An FCT-based Marriage Counsellor, Mr Olanrewaju Daramola, has advised intending couples to plan for their wedding ceremony within the limits of their resources and resist peer pressure to engage in unnecessary expenditure.
He gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja.
According to him, it is reasonable for intending couples to resist the temptation to take loans because the creditors will do everything to recover their loans at the appointed date and with interest.
The counsellor noted that peer pressure and bandwagon syndrome were the twin factors influencing decisions of intending couples not to keep their spending within the limit of their budgets or personal savings.
According to him, experience had shown that in some instances, couples who borrow money to execute their wedding often face financial embarrassment after the ceremony.
“If a member of family or friend is not comfortable with a intending couple’s arrangement for wedding, then he or she must provide the extra money needed to alter the original plan.
“How much couples spend on their wedding depends on their financial strength, it could be as little as N10, 000 or as much as N1 million,’’ he said.
An Event Planner, Ms Yemisi Abejide, said that the main things needed for a successful wedding include the apparels for the couples.
Others she said were; venue, food, drinks, supply of music, vehicles, guests, photographs and appointed destination for honeymoon.
“ I had a wedding which I planned recently; the couple had their wedding in a Catholic church on a weekday.
“They had just few family and friends around and after the priest blessed their union, we all dispersed to our different places of work. It was that simple,’’ she said.
She explained that the success of marriage was not dependent on whatever amount of money spent on wedding ceremony, long after the couples have settled in their home.
“Spending millions on a wedding is not only a waste of money; it may even lead to divorce because money is one of the biggest causes of breakdown in marital relationships,’’ she said.
Contributing, a bridegroom, Mr Raymond Okoro expressed concern that many intending couples planned their wedding without idea of the cost implications.
“A good place to start is to peep into other couples’ budgets; that way intending couples can have an idea of what the couples spent, so that intending ones can use that as a basis to start making their budget.
“Another way to make up a wedding budget list is to ask new couples or a wedding planner for the typical things couples need to spend during their weddings.
“One of the first things to do when planning a wedding is to set a budget based on how much the couple can afford.
“One does not just take entire wedding money to the market to start shopping, that is dumb,’’ he explained.
Okoro also advised intending couples to make shopping list of all the things they needed to buy, services to hire and how much to spend on each item.
“A wedding budget is simply a shopping list of every expense intending couples are likely to spend for their wedding.This is largely determined by one’s financial strength and number of people expected to attend.’’
A civil servant, Mr Abdullahi Ahmed, who married on March 3 said when he was preparing for his marriage, in line with Islamic injunctions, he only expended what he had saved for the event.
He further said it was unnecessary to spend too much on a one-day event which would come and go.
Another civil servant in Osun, Dr Arinola Ajayi, in a telephone interview with NAN urged rich intending couples to eschew extravagant spending for wedding, stressing that such extra money could spent to add value to the less privileged in the society.
Similarly, a social commentator, Mr Moses Olanrewaju, said that it was unwise for would-be couples to take loans from banks or any financial institutions for non-profit making ventures such as wedding.
This he said became necessary because such couples might find it difficult to pay back.
“Especially, if they do not have steady source of income, paying back is always difficult and such couples can engage in desperate moves which can result in the dissolution of their marriage.
“Weddings and other social events are meant for merriment, so intending couples should manage what is available and affordable for the purpose of the fun of the occasions.
“People will just come and eat and after the events the couple will be left alone to face the challenges of paying back the loan,’’ he said.
A Cosmetologist, Ms Elizabeth Adebunmi, also advised intending couples to engage in painstaking savings in order to plan their weddings adequately and leave out undue expenses. (NAN)