After our wonderful trip and beautiful surprise proposal, I was so excited and ready to start planning! Unlike most girls (I’m assuming ), I never planned out how my wedding would be or any details. I wanted to keep it sacred in my heart and mind by appreciating this special time of engagement and leaving all the planning for those moments. I DID have a planner in mind though (I’ll post more about her in the future ).
Soon after the engagement, I was ready to get the move on with the planning. Or so I thought. Our parents immediately put the brakes on it and told us we weren’t really engaged until we had completed the igbo traditional customs. So you’re telling me I can’t start setting my date & picking my venues? Ugh, your delaying my fun.…is what I initially thought but honestly we have to remember as Nigerian Americans we are born into 2 cultures and we should respect that. I really do LOVE our cultures and traditions. So we set a date for the Iku-aka “Knocking at the Door”. His family & elders made the long trek to my “village” (Dallas, TX) where they were greeted by my family & elders. I can’t go too much into detail about what happened because I was locked away in a room the majority of the time. I only came down when it was time to answer the questions. “This man has come looking for you. Do you know him? Do you want to marry this man?”
Of course my answer was yes!
They also started the ime-ego which is negotiating of the bride price. Everybody may do their own engagement different, however I like how we handled ours.
Now can we start planning?
