COUNTRYSIDE, WITH BEAUTIFUL ASOEBI THROUGHOUT
We’ve really neglected the blog of late but.. we’re coming back with A BANG. So over the moon to be featuring this incredible wedding from this absolute hero Abimbola Wingate-Saul. Abimbola is a London Criminal Defence Barrister and is top of her game, the brightest of sparks who also dedicates herself to highlighting underrepresentation of Black people in the legal profession, as well as being a force of active anti racism in the courtroom for her clients. All of her posts, her tweets, the numerous (much less fluffy than this!)articles inspire, open eyes, educate, give facts and solutions on the daily. She is also part of the Step Up Sorority a sisterhood to share knowledge and help BAME women achieve their full potential. She is just all round amazing. And this is her equally amazing wedding to her love Jack. 3 outfit changes no less! It’s the first of an long term on going series we have coming up on what the traditional fabrics, dress and ceremonies mean to the British West African Brides who find so much joy and love and fun in them! And have been so generous in sharing them and their stories with Most Curious.
This also ties in with a special GIVEAWAY that Most Curious Talent members Simpley Asoebi currently have running, ending on Saturday 31st October! We’ve put some info from them at the end of this piece. Asoebi, simply put, is the Nigerian tradition of the coordinated clothing of the wedding party. It is a Yoruba word which loosely translates to ‘family cloth’. This matching fabric traditionally worn in the Yoruba culture, is used to identify special groups connected to the celebrant at events. The custom has grown in popularity over the last decade and is now practised by various countries across the African continent, as well as in the diaspora. Abimbola had it her wedding as you can see, read on to hear and see more on this and alllll the proceedings!
QUICK NOTE TO SAY THIS IS A PRE 2020 WEDDING..
IMAGES BY GEORGE DICKSON PHOTO
Jack and I had our registry wedding a few days prior to our main ceremony, this was with just our parents and siblings as the church we wanted to get married in didn’t hold a wedding licence. The following Saturday we then had a traditional Nigerian and English church ceremony on the same day in East Sussex with just over 100 guests (tiny by Nigerian standards). We were really lucky that Jack’s mum has a beautiful house in a small village that backs onto a tiny church, thought to be one of the smallest in the UK. We had a marquee put up in Jack’s mum’s field and held a shortened Yoruba ceremony there. Then got changed and walked up to the church for a Christian blessing. The marquee was transformed into our reception venue using amazing skills by Jack’s sister Floss and we ate dinner, held speeches and danced the night away.
My outfits were:
A royal blue traditional Yoruba outfit for the Nigerian ceremony that my aunty had made for me in Nigeria, it fit close to perfectly and I had it adjusted by my tailor Zeek in London. [Jack wore a three piece traditional Yoruba outfit that my Dad had made in Nigeria in a matching royal blue colour]
A white wedding dress from Jesus Peiro that I bought in a sample sale from Morgan Davies Bridal (on a total whim, I’d thought that I wouldn’t bother with a white dress but my friend Uwa and I went to the sale after seeing a post on instagram. I just thought I’d have a bit of fun trying dresses on and ended up falling in love with this one. It was really cheap in the sale so I bought it. My friend Sipho then tailored and embellished the dress for me as her wedding present to me. I loved that process and it made wearing it so special) [Jack wore a navy blue suit from Paul Smith with a checked double breasted waist coat from Ede and Ravenscroft]
My final outfit was a modern twist on a traditional Yoruba outfit. It was loosely inspired by a Halpern Studio dress Lupita Nyongo had worn to a Star Wars premier. It was form fitting, sparkly, strapless and had a stiffer green folded across it as a beautiful piece of detailing that reminded me of also-oke (the material we use for our headpieces). I thought if I could find some beautiful sequinned material I could get a dress tailored that used aso-oke as a highlight feature so that I was still incorporating my Nigerian heritage into my final outfit. I was already connected to a fantastic tailor called Zeek who is based in West Norwood and had made a few dress for me when I’ve been a bridesmaid for friends so I knew that he was really talented and worked well with my personal style and body shape. I took the photo of Lupita to him and he designed something beautiful! I love the dress and hope to have another occasion that I can wear it to! [Jack wore an emerald green two piece traditional Yoruba outfit and a fila (hat) made from the same aso oke fabric that one Zeek used to detail my dress with]
What do the fabrics mean to you for your wedding and in a more wider sense as well?
The use of matching fabrics is a tradition that goes way back in Nigerian ceremonies. Normally the bride and groom’s families and guests will have their own colours but as our ceremony was so small and the emphasis was on us paying homage to my Nigerian heritage to show that it will always be reflected in our marriage, we thought it more fitting to us to choose unified materials for both sides.
It was brilliant, we selected a fabric for our guests to wear and offered them the opportunity to use it to get outfits tailored if they felt like joining in. We were delighted that almost everybody did. The fabric was sky blue with bright pink head gear. The male outfits were organised by my dad who got his tailor in Lagos to sew them and brought them all over in his suitcase. The female outfits were trickier as there is much more variety so the women collected the material from me or had it posted to them and they had local UK tailors make outfits for them. I’d collated a suggested list of tailors as many of our guests had never used a tailor before. Arriving at the ceremony and seeing everyone in their aso ebi was honestly one of my favourite moments of the ceremony. Such a mixed group of people going the extra mile to celebrate my Nigerian heritage in the English countryside. It was overwhelming.
Our more senior guests, parental figures had their own green fabrics, then our aunties and uncles had their own special blue fabrics to denote their honour amongst our guests. When you look at the photos from the ceremony, you can see a reflection of who has what roles in our lives.
Which creatives helped you create this dream?!
I’d definitely recommend Zeek to anyone and everyone: @zeeksconcept my favourite tailor and a friend now too. @divasplatform made my maid of honour’s dress and she is so patient and kind, I would highly recommend her.
My hair stylist Adeline @adelinehairandbeauty always goes the extra mile for me and my hair was on point on my day. She travelled all the way from Southgate in north London to Sussex to do my hair
My makeup artist Miri, @makeupbymevo was perfect. She did my makeup as well as my mum’s, my cousins and MOH’s. Everyone looked like the best version of themselves and she put everyone at ease
My gele was tied by @kudiglam who also brought a number of other gele tiers to attend on the day so that all of the guests could have theirs done too
My wedding MC was Mrs Remi Ago who was super helpful with organising the gele tiers, and running the traditional ceremony
Our caterer was Sarah Litchfield at Elm Green Creative [www.elmgreen.co.uk]. Her food was fresh, flavoursome and so delicious, my Aunty and my cousin Folarin made some Nigerian dishes which we served alongside Sarah’s cooking to devise a delicious fusion menu.
Our wedding stationery - menus, programmes were designed and printed by my cousin Cecilly @cecilyvessey www.cecilyvessey.com
Thank you so much Abi! We can’t stop looking at these pictures (By George Dickson)!! You can see a brilliant, emotional and also quite hilarious detailed run blow by blow run of the wedding on Abi’s story highlights, which we had a whale of a time checking out! Find some more amazingness here too!
Scroll through to see some info from Simply Asoebi on their special giveaway to win their Asoebi service for your wedding, which is running till the end of the month.
SIMPLY ASOEBI’S SPECIAL GIVEAWAY OFFER!
“We launched Simply Asoebi earlier this year,’ describes co-founder Nwanne Maduanusi. “How Asoebi works is that guests of a wedding purchase a chosen fabric from the couple to show support and solidarity at the wedding. Every guest who purchased the fabric will then sew it into an outfit of any style they choose and wear it to the celebration. Asoebi is one the greatest expressions of style, personality and confidence and never goes amiss in the Nigerian culture. Although a beautiful tradition which has gained popularity across Africa, unfortunately, organising asoebi is also one of the most stressful parts of a traditional wedding for countless couples - the stress of chasing payments from family and friends and hand-delivering asoebi to each guest to name a few.”
Their service is the perfect way to not only sort your asoebi from the comfort of your own home but also to gain knowledge on culture and is particularly helpful for the bride who does not want to deal with the stress of organising asoebi for her guests or simply does not know where to start!
“We have a client-focused approach,’ says Nwanne, ‘and handle everything from sourcing the fabric, to collecting payments from guests securely online and delivering each fabric beautifully packaged in our luxury, signature boxes to each guest - right to their doorstep!”
Visit their website (www.simplyasoebi.com) to book a FREE online consultation, to run us through your vision and then just sit back and relax as they do the rest! They have promotional introductory prices on all service packages for all bookings secured this year. AND! you can enter the current GIVEAWAY win their Asoebi service for your wedding, which is running till the end of the month.
OR HOP TO THE INSTAGRAM TO ENTER HERE
