EVENTS: BAILEY'S / BELLA NAIJA WONDERLAND

15:50

Hello guys! Today, I'll be sharing with you the most enchanting experience I had recently at a beautiful event in Lagos. Africa's number one wedding website, BellaNaija teamed up with Baileys Nigeria to have an event for brides-to-be all across the country tagged 'Wonderland'. This was a highly publicized event as brides-to-be were asked to send in their entries to stand a chance to be invited and win amazing, amazing prizes. This was also put together to celebrate BellaNaija's 10th Anniversary. See the advertisement post HERE . Since I am currently engaged to be married, I sent in an entry and was pleasantly surprised to be selected as one of 30 brides to have an experience of a lifetime through this event. Selections were made based on the most fairytale like love stories and brides-to-be were chosen from all across the country.

Photo source: Bella Naija

All brides coming from outside Lagos (myself included) were treated to an all expense paid trip covering return flight tickets and a two-night stay at the luxurious Four Points by Sheraton Hotel where the event was also slated to take place. We had a stretch limousine pick us up from the Lagos airport where we were officially given our 'Wonderland' invitations with so much paparrazi all around us. I swear I had my 'Beyonce' moment. Check out more on our arrival HERE

We enjoyed a smooth ride to the hotel getting to know each other while sipping on glasses of Baileys. Getting to the hotel, we were 'wowed' by the beautiful reception given to us by the staff and all the Baileys's hostesses. My suite was nothing short of beautiful and I had a beautiful rich hamper from the Baileys team waiting for me on my bed. Luxury! Despite being exhausted, I was still able to do a mini interview with the guys from Trace Urban TV as well as have dinner which was also exclusively paid for.

Like one of my fellow brides said "We slept as princesses and woke up as queens" Lol. After having breakfast, makeup artists from one of Nigeria's biggest makeup brands, BMPro invaded our rooms to take good care of our faces. I could not stop obsessing over my makeup particularly! In no time, we were dressed in our little white dresses (this was the dresscode) , had our headshots taken and mini interviews done by the breathtaking floral wall designed by one of the best decor ladies I know, Christine Ogbeh of the Wedding Guru. While waiting for the event to begin, we still sipped on Baileys cocktails, took tons of photographs and bonded with our fellow brides-to-be from Lagos and outside Lagos.

Photo source: Bella Naija

View of the first floor terrace

The floral wall

Abuja bride-to-be, Maryam

Abuja bride-to-be, Blessing

Bride-to-be, Chidinma

Bride-to-be, Tejiri

Stepping into the venue was extremely breathtaking, it was a real 'wonderland' indeed. The Wedding Guru team killed it! The event kicked off signaling Nigerian comedian, Bovi as the MC. He sure cracked us up throughout. Uche Pedro and Ink of Bella Naija welcomed us specially to the event going round the room personally talking to all the brides and telling us how beautiful we looked.

Bovi

We had Q&A sessions with married celebrities, OC Ukeje and Osas Ajibade who gave us one or two tips and tricks of the bliss of marital life. We also had more Q&A sessions with Funke Bucknor, CEO Zapphaire Events and Christine Ogbeh , CEO The Wedding Guru. We had a host of wedding vendors present at the event. There were plenty of fun games we played where some brides who won picked up prizes like earrings, selfie sticks and free spa treatments. During the course of the event we had few music breaks where we all danced to the lovely tunes the DJ was dishing out. There was a lot to eat and drink of course (you know your gurl don't play with her food).

OC Ukeje and Osas Ajibade

The cocktail game

Nkechi 'Ink' Eze , Editor Bella Naija Weddings

Uche Pedro, CEO Bella Naija

Christine Ogbeh, CEO The Wedding Guru. She's such a darling.

Funke Bucknor-Obruthe, CEO Zapphire Events

Bailey's hostess, Sandra

Stephanie Eze. So cute.

Abuja brie-to-be Lamide

The six grand prizes included :

Free Pre-Wedding and Wedding photography by Atunbi
Honeymoon to an exotic location by AfricHolidays
Wedding bands worth $5,000 by Rings and Bands NG
A breathtaking wedding dress by Blush by MyQ
Free bridal makeup by Banke Meshida Lawal (BMPro)
A deluxe Baileys Bar for any wedding event

The winners were decided by a raffle draw that had all our names. This produced the names of six brides who carted away one of these lovely prizes each.

One other bride won a reception dress by April By Kunbi for being the most active participant at the event.

The highlights of the event for me was having our huge gold gift boxes brought into the hall which contained the following amazing stuff:

A bridal robe by I do Weddings,
A bridal mug,
A selfie stick,
The Bridal Handbook by Funke Bucknor- Obruthe
Bridal earrings by Le Reve Pieces,
A BMPro matte lipstick,
A beautiful bottle of perfume, skincare products and lipstick from Lancome Paris
A bottle of Baileys
A cute Baileys cupcake which my friend helped me eat. Lol.
Vouchers by all the wedding vendors present with 10-30% off

Everybody was a winner and none of us left empty handed. We were serenaded by R&B singer Banky W before the event came to a beautiful end.

The after party held at 'The Office' on the first floor of the hotel after which we retired to our rooms for the night. The following morning after breakfast, we headed straight to the airport to leave for our various destinations. It was an amazing experience, a mini holiday that I desperately needed. The best part, I got to make new friends with some awesome ladies who are my fellow brides-to-be and we are all looking forward to attending each others weddings pretty soon.

While we wait for more professional photos from Bella Naija and Atunbi photography, you can view this post by Ink HERE to see more gorgeous photos. You'll spy me there too.

My Outfit

Dress: Finn & Clover

Shoes: Anne Michelle
Earrings: Gifted

Necklace: Old

All photos by me except otherwise stated in a caption!

Thanks for stopping by..❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

19 comments

Ewy Ojeifo17 October 2015 at 16:09
Beautiful event indeed....congrats on ur engagement
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Eddy17 October 2015 at 18:05
Hey Alma, fellow UNN alumni. Saw your pictures and handle on insta and it led me here last week. Good job. Congratulations on your engagement. You seem more 'approachable' on here than you were in school. Lol. How is your Amber friend? God's grace.
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Unknown17 October 2015 at 20:07
Lucky you. Adding all the personalities you mentioned on Instagram right now.
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Unknown17 October 2015 at 20:08
Awwwwww really beautiful, congrats doll. I love ur dress.
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AJAGBE LOVE17 October 2015 at 21:02
ITS SO OBVIOUS YOU DID ENJOY URSELF! CONGRATS DEAR!
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Unknown17 October 2015 at 23:12
Alma ure a lucky bride to be
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dimmyvivy18 October 2015 at 22:03
Awwww! I see us! I see me! The experience was truly amazing. You are amazing too!
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Evita O. Enwefah19 October 2015 at 00:53
Wow and wow!! Amazing experience u had there. U looked so beautiful in all the pictures and ur dress is so lovely. Congratulations on ur engagement once again.

evitaspeaks.blogspot.com
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Ink19 October 2015 at 18:16
Aww! Love your post Alma. Thanks for the beautiful recap and photo. Stephanie Eze ran the Instagram page for the event only. God bless your upcoming wedding/marriage! Thanks for being a part of #BBNWonderland xoxo

Ink
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Cecilia10 November 2015 at 15:09
Awwwwwwwww! It looks really amazing. And you'd have more fun your big day. S
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