An Instagram creator who posts as @lanoanddana has shared a lighthearted video, watched more than 525,000 times, joking about the fact that he isn’t Nigerian while explaining why he and his wife still wanted to host a Nigerian-themed wedding celebration, largely so they could wear traditional Nigerian outfits together as part of their overall wedding experience.
His caption lays out the couple’s reasoning plainly: “We just wanted to try a different style for our wedding because white wedding was too boring. So we…” the sentence cutting off before detailing the rest of their planning process, but the core motivation is clear enough, a desire to break from a conventional Western “white wedding” format in favor of something they found more visually vibrant and personally exciting.
According to the creator, despite having no Nigerian heritage himself, he and his wife were drawn to the aesthetic and cultural richness of Nigerian wedding traditions, particularly the traditional attire, colorful, elaborately designed garments that stand in sharp visual contrast to the more subdued, uniform look of a typical white wedding dress and matching formal suit. Rather than treating the absence of Nigerian heritage as a barrier to incorporating these elements into their celebration, the couple embraced the opportunity to try a different style specifically because it offered something they found more exciting than a conventional wedding format.
Multicultural and cross-cultural wedding celebrations have become increasingly common as couples look beyond traditional Western wedding formats for inspiration, drawing on the diverse aesthetics, rituals, and celebratory styles found across different cultures around the world. Nigerian weddings in particular have gained significant visibility on social media in recent years, known for their vibrant colors, elaborate traditional attire known as aso ebi, and celebratory atmosphere that differs considerably from the more restrained tone often associated with conventional Western ceremonies.
The creator’s self-aware humor about not being Nigerian himself suggests an awareness that borrowing wedding traditions from a culture outside one’s own heritage can be a sensitive topic, one he appears to navigate by being upfront and transparent about his motivations, appreciation for the aesthetic and celebratory style, rather than presenting the choice as anything other than what it plainly was: a couple choosing a wedding format that excited them more than a conventional alternative.
The video’s popularity suggests plenty of viewers appreciated both the couple’s candor about their reasoning and the broader appeal of stepping outside traditional wedding formats in favor of something more personally meaningful and visually distinctive.
The Takeaway
Couples drawn to wedding traditions outside their own cultural background are generally encouraged to approach the choice with genuine respect and, where possible, direct engagement with the culture they’re drawing from, whether through consulting friends, vendors, or community members familiar with the specific traditions involved, or by simply being transparent, as this couple was, about their appreciation and motivations. Blending cultural elements into a wedding can be a beautiful way to celebrate diversity and create a uniquely meaningful day, provided it’s done thoughtfully rather than superficially. Ultimately, the most memorable weddings tend to be the ones that authentically reflect what excites and matters most to the couple themselves, whatever traditions they choose to draw upon.
