Meet The Afolabis: Engagement Party & Beginning Plans

Brianna Kozlarek / Tuesday August 29, 2017

In case you missed their first article, we are so excited to have our very first blogger couple, Ayo and Ruth, who will be sharing their journey to the altar every step of the way! Here’s what’s being going on since their engagement:

So firstly can we say how honoured we are to be writing for Aisle Perfect! Getting married is already an adventure in itself but getting to share the journey with many of you is also an added bonus. (Ruth speaking now!) I’ve been a huge fan of AP ever since I discovered it three years ago when they covered the wedding of someone I knew. Ayo and I weren’t even together then so it’s amazing to think we are where we are today. So each month, we’ll be sharing a little more of the wedding journey as we countdown to #MeetTheAfolabis which will be taking place just before summertime in 2018.

 

The Days following the Engagement

So we got engaged in February this year (read the opening post here to find out how). In many ways it feels like just yesterday and in others it feels like we’ve been engaged forever. Having friends and family from the UK, Nigeria, Italy, Dubai and America call, message and send us videos of heart-warming messages is a feeling we will never forget. Although we’d known pretty much since day 1 that we were for each other, those first few days were the best feeling knowing that now all of our loved ones were there to share in this experience as well.

One thing friends always told us before we got engaged is soak up those first few days – don’t plan, don’t think about the details of the wedding just ENJOY! We were a little sleep deprived but that was what we did – we enjoyed it! A funny thing was that Ruth’s ring was a little big so before she had it re-sized. Understandably given the insurance price tag Ayo was a little nervous this first week ha!

How preparation has started

So following the complete euphoria of the first few days/month, it was time to get our heads down to plan. Actually let’s rephrase that lol – it was time for Ruth to get her planning hat on:) We have quite different personalities – Ruth is all about the details when it comes to events whereas Ayo’s main priority is always the dancing, music and food so wedding planning has got off to an interesting start.

We’re both Nigerian which means our wedding will be full of multiple events, full of people and lots of noise. Since we got engaged we’ve actually had 5 weddings – 3 of them were abroad so we’ve definitely been picking up lots of ideas along the way! The first step was for our parents to meet for the first time – in our culture parents don’t meet each other until the couple have got engaged. This first meeting went really well where we started to talk about colours, venues and dates. We live in London and although we are having our traditional engagement here, we are getting married abroad. We’ve been researching and finalising the venue in Europe so we’re looking forward to going to visit and we’ll be sharing that experience and photos with you in the coming months.

 

Our engagement party

In May we held our engagement party for 200 of our friends, colleagues, school/uni friends and family and it definitely gave us a taste of the celebrations to come. The dress code was black and as the celebrants we wanted to turn up for an unforgettable night and set the fashion standard of what’s to come. Seeing everyone come out for us definitely reminded us that in the midst of the planning, stress, robust discussions on how the budget should be spent – that this is definitely an unforgettable moment in our lives and we want to share that with those closest to us.

5 things we’re most looking forward to

Ayo:

  1. The chance to support Ruth on her exciting journey – those that know her know that she’s got an amazing future ahead of her as an individual
  2. The chance to build a Godly home with Ruth
  3. The chance to eat Ruth’s mean Sunday Roast!
  4. Wedding planning… Despite what Ruth says I will enjoy stuff like food tasting and DJ selection (the fun stuff and the food)
  5. The chance to celebrate with friends and family “It’s allll about the turn-up!!”

Ruth:

  1. I’m looking forward to becoming a wife and supporting Ayo and building a home and a future together.
  2. We’re both people of faith so I’m looking forward to us continuing to put God first and begin that covenant that is marriage.
  3. For the wedding itself, I’m excited for my wedding dress. For months I’ve been making sketches so I can’t wait for the design process to actually begin.
  4. I’m looking forward to spending time with our whole bridal party and working with them to make the big day so special.
  5. Lastly I’m excited for the planning and wedding to finish and enjoy our honeymoon ha!

 

We can’t wait to share our next update with you next month.

Love,
Ayo and Ruth x