Million pound brides: Inside the extravagant London weddings of the super-rich Nigerian couples who spend £150,000 on bubbly, £100,000 on a dress and £6,000 on favours.
Every bride wants to look a million dollars when they tie the knot - and affluent women from Nigeria are spending just that to achieve it on their big days.According to a London-based wedding planner, super-rich couples from the West African country can easily blow a small fortune on their nuptials, from spending £100,000 on a designer wedding dress to £150,000 on alcohol.
In-demand event maestro Elizabeth Aisien says London has become the destination of choice for Africa's wealthy elite when they tie the knot.
'It's a competition, people want something like "wow, she arrived by plane". The bride wants to look good and wear the best of everything.'
As a result, she said brides will pay around £100,000 for a bespoke dress by a designer like Vera Wang and £475,000 on diamond jewellery.
She added that it is not just the bride who will push the boat out on the gems they wear to accessorise an expensive outfit.
'The other women want to make a statement, "I wore this diamond, my diamond is bigger than yours",' Elizabeth explained.
She added that the venues of choice for weddings and receptions are up-market London hotels including The Dorcester, The Landmark Hotel and Claridges.She added: 'Kensington Palace is another favourite for Nigerians now.'According to the Historic Royal Palaces, prices for weddings at the Palace start from £12,500 exclusive of catering and VAT. Elizabeth said after forking out to look her best, a bride will then spend a fortune wining and dining her guests - all three thousand of them.
She explained: 'They will spend the most money on Champagne as you have two to three thousand guests at a traditional Nigerian wedding and they will get a bottle of Champagne each.'
This means at an average Nigerian wedding, £150,000 will be spent on booze. And it's not just food and drink lavished on the guests. While at British weddings, attendees may get a token favour like a chocolate, at affluent Nigerian weddings, they will get a gift bag worth £6,000.
Such a bag might contain a £345 perfume, a cashmere scarf worth £350 and a £5,000 watch.
With such luxuries being given out at weddings, it is perhaps no surprise that according to Tatler, every third pound currently spent in Harrods is by a Nigerian.
Nigeria is Africa's largest economy as the Niger Delta region in the south holds some of the world's richest oil reserves. A recent world wealth study found the number of millionaires in Nigeria has risen about 305 percent since 2000.
Many of affluent Nigerians are moving to London - helping the city become home to the most billionaires than any other city in the world.