Real Weddings

Real Wedding: Mame Esaama and Selasie Anani

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Ghanaian newly weds Mame Esaama and Selasie Anani share their wedding day highlights and advice for other couples! The duo danced the night away and tied the knot at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra surrounded by their family and friends.

What was the most memorable part of your wedding day?

Sharing the joy of our union with our family and friends. It was beautiful to be surrounded by their cheering, dancing and praying at various stages in the day.

One instance was during the ceremony, after we signed the marriage register and were first announced as a couple. It was such a pleasure to look into the faces of family and friends as the Hallelujah chorus swelled, filling us with joy. Then came the wedding reception party… oh how we jammed!

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Mame, paint us a picture. What was the theme, style, colors, and overall vibe of your wedding day?

So I’d say that there wasn’t a specific theme of the wedding day but my first inspiration for the colours chosen was a sunset skyline. Eventually, I settled on having plum/purple, fuschia/pink and touches of gold. I wanted a style that looked regal, elegant and understated but felt warm and welcoming.

What was your favorite part of planning your wedding?

Feeling like I could easily manage my guest invite, responses and tracking my expenditure on WedSites. I also really enjoyed designing the website. It felt like my little pet project.

What was the best investment you made for your wedding?

Invest in what matters most to you. For me, that was my wedding photography, videography, and music. I wanted to capture all the beautiful memories from the day. The wedding day itself went by so quickly so it’s nice to relive the moments captured by the awesome teams we had.

The music also goes a long way to set mood for the events. Both Selasie and I agreed that we wanted to really dance and have a good time with our guests on our wedding day.

The other thing that mattered to me was my appearance – how I looked and my outfits. All my vendors were super professional, helpful, and accommodating with developments over the wedding planning period. I felt gorgeous on the day!

My hair and makeup vendors went above and beyond to deliver the looks I requested and in some cases, creating new looks on the day to enhance my features/outfits. An honourable mention goes to the clothing vendors as well – they pulled all the stops. We went through all lengths to get my wedding gown safely in Ghana when it became apparent I wouldn’t be able to go back to England for a fitting with the numerous restrictions and lockdowns.

Is there anything you would have done differently?

Not really, perhaps not to stress so much over the guest seating arrangement. I wanted to ensure that people were comfortable and seated by people they were comfortable with but guest confirmations kept changing constantly in the last couple of days before the wedding. It was a headache having to review that and balance the concerns of my parents as well.

What was your favorite part of using WedSites for your wedding?

The budget and expenditure tracking page, vendor contact details and the wedding website feature. I also really liked that I could customise my website, publish pages at different times and track guest responses.

Wedding planning is notoriously stressful. Now that you’ve gone through the process, do you have any advice or words of wisdom for couples who are currently in the midst of planning theirs?

I would say that the most valuable activity that my spouse and I did was reflecting on what vision we had for our wedding and identifying the top three things that mattered to each of us. Both Selasie and I wanted to celebrate our special day together with family and friends.

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck and our plans were thrown awry by the uncertainty and constantly changing restrictions(we eventually went through two date changes), it really helped that we had a shared understanding of what kind of wedding we wanted as a couple and the critical elements required to achieve this. We still had to keep talking to each other through the process but it certainly helped.

Next, I’d say pick your battles. Don’t try to control everything, particularly if you are planning the wedding with family. Hold onto what really matters to you and then let the rest sort itself out.