Our Court Wedding Recap: Requirements,

Fees, and Tips

June 7, 2017

Hello Lovely People of the interwebs – Alaroros and Shopaholics alike,

How market?

I’m finally getting round to sharing about #0104Ever – my wedding to the most wonderful
Husband Guy ever. *insert slow, sweet smile*

Husband Guy went to the Ikoyi Registry to make enquiries before we started the process. This is
very key for any one who wants to get married in Lagos. Go there and make enquiries. Try to
avoid all those “aunty, afidaifit” people and walk into their office.  (I read a recent WhatsApp
broadcast about how  Local Government registry marriages were not real. So shocking! How
have we let this go on for so long if these marriages were fake? Nigeria: Another day, another
discovery)

Requirements for Ordinary Marriage

 2 passport photographs (each)

 Photocopy of Birth Certificate/Age Declaration (for both of you)
 Sworn Affidavit for (whichever one applies to you)
o Bachelorhood or Spinsterhood (You can get that done there for a fee – not more
than 1k)
o Same Husband/Wife
o Single with Child/Children
 or, Divorce Paper/Death Certificate for Widow(er).

Fees

Payment of NGN 31, 000 (It was NGN 25,000, but someone used black biro to cancel it and
wrote taty-one towzan). Don’t be deceived though, that place is like a casino, there is
something to buy at every point. Oh, there is also someone to settle (well, not settle per se –
more like, “api marid laiv o, wash it voh oz“. So, my advice – break your money. Have lesser
denominations NGN200, NGN100 e.t.c to give to these guys.
The Process:
Stage 1 – Oath Taking

After submitting all the documents, we calendarised the date for our Oath Taking exercise –
February 14. You are required to bring 2 Biros and N500 (for a photograph you may never see
and no sir, you cannot bring your own photog for Oath Taking, it has to be one of theirs). If you
do not have a biro, no problem! You can buy from a vendor at the court for N100. Oh, did I tell
you that once you sign the biro(s) or pen(s) become theirs? Recycled sales, so amazing! Why is
the Oath Taking necessary? – You swear that all the information provided by you with regards
to the marriage are all valid and not falsified and you pick your court wedding date. We picked
March 02. I love how fast their activities are at the registry sha. This is not the time to change
your mind, ma or sah. In less than 5 minutes, all 3 couples had done their oath taking. Assembly
Line style.

Stage 2 – Issa Wedding Day

Dress Code

Men: Suit, Shirt and Tie – N.B. The tie is compulsory. You have to wear it or they will not let you
in.

Women: Skirt/Trouser Suit or Dress

Other Requirements

Wedding Ring(s)/Bible/Quran

2 Witnesses

I took the day off from work, because I knew it was going to be summat stressful. We invited
our parents, but my dad invited his whole family. So, it went from small and private to large.
We had been advised to show up early, so we could write down our names. Well, my man Kel
got us a plug who wrote our names down. At this time, we hadn’t settled on a photographer, so
we had one we were testing show up.
Outfit: 
The dress I wore for my court wedding was an “old” dress. When I bought it in September, I
thought I would keep it away until it was time to go to court. However, my girl was getting
married and I thought it would be the perfect outfit to wear with my new haircut.

 At about 8am, they started calling out our names – like I said, we were number 5 on the list
and we got called in quickly. This is where my madness started. I had to go to my office to get
my makeup done – lol. It took me about an hour to return, but I was just in time.    

 We were ushered in to the form-filling area where we started the process. At the first desk, we
paid N1000 – the cost of getting married on a Thursday (I remember the Lady that addressed us
saying something about Monday people paying N10,000/N12,000 – I was like O_O). We filled
the forms in pencil, the way our names were supposed to appear.

Afterwards, we went to sit and wait.

The Actual Wedding

“Number 5 Family. I repeat Number 5 family move to the hall now!”

The most significant part of the wedding for me was the vows:

with my body, I adore you;

with my worldly possessions and goods, I endow you.

It was really quick for us. We used a Bible and our fathers witnessed the certificate. After our
vows, we dropped offering while our family members sang songs. Once this was done, we were
handed our certificate and we moved out. 5 minutes and we were married. As we stepped out,
a group of people were spraying bubbles and beating drums that we had to drop something for
too.

We did not have to, really, but it was our day of happiness – we did it anyway.

Meet The AFs!

Also, remember we got married on the same day as 4 of our dearest friends  – it was a thing for
the blogs and the comments were… uhm… yeah. See one below: 

Tips

 To help manage our expenses as our Trad and White Wedding was just a month away, I
wore a dress I had that I had only worn once before.
 If you know you will not get to court early, get someone to go on your behalf and write
your names down.
  The earlier you are the better, because it can get hot. It is also not a very convenient
place to have your families waiting in. We were number 5 on the day we got married,
and it made it easier for our parents
 Do NOT be late – Bruh, they don’t play at that Ikoyi Registry. If you are not there when
they start calling out names, you will be bumped bumped bumped.
 Have an envelope of lower denominations N200, N100 e.t.c to give to the people you
will run into.

So, there you have it. If you are getting married soon or you know someone who is getting
married soon – share this post with them. I hope it helps someone and guides their way.

As always, Love and Light,

Viv AF.