It is interesting how things change with time! Things that were strange or popularly not the general way of doing things in a few years later become the norm.
Just over a year ago, the first (to the best of our knowledge) publicly announced Nigerian wedding without a reception received a lot of attention especially on social media. Whether it was because that meant no free food or for other reasons best known to the attendees, we really cannot say. It was however evident that the bold words ‘NO RECEPTION’ written on the invitation card was not a good sight for many.

Fast forward to today, the new normal for Nigerian weddings is not to have a reception largely due to the pandemic. You’ll probably not know the cost of hosting a wedding reception until it’s time for yours or you’re actively involved in planning one.
To start with is the cost of renting a hall/event space at a location not far from the church, easy to locate and large enough with parking space for your guests, paying for decoration, cost of feeding an unknown number of persons, music cost – either getting a DJ or a live band and then getting a funny and not so expensive MC.
Other non-financial cost include deciding who will be the chairman/chair lady of the organization, who’s to seat on the high table, who’s to anchor the cutting of your cake etc. Thanks to Coro, no more headaches making all these decisions.

While this may be a blessing in disguise to couples as they get to save a whole of money, it’s however a loss of income for others. One important thing to learn here is this, nothing man-made lasts forever. Every norm today can be totally despised, rejected and unsafe tomorrow. Don’t hurt yourself in a bid to fulfill ‘today’s normal’.
So in all of these we ask, who is most hit by this new norm?