₦airaland Forum

These days, it's not uncommon to see foreigners, no Nigerian partner or Nigerian ancestry having full-on Nigerian weddings

They wear agbada, dorn fila, rock aso-ebi, tie gele, do dobale, hire live bands & DJ's, play afrobeats songs, dance and spray money. Why? Because it looks good on Instagram/TikTok and will garner lots of views, likes and bring more followers.

This is not appreciation. It’s cultural appropriation.

Traditional weddings in Nigeria, whether Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa-Fulani, Benin, Efik, Ijaw, Ibibio etc are not just for show. They carry deep meaning.

Introduction ceremonies are not meet and greet; they’re family-to-family diplomacy.

Engagement rites come with protocols: proposal letters, bride price, blessings, and symbolic gestures.

Traditional outfits aren’t costumes, they reflect tribe, ancestry, status, and identity.

Cultural expressions like dobale, kneeling, or oriki aren’t TikTok trends - they’re sacred acts of honour and respect.

So when outsiders throw on agbada and gele, gather their friends, mimic our customs, and call it a Nigerian wedding experience - all without the context, connection, or commitment - they are disrespecting and desecrating our culture.

They skip the spiritual, emotional, and familial layers. All they want is the decor, the drama, and the dance floor.

It’s insulting. It’s empty. And it needs to stop. Leave Nigerian traditional weddings for Nigerians. A NTW is not a theme. It's not fun cultural vibes. It's not for aesthetics. It's our culture rooted in history, family values, and sacred rites.

Mynd44:
When Nigerians are having full-on English weddings inside churches with Suit and white wedding gown when the couple are not related to or have any English ancestry, it was what? Not culture appropriation?

Or because they colonized us we lost our senses and adopted ther culture and tradition?

Before anyone comes to argue, "white weddings" are not church weddings. They are simply traditional weddings based on the practices of English people and being done in a church.

Nothing will happen if you wear Agada and Aso Oke to church, it is still a church wedding. Then there is also the fact that the only wedding recognises in the bible is the traditional. Nowhere did Jesus or God ask you to come to church to be married.

Mynd44:
When Nigerians are having full-on English weddings inside churches with Suit and white wedding gown when the couple are not related to or have any English ancestry, it was what? Not culture appropriation?

Or because they colonized us we lost our senses and adopted ther culture and tradition?

Before anyone comes to argue, "white weddings" are not church weddings. They are simply traditional weddings based on the practices of English people and being done in a church.

Nothing will happen if you wear Agada and Aso Oke to church, it is still a church wedding. Then there is also the fact that the only wedding recognises in the bible is the traditional. Nowhere did Jesus or God ask you to come to church to be married.

Mynd44:
When Nigerians are having full-on English weddings inside churches with Suit and white wedding gown when the couple are not related to or have any English ancestry, it was what? Not culture appropriation?

Or because they colonized us we lost our senses and adopted ther culture and tradition?

Before anyone comes to argue, "white weddings" are not church weddings. They are simply traditional weddings based on the practices of English people and being done in a church.

Nothing will happen if you wear Agada and Aso Oke to church, it is still a church wedding. Then there is also the fact that the only wedding recognises in the bible is the traditional. Nowhere did Jesus or God ask you to come to church to be married.

Mynd44:
When Nigerians are having full-on English weddings inside churches with Suit and white wedding gown when the couple are not related to or have any English ancestry, it was what? Not culture appropriation?

Or because they colonized us we lost our senses and adopted ther culture and tradition?

Before anyone comes to argue, "white weddings" are not church weddings. They are simply traditional weddings based on the practices of English people and being done in a church.

Nothing will happen if you wear Agada and Aso Oke to church, it is still a church wedding. Then there is also the fact that the only wedding recognises in the bible is the traditional. Nowhere did Jesus or God ask you to come to church to be married.

semid4lyfe:
Yes, many Nigerians wear suits and white gowns, and go to church but that's due to colonization, and imposition through religion. education and law. We didn’t pick up white weddings because we thought it was fancy and cute . It became part of our formal wedding system because of power, not preference.

That’s very different from a foreigner, who has no connection to Nigeria or any Nigerian partner waking up one day and saying, “Let’s do a Nigerian wedding", wear agbada, tie gele, and dobale just for fun.

That's Cultural appropriation which is the act of people from a more dominant or unrelated culture picking and using another culture’s sacred traditions for fun, performance or profit — without any connection, understanding, or respect.

Me wey be Nigerian, I know when we dobale, it’s not for camera. It’s respect. When we kneel, it’s not performance — it’s tradition. The Alaga that leads our engagement is not just there to shout “mo gbeyawo” — she’s holding decades of ancestral wisdom and protocol. That thing no be for aesthetics.

And let’s be real — most Nigerians still do traditional marriage first, before any white wedding. The agbada and aso oke come out before the tux and tie. We know where our roots lie.

So no, the two situations are not the same. We adapted white weddings under pressure. Foreigners are copying our traditions for pleasure.

At the end of the day, all I’m saying is, if you no get any tie to Nigeria — no partner, no family, no lived experience — then leave our culture alone. Observe, enjoy from afar, even learn. But don’t turn our traditional wedding rites into a theme.

Our Traditional weddings carry weight. Dem no be costume. Dem no be content

Simple!

.........And for those saying but you do white wedding, I didn't. This quoted poster knows cos he was there.