Wedding

The 50 Best Igbo Traditional Wedding Attire

Igba Nkwu Nwaanyi is a very big ceremony in Igboland and as such the best Igbo traditional wedding attires are worn to celebrate the event.

The Igbos are densely populated in the Southeastern part of Nigeria. They are well-known for their traditions and ceremonial nature. Igbo traditional marriage indigenously known as Igba Nkwu Nwaanyi is a series of events that leads to the marital union of a male and female from two families.

Firstly, the traditional marriage ceremony begins with the invitation of the groom’s family to the house of the bride. It is considered as the groom knocking on the door of his bride’s family, hence the name in Igbo ‘Ikuaka’. It is here that the groom and at least two men from his family introduce themselves and their intentions to the bride’s family. The intention for the visit is to seek the hand of their daughter (the bride) in marriage. The men that accompany the groom can be his father, brothers, uncles, cousins, or any other man in the family.

For this introductory visit, the groom and his men go with wines usually alcoholic drinks, though, they might carry non-alcoholic drinks for the women folks in the family. After the groom has declared his intentions, the bride’s father or representative would ask the man to go and return later so that their family would discuss and make necessary findings.

After the Ikuaka, next is ‘Ime Ego’. This Igbo word means the payment of the bride price. The bride’s family communicates to the groom and his family, the monetary requirements and items that he has to purchase to secure their daughter’s hand in marriage.

Unlike some other Nigerian tribes that have cheap bride prices, in some Igbo communities and states, this bride price is so outrageous that the groom might give up his intentions. Some parts of Igboland do not collect money from the groom. The reason is that they are not selling their daughter to the groom’s family. However, they may still collect gifts and other items they required on the list.

The final section that crowns the whole event is the ‘Igba Nkwu Nwaanyi’. The ceremony is done at the bride’s village and most specifically, her compound. It is the most interesting section and the couple makes entrances in their best Igbo traditional wedding attires.

Would you like to see these awesome dresses that we’ve been talking about? Of course, you would! We have pictured the 50 best traditional Igbo wedding attire that you can recreate for your or your friend’s marriage ceremony. As a plus tip for you, we also added clips of bridesmaid dresses to dress up your train and the bridal accessories you would need to look peng yourself.