Folorunsho Alakija: Nigerian N2.1 Billion Wedding In UK Breaks The Internet

 

 

By Egbe Emmanuel E.

 

 

Folorunsho Alakija is a billionaire Nigerian oil tycoon known as the richest black woman in the world and her son Folarin Alakija’s £5million wedding with Iranian model Nazanin Jafarian Ghaissarifar has got the media on a rampage.

The wedding ceremony conducted over the weekend -precisely on June 10, is said to be the most expensive ever witnessed this year. As is seen in the IG pictures shared by some of the quests, no expenses were spared at the fairytale ceremony between the couple who reportedly met in 2016 in London and had a traditional Nigerian wedding in Lagos in November – same year.

Folarin is an entrepreneur, while his new wife Nazanin has a degree in bioengineering and biomedical engineering from the University of Manchester. The groom is a widower who lost his first wife to cancer, leaving him with their daughter.

Hiring the Oxfordshire stately home of the Duke of Marlborough cost as much as £150,000 (N6.3 million), according to the venue website and decorated with one million nature white flowers – roses and orchids reportedly worth £200,000. 

  The fascination could not be complete with mentioning the 12-foot wedding cake that was also decorated with flowers, and a food menu of a five-course meal.

  Folarin and Nazanin take the first dance on the marble floor engraved with their initials in gold. The bride wore a strapless wedding gown but later changed into a party white lacy dress for the dance.
Their ceremony crowned with a performance from celebrity musician, Robin Thicke followed by an evening fireworks display to end the event.  

Folorunsho Alakija is named by Forbes as the 18th richest woman in African and richest black woman ahead of Oprah Winfrey. Her journey to wealth and fame began through fashion and designing clothes for elites and wives of Nigerian politicians, then the move to oil and other investments.