So today I made it official, I am legally married to the love of my life and this is my biggest achievement of the year 2023.
I was up around 4:00 AM to prepare for the long ride to my partner's house with my mother. It took us around 1 hour to get to her place and about 30 minutes to arrive at the Ikoyi registry. My mother, mother in law and father-in-law joined us almost around the same time
We got a brief orientation around 7:00 am about the whole proceeds. Fortunately for us, I had done my due diligence, so we did not encounter any (initial) problems. We were given numbers and accredited before we were moved to another hall for the wedding ceremony.
Unfortunately for us, we did not upload our identification document, mainly because the option wasn't available when I registered online. By the way, anyone planning on getting married (any time soon) please register online. It saves you a lot of cost. I paid about 30,000 for the entire ceremony while some couples paid two or three times more using an intermediary.
During the wedding ceremony, the lady handling the ceremony requested we give her some money, which is illegal, however, these things aren't always straightforward. She declined the money we gave her for doing nothing and demanded we increase it while also delaying the whole process for us, I thought.
After over an hour of roaming around we finally got our marriage certificate. My wife and I decided to get some photos to mark the event. The photographer who took our pictures outside the hall demanded about 10,000 nairas for low-quality pictures and my response was, “Let me tell my wife". I find this funny because I know she was not going to approve and she was going to be upfront about it(which was exactly what happened), unlike me who is easily convinced .
We ended up paying for a photo session in Studio 24. It cost a couple thousand naira more and it was worth it. We are yet to receive our pictures but they will be ready in the coming weeks. Planning on getting them framed before we officially move in together early next year.
At around 2 pm we were done with the entire ceremony. I drove my in-laws and partner to their respective destinations and went home with my mother. We are moving our honeymoon to January, because of her work and I am looking forward to it.
So that's the 411. Contrary to popular opinion, It doesn't take a lot to get married. I got married to the love of my life without spending millions. We don't have everything figured out but we are taking things a step at a time and I am glad to be doing life with one of the most amazing women in the world. Cheers!