Extravagance and Nigerian Weddings...

 Weddings in Nigeria are colorful, creative and extravagant productions, with guest lists of up to 2,000 people considered standard.

"In the western world, if you had 400 people at a wedding, that would be considered a huge number," bridalwear and couture designer Yemi Osunkoya said.

"In Nigeria, if you had 400 guests, people would say 'Oh, dear,' " he continues. "The more (people) you have there, the more friends it seems you have."

Osunkoya should know. With his wedding gowns highly sought-after by Nigerian brides, he attends about 15 of his clients' weddings in Nigeria each year, and his London-based label, Kosibah, is at the heart of that country's booming wedding industry. Last month, it was one of 129 businesses exhibiting at Lagos' Wed Expo exhibition, which drew 10,000 attendees over two days.

"I would say weddings are one of the fastest growing industries in Nigeria right now," said the event's organizer, Akin Eso. "A lot of people term it that they're 'going into events' -- but the money is really in the wedding industry."

The publisher of Wed magazine, a wedding-focused title that launched in Nigeria last year, Eso said the typical Nigerian wedding has evolved in recent years into a high-concept "production. 

There are two parts to a Nigerian wedding, Osunkoya explained. The first ceremony was the "traditional wedding," sometimes also referred to as the engagement. This was typically attended by fewer guests -- only family and close friends -- and may be held in area that one of the couple originally hailed from. The couple would wear traditional dress, with the bride usually wearing a traditional fabric gifted to her by her new parents-in-law, sometimes sewn into a modern Afrocentric design.

The second, "white wedding" -- with a guest list at the reception potentially running into the thousands -- could follow days or even months later. For this, the bride would wear a white bridal gown and the bridal party formal attire. The most popular time of year for weddings was in December, when expatriate Nigerians return from abroad and can face a schedule of weddings seven days a week

read more here  cnn.com