Real Weddings
Nine weekends, in the order we remember them
Every one of these was planned by the six of us. The captions say where and how many, because those two numbers explain more about a wedding than any adjective does.
Naa & Kwesi
Aburi Botanical Gardens · August · 310 guests
Adjoa & Nii
A white room, Airport City · March · 220 guests
Afia & Selorm
A private garden, East Legon · June · 160 guests
Esi & Bright
An evening ceremony, Ada · November · 140 guests
Abena & Kofi
The traditional rites, Kumasi · April · Both families
Yaa & Kojo
The Labadi shoreline · September · 190 guests
Akos & Mensah
A chapel on the lawn, Akosombo · January · 90 guests
Ama & Fiifi
Under the pergola, Tema · December · 180 guests
Efe & Sena
A night reception, Cantonments · July · 150 guests
A Wedding In Full
Naa & Kwesi, Aburi
The hardest weekend we have planned, and the one we would show you first.
310 guests
Two ceremonies
Full design
The brief
Three hundred and ten guests across two ceremonies and one weekend, in a public garden with no power, no kitchen and a hard 6pm closing time the couple only found out about in month four.
The problem
The traditional rites were on the Friday in Kumasi and the white wedding on the Saturday in Aburi — four hours apart with two hundred of the same guests, half of them elderly, and one road.
What we did
Moved the Friday rites to noon, chartered three coaches for the Saturday morning rather than the Friday night, and put the Aburi ceremony back to 2pm so the convoy had four hours of slack in it. Brought in two 60kVA generators and a field kitchen, and negotiated the garden's closing time to 7.30pm in writing, in February.
On the day
The coaches left eleven minutes late and arrived forty minutes early. Nine of us on site from 5am. The rain that had been forecast all week arrived at 8pm, by which point everybody was under the marquee and it read as atmosphere.
Naa & Kwesi
Aburi Botanical Gardens
When To Marry
The month decides more than the venue
We will plan a wedding in any week of the year. We will also tell you which weeks make your money go furthest.
Harmattan
December — February
The best light of the year and the worst air. Peak season, booked eighteen months out, and the one time we insist on a dust plan for the florals.
The first rains
March — May
Warm, green, and genuinely unpredictable after mid-April. Beautiful gardens, and every one of them needs a wet-weather plan you have actually walked.
The wet season
June — September
Quieter, cheaper, and the reason marquees exist. Some of the loveliest weddings we have done, and all of them had a covered aisle by month six.
The turn
October — November
The short dry spell before harmattan. Our own favourite window and the one couples most often overlook — evenings cool enough to dance in.
Adjoa & Nii
“All we can really say is: we were guests at our own wedding. Adore ran the day so quietly that my mother still thinks nothing went wrong. Three things did. We heard about them the following Tuesday.”
220 guests, Airport City, March
Let us set a scene that looks like the two of you
Tell us the date, the town and roughly how many people love you. We will tell you honestly whether we are the right studio for it.
