Inside: A Beautiful Fusion Wedding In West Sussex The Wedding Edition

The Story

Amanosi and I met at Leeds University through a mutual friend, we married 3 days after our 10 year anniversary – so it was a very special year for us. We got engaged 2 days before my birthday in 2022, so I thought all of the special treatment I was receiving was for my birthday but no, Amanosi had been planning a special proposal for several months. We got engaged at home, after a very special dinner at the top of the OXO tower – it was completely magical. The ring is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, I hadn’t given Amanosi much direction other than I wanted something unique and for it to be more than one stone, he chose a beautiful 3ct 5 stone emerald cut ring – it was beyond my wildest dreams.

Venue

We got married in a small countryside church in my parents parish in West Sussex and then had the reception at my aunts house just down the road, its a beautiful house and was very sentimental that we could have the reception somewhere I’ve spent my life visiting. Amanosi is Nigerian, so we had a real fusion wedding – embracing both Nigerian and British elements, we really wanted all of our guests to feel very comfortable but also that was something very us. On the Friday, we had a Nigerian ceremony with just Amanosi’s family and my close family – this was incredibly special and something which we will treasure for many years to come. The Saturday of our British wedding was the most magical event surrounded by family and friends.

Fashion

My white wedding dress was the Hailey (with a few bespoke edits) from Suzanne Neville – it was the most beautiful dress I’ve ever worn, it was made so perfectly and fitted me like a glove, I can’t recommend Suzanne Neville more – all of the team were amazing. My Nigerian ceremony dress was made for me in Nigeria, the same with Amanosi’s traditional suit. For the Saturday wedding, Amanosi wore a bespoke midnight blue suit from Edit Suits. On Saturday evening, Amanosi and I changed into different traditional Nigerian outfits, these were stunning red, gold and sparkly, again made for us in Nigeria. We really stood out from the crowd in the best way. For shoes I wore a pair of Silvia Lagoa bespoke gold shoes which were the perfect shade to go with both my white dress and my Nigerian outfit.

I chose Suzanne Neville having gone to a couple of different places and trying on a few different styles, but the dresses in Suzanne Neville are just the most comfortable, flattering and stylish. To top it off, the team made me feel like family from the very first appointment and were just amazing throughout.

Jewellery

When we got engaged my paternal aunt gifted me 2 stunning family brooches one which had a sapphire in the middle and worked perfectly as a hair grip – so I wore this in my hair on the day – this was also my something blue and technically my something borrowed. The other brooch I had made into an incredible pair of earrings by a very talented family friend – Gillian Gee. She managed to keep the integrity of the brooch design, and make a pair of stunning antique yet modern earrings. That was all I wore on the day, I kept it quite simple and let the elegance of the single pieces speak.

Bridal Party

I had 3 incredible bridesmaids and 2 gorgeous flower girls, Amanosi had 3 groomsmen – so we were very equally balanced. My bridesmaids wore the Tilly from Maids to Measure in champagne, my dress was bright white, so the Champagne colour was the perfect complimentary colour. They were also a brilliant dress for all the girls – they all loved them. My little flower girls wore simple tulle dresses from Monsoon, they were essentially mini versions of my dress, they looked so sweet. Amanosi’s groomsmen wore suits from Slaters in Leeds where they are all based, so it was easier to go somewhere local. Gifts wise – when making the earrings there were a few spare diamonds, so Gillian cleverly put one stone on a bracelet for each bridesmaid, and then on a charm each for the flower girls – it was lovely because it meant we were all wearing something from the same piece of jewellery and it tied us all together in a very special way. Amanosi bought his groomsmen a bottle of Marc Antoine-Barrois cologne each, which was something they all loved.

Transportation

We were very kindly lent an amazing vintage jaguar from a family friend. Guests were able to park overnight at our reception venue, so we didn’t have to worry to much about transfers as everyone could drive.

Tablescape

We had a wonderful tent company – Tents’n’events, who provided a traditional sail tent decked out in lights, which was perfect in the backdrop of the garden. The tent and garden was a big event, so really we just wanted to enhance what was already there and not take away from it. Maison de Fleurs, my florist totally understood the assignment and created a beautiful arch at the church and another arch at the front of the marquee to create an entrance point for the guests.

They also made a 6 metre hanging cloud of flowers down the middle of the tent over everyones heads, which made a wonderful highlight. They also placed single stems of blush pink roses and deep red dahlias down the tables. We didn’t have candles as we had sharing food and didn’t want everyone having to move to much around to accommodate the food. For wedding favours we bought a touch of Amanosi to the table, Amanosi is a fan of hot sauce, so we bought everyone a small bottle of different flavours of hot sauce which they could either take with them or they could use on the day, they also doubled as name places. We just attached brown luggage tags to each bottle and wrote everyone’s names on them. We used a local hire company for the tableware and stuck to neutrals, and then picked up colour in the glasses.

Food & Drink

We started with a sparkling reception, as we were a large number (over 150) we kept costs slightly lower and had Guv’nor sparkling wine for our reception, everyone loved it. We had a special toast with Wiston sparkling wine, which is the vineyard closest to the house in Sussex, so was really nice to have that connection. Into the evening we had cocktails from The Miami Cocktail Company, which we served over ice in red cups to make it feel like a party.

Food is a very big part of Nigerian culture, particularly wedding food, so we hired 2 different caters. Hannah who owns Bakestone to provide the British/Nigerian fusion elements and a Nigerian caterer to provide the Jollof rice, egusi and pounded yam (traditional Nigerian celebration food). Hannah cleverly intertwined delicious chicken and salads and sides all with a wonderful Nigerian twist. Our canapés were amazing, Hannah came up with 8 different options which were totally delicious, again all infusing Nigerian flavours – our guests were blown away by the food. We had sharing food, so everyone could have as much as they wanted – it worked perfectly.

Entertainment

Our band was the first thing we booked, we knew we wanted someone who could get the party started, read the room and also play lots of different genres of music. The SoundHouse Band delivered above and beyond on every element of this. Otty who runs the band, brought an incredible group of musicians, and the dance floor was full from the moment they started playing Afrobeat, Motown, Pop, RnB, right the way through to when we ended – even then people were begging for more. Our first dance was a Nigerian love song called By You, by Simi – it’s a gorgeous song, perfect for a first dance and one that Nosi and I have listened to many many times over our decade together.

For our ceremony we have a close family friend who is a professional pianist so he kindly played the organ at our church – we had Pomp and Circumstance for my entrance, and then Queen of Sheba as we exited.

We had fireworks towards the end of the evening, which was incredibly special and a real highlight of the evening. All of our guests were really surprised as we hadn’t told them about these so everyone gathered on the back terrace and watched a 5 minute fireworks show – it was the pièce de resistance to our evening, our guests are still messaging us about the entertainment saying it was the best they’d seen at a wedding.

Beauty Regime & Wellness

I had a couple of Face Gym signature facials in the run up to the wedding, and then 2 weeks before I had a Clean and Lift facial from FaceGym to make sure my skin was glowing (which it was). I worked with Secret Spa many years ago, and have always gone to them for any make up needs, their make up artists are the best, so that was easy. Mara who I chose, was incredible – she listened to exactly what I wanted and made me look like me on a good day. I don’t wear much make up so it was important to me that I looked like myself. My bridemaids were the same, they all wanted to just glow but look natural, and Mara absolutely got that on the button. My hair was done by Louise Foard and her sister Jess – they’ve done my hair for years and I don’t trust anyone else with it. They styled me the most gorgeous Hollywood waves which lasted all day, and made me feel like a million dollars. They went above and beyond on the day and worked so hard to make sure we all looked amazing, including my dad.

Favourite wedding gifts

I discovered The Wedding Present Company through The Wedding Edition, and was really impressed with their selection. It was a really fun date day when Amanosi and I went and chose all of our presents at their Fulham showroom. We were incredibly lucky, our guests were very generous, we received cast iron pots from Le Creuset, Smeg appliances, a Kitchen aid with all of the attachments, beautiful decor pieces from Weaver Green and The Linen Works.

Honeymoon

We worked with Emma at EnVogue travel for our mini moon and honeymoon. We jetted off to Sardinia for a week straight after the wedding, staying in 2 gorgeous locations. Emma is now also helping us book an incredible trip to Tahiti and Bora Bora for 2024 – we can’t wait.

Advice

Hire a wedding planner – we hired Rebecca from Get Wed quite late in the game, but she was incredible – she settled all of our and our families nerves and our day ran like clockwork. Amanosi and I didn’t need to worry about a thing with Rebecca there, I really can’t recommend getting someone to help enough.
Try not to spend too much time looking for things – once you’ve made your decision try and stick to it. There is SO much choice out there when it comes to suppliers, colours, design, every element there is every possibility, so try not to second guess yourself. Trust your gut and your wedding planner if you have one, and then try not to look at other options once you’ve decided – it’ll only confuse you.
Have a small slush fund put aside for the last 2 weeks before the wedding – we didn’t do this and wish we had. We had some last minute bills for things that we had to be flexible on (waiter numbers, transport for some family, etc) and it would have been great to have a small fund set aside just for those last minute things. So if you can, put aside a bit of money that’s not budgeted to anything else so you can cover those costs, and if you don’t use it then you can always splash out on your honeymoon.
Last piece of advice – spend as much time together on your day as you can – it absolutely flies by, so make sure you’re always at least within eyesight of each other and keep going back to one another whenever you can.