Actress' dress scandal and problematic Nigerian wedding vendors

Quick summary

So yesterday, Jan 1 2017, a newly-married woman known as Retty Petty on Instagram calls out fashion brand, Rika Oto By Me, accusing them of withholding her dress from her on her wedding day even though payment had been made, only to deliver the dress to actress Mercy Aigbe for her birthday photo shoot. The full gist can be found here.

Rika Oto By Me, founded by Maryam Elisha, has yet to make a comment at the time of this story despite the scorching backlash and venom being spat at the brand's name online as a result of the accusation. Again, this is understandable.

While many Nigerians are used to hearing of poor services and terrible customer relations by vendors, Rika Oto By Me’s indiscretion is on a whole new level.

And the whole situation brings to the fore, all the familiar excesses people bear from Nigerian wedding vendors.

Wedding vendor issues

“Nigerian weddings can cost up to $9,460-413,515 with guest lists matching the super-sized budget,” CNN says in a recent report, quoting market research group, TNS Global.

However, this stat, alongside divinely beautiful wedding photos splashed all over social media pages can’t hide the ugly underbelly of the industry and it is in the lap of these vendors that blame roundly sits most times.

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For every fantastic wedding you see pictures of, there’s a strong likelihood that the cake company nearly sent the bride into a full blown panic before delivery was finally made; or that the photographer arrived pretty late, missing some moments that would have made for great lifetime memories for the couple.

Sometimes it’s the event decoration guys, the makeup artistes, the live band, the food vendor, the small chops people who arrive so late and start scampering all over the place, the grills guys, the cocktail team, etc.

See, the list of vendors that could undo a couple’s happy day with poor performance is actually vast and it looks like more than a few Nigerian vendors enjoy some perverse pride in not doing as they and the bride/event planners have agreed.

“At my cousin’s wedding in 2016, the event décor guys had been contracted to come on Friday and set up the whole place for the reception ceremony,” says Tolani who was the Maid of Honour when her cousin tied the knot in Ibadan two years back.

“They didn’t show up till we were leaving for the church ceremony on Saturday. That was after we finished the whole engagement ceremony!

“Needless to say they were not done at the time the reception was supposed to begin,” she says.

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I remember my sister’s wedding in 2013. The photographer decides at the last second that he can’t make it and sends someone else. Most likely because he got a better paying gig. This is after everything had been concluded between him and the couple.

These things have somehow become relatable vices, an expectation of mediocrity so prevalent that after agreeing to pay what is required, brides still make drawn out pleas to vendors to stick to the plan.

“, please deliver the food on time o. Please in the name of God, I beg you, guests will be seated at 1pm.

Come at 11am. Please o. I beg, don’t disappoint us o.”

85% of the time, Mrs. Kalejaiye and her huge gele will arrive at 12:50, when the bride's tears of fear must have ruined her make up already.

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Vendors' excesses no one needs in 2018

This article is not in denial of the maddening realities of planning a Nigerian wedding. It’s also not to put down the efforts of vendors who take their jobs serious and do the best they can.

However, there can be no excuse for a vendor’s best not meeting up to what they were paid for. If the couple pays for a wedding vendor to arrive, deliver, perform etc at a certain time and they agreed, they need to honour the agreement.

It’s greed - and that’s one major problem - when vendors know they can’t deliver but accept the job just because the money is good.

Late delivery, poor services, lackadaisical attitude after getting paid, and pulling an extremely crazy stunt like the one Rika Oto By Me is being accused of… all these need to be left behind in 2017.

I dare say 2018 is a year of calling out mediocre vendors. Seeing the response and attention Retty Pety’s accusation is getting, this surely doesn't look like the last calling out we’ll be seeing in the year.