Seilat and Lekan's Wedding

5/20/2021 La' Heiress 0 Comments

Seilat and Lekan

Role: Partial Wedding Planning, which means that the client had some preferred vendors they will like to use, while the planner provides the remaining vendors and then the planner coordinates all vendors. But for 5his event, it seemed more like full wedding because the client only had about 4 or 5 vendors they wanted me to work with.

Date: Friday, 12th of December, 2020.

Location: Lagos

Guests: 800 (before covid) 500 (post covid), about 600 (actual)

Hashtag: #PoseUnion

THE CLIENT

So apparently, the bride is actually an amazing friend of mine. She has been a huge supporter of the brand from our personal shopping days. She is also an actress. Y'all should check her out on Instagram @seiilat and also follow her you tube channel. 

OUR ROLE

Partial wedding planning. Which means that the client has preselected a few vendors while we source for the rest. So we ended up suggesting some vendors in addition to the ones they already had and coordinating the entire event. We Drew up a floorplan, created a dressup timeline and created a wedding reception programme breakdown for all the vendors and coordinated all activities on the wedding day.

THE EVENT

It was a 3 in 1-day event, which meant that they were going to have the Engagement, joining ceremony and reception on the same day. Te Engagement and reception ceremony took place at the same venue while the joining took place at a different venue.

THE PLANNING PROCESS

We had started planning the wedding since 2019 and the wedding date was stated for March 2020... but Covid caught up with us and we had to postpone the wedding three times before settling for a date in December. We had paid most of the vendors in full before the covid lockdown and this was a problem for me because I was scared that the vendors may not deliver once a date was fixed for the wedding.

I particularly loved planning this event because the couple were completely and absolutely trusting. And this gave us peace of mind to execute flawlessly. The bride will call before she makes any move at all. Will ask me to reach out to the vendor to ask the necessary questions to prevent her from making any mistakes. They were ready to abide by the rules, one which included sticking to the strictly by invitation decision and ensured that their parents were carried along throughout the planning process.

And as the Queen of personal touches, the Covid-19 lockdown gave me ample time to think up different personal touches that could be used to spice up the event. I was able to think of different ways to add our own personal touches to the event to make it even more special for the couple. I have decided to post a few pictures of the personal touches we added here...

       For the bridal party

COVID RESTRICTIONS

Because we were just gradually easing out of the Covid, there were some restrictions that came with Covid-era events. We were only allowed to set up for 50 percent of the hall's capacity inside the hall and the hall could sit at least 800 guests, so we worked with 400 guests. We were also only allowed 5/6 seats per table.

THE SITTING ARRANGEMENT

Since we were only allowed 50% percent of the hall's capacity and with 5 chairs per table, it meant that we had to work with about 80 tables and 400 chairs. This was okay because we had initially paid the decorator for 80 tables and thankfully, this didn't affect the cost of the decor.

THE EVENT DAY

So the decor had started two days before the event day and were able to finish the set-up on the day of the event. And I was there with my team to set up for the vendors as I normally like to to ensure their tables and name tags are set up a day before, to ensure a smooth process so that when they get to the hall, they meet their required number of tables and can start without having to call anybody. As you can see in the picture below

We had partitioned the reception venue into 2 parts: the reception area and the engagement area, in such a way that one will not affect the other, as you can see in the floorplan here:

The engagement started and upon all the time communication with the alagas prior to the day, to make the ceremony as brief as possible, it was a Herculean task to get them to end the ceremony and we eventually had to whisk the couple away to enable them get ready for the joining ceremony...

As soon as the engagement ceremony ended, we had the bouncers relocate the guests outside the hall, so that we could clear up the space for some vendors to set up... this did not sit well with some family members but we eventually agreed to allow some of their guests to sit, eat and relax a bit before we eventually asked them to exit the hall...

In total, we had about 600 guests in attendance for the wedding reception and it was a flawless event. All the vendors over delivered

THE HIGHLIGHTS

- All the vendors over delivered!!! They brought their A-games despite the fact that they had been paid months before covid struck and we had to postpone the wedding three times.

- All guests had an IV or access card and this eliminated the issue of overcrowding. It really helped with the crowd control ish plus the bouncers were very strict as well.

- It was a celebrity event that was very organized. 

- The guests had more than enough food to eat and drink. Thanks to all our amazing vendors.

- The Decor was beautiful.

- The bride had insisted during the planning process that she was particular about her hotel pictures and didn't want to miss any, in as much as it was a 3 in 1 day event. They had more than enough time for their hotel pictures to be taken. Thanks to the vendors who abided by the dress up timeline and kudos to our bride attendant who was attentive to this.

- All the personal touches that was added to their event didn't go unnoticed. The bridal party all noticed their names and special treats and this made them feel special. The couple was not left out as well.

- We ran out of complementary cards, as guests kept asking for it.

- The afterparty was super LIT!

- We were able to set up the honeymoon suite as a surprise for our couple.

     And yes, the guestbook was also one of the personal touches we added, where guests filled out their best wishes for the couple

- Their appreciation video message got us about 1000 plus followers on IG 😳💃🏽🙌🏽

- The event was a flawless, seamless and beautiful one.

THE CHALLENGES

- The only challenge we had was with the alagas in the morning, as they refused to end the engagement in the morning and it seemed like two alagas were trying to outdo the other

LESSONS

1. When having a 3 in 1 day event, it is not advisable to use 2 alagas. Just one is enough, especially where time management is concerned.

2. When you stick to the guestlist, your event will most likely be flawless, because the number one issue for any event is an overcrowded hall. It is very difficult to manage people when they are not seated. The first step to being able to manage an event properly is to first have the guests seated.

#PoseUnion was a massive success! We absolutely love our couple. Thank you once again for choosing and trusting La' Heiress Weddings. We wish you a lifetime of happiness and love. ❤