This vibrant, joy-giving Danish-Nigerian wedding is guaranteed to put a smile on your face

Walking down the aisle of the Sankt Petri Kirke, Copenhagen’s oldest church, in a form-fitting, off-the-shoulder creation by Danish designer Soeren Le Schmidt, Alero Akuya couldn’t have looked more radiant. On the arm of her father, who dressed in a jewel-toned ensemble in the style of his family’s Itsekiri tribe, Alero said she couldn’t see anything but Brandon, her husband-to-be, a few meters away. But despite her tunnel vision, all eyes were on her.

Alero, who is the vice president of global brand at LEGO Group, and her husband Brandon Polley, an executive creative producer and consultant, held a three day wedding extravaganza in Copenhagen.Their wedding celebration was an answer to the question: how do you balance your commitment to one another while staying true to yourself and showcasing your heritage?

Alero and Brandon, both originally from the US, have been together for almost a decade. Like a lot of good romance tales destined for the long haul, they started out as friends.And though they’ve known one another for a long while, Brandon’s elaborate proposal still swept Alero off her feet. Brandon orchestrated and produced a public contemporary African art show (Alero’s favourite type of art) during an art walk at Chelsea White Space and had her meet a fake art collector.

When she arrived, the show was in full swing; when the ‘collector’ took her to the back room to see something special, it turned out to be Brandon in a tuxedo and surrounded by flowers. Even then, Alero says it didn’t click that he was proposing until he took out a typewritten note and asked her to be his wife. It was, of course, a resounding yes.

With a proposal like that, what can one expect of the wedding? The three-day long festivities included a welcome party Friday, a traditional western wedding Saturday, and a Nigerian ceremony and celebration on Sunday. Guests arrived from all over the world on Friday. The day was a busy one for the city as the Tour de France was hosting La Grand Départ in Copenhagen this year. The wedding party and guests relaxed on a boat tour through the Copenhagen canals.

“The main reason we held the wedding in Copenhagen in the first place was so that our families could see where we live and what our lives look like here.” Afterwards, guests were invited to sip drinks at the intimate and cosy El Cava, a bar right on Ved Stranden in the centre of the city, overlooking one of the city’s many charming canals.

The next morning, the church ceremony was held at the German church Sankt Petri Kirke, located in the charming Latin Quarter. Alero notes, “The church wedding was special and unique because the church we got married in represented two cultures (German and Danish) coming together in unity which is a reflection of our American and Nigerian cultures coming together. I love that my father wore traditional Isekiri wear to walk me down the aisle – he looked stunning.”

Along with his custom wedding dress for Alero, Soeren Le Schmidt also created Brandon’s midnight blue tuxedo. The bride wore a pearl veil and shoes by Amina Muaddi, while the groom wore shoes by Copenhagen cult-favourite Vinny’s. For jewellery, Danish designer Rebecca Elbek provided Alero with white water drop earrings, fine scarab necklace, Letters with Love AB necklace and fine scarab 18ct solid gold ring. The groom wore a Joy de Vivre ring and signet ring, also by Rebecca Elbek.

After the ceremony, guests walked down the charming cobbled street to Yaffa restaurant to an American-breakfast inspired brunch. Along the way, they were surprised by New Orleans-style jazz band JBL Music, who walked them to Yaffa, a nod to the couple’s love of music.

Rather than hold a larger party for all 130 guests on the Saturday, Alero and Brandon opted for a Nigerian-style ceremony and party on the Sunday held at the historic Langelinie Pavillonen. Alero and Brandon had asked guests if they would like to dress in traditional Nigerian attire, ordering the fabric from Warri and having them custom made by Junaiddupe of Praise Designs in Los Angeles. Gele head scarves were styled and wrapped by Gele by Lola Rose (a UK headtie stylist). Alero, whose family is part of the Itsekiri tribe from southern Nigeria, and Brandon also wore traditional ensembles, with jewel tones informing the look of the wedding party.

In the tradition of Itsekiri men, Brandon and his groomsmen wore a long-sleeved shirt called a Kemeje, tie George wrappas around their waists, and fedoras with feathers. Alero’s bridal party tied clementine orange George wrappas around their waists, wore matching blouses, and gold gele scarves on their heads. Brandon & Alero wore LEGO yellow coloured wrappas, with the groom in a bronze Kemeje. The groom’s family wore light metallic gold and the bride’s family wore a shiny, iridescent turquoise.

The Nigerian wedding began with welcome bubbles. Guests were then escorted into a beautiful ceremony room draped in florals from floral design company Tableau.As in an Itsekiri traditional ceremony, both the bride and groom had a family spokesperson. The bride's spokesperson, Alero’s cousin Ekpeju, playfully vetted the potential groom. The groom’s spokesperson, Mr. Oduyemi, sought to identify the bride; in a theatrical and light-hearted tone. The bride or groom were danced in with Afrobeats alongside their entourage (wedding party) in celebratory fashion.

One element that is unique to a Itsekiri ceremony is that, in jest, two fake brides were individually presented to the groom and his spokesperson for discernment before the unveiling of the real bride. From there, a family elder known as the Okparan provided a prayer and instructed four ceremonial acts: first breaking and sharing of the kola nut as a sign of welcome and acceptance, drinking gin to invoke the ancestors to bless the union, drinking water as it is universal in all things, and tasting honey to ensure the union is sweet. The ceremony was filled with laughter and tears of joy.

Immediately after the ceremony, guests enjoyed a cocktail hour in which the wedding party surprised guests with a choreographed dance. This set the tone for the rest of the wedding; fun, family-filled, and full of Nigerian elements lovingly created by the couple in honour of their families.

While a Nigerian wedding would typically take place either in Nigeria or where the father of the bride lives, Alero and Brandon chose to hold theirs in Copenhagen.

Alero explains, ‘When we were children growing up in the US, my family was concerned that we would lose touch with our heritage and so we began to participate in the Itsekiri cultural association and then created the Nigerian Youth Association. Our wedding felt like an ode to their efforts, honoring the culture of which I am so proud.’

For dinner, Alero and Brandon worked with local restaurant and caterer The Caribbean Housewife, deciding on a long, communal table to make the dinner feel more intimate.The couple wanted to make the menu as authentically Nigerian as possible, opting for classic staples including Pepper soup, Nigerian Jollof rice, double fried chicken, red beef stew (or jackfruit stew), plantains (called dodo), and puff puff, a Nigerian dessert.

As for the music? You can bet it got people out of their seats all night with DJs JVC and Taf Dollar. The focus was on Afrobeats; “No Nigerian celebration is complete without Burna Boy, Rema, WizKid and Tems,” Alero exclaims. For their first dance, she and Brandon did a choreographed number to ‘Calm Down’ by Rema. Brandon and his groomsmen later surprised Alero with a special afrobeats dance to ‘On the Low’ by Burna Boy and Shake Body by Skales choreographed by Copenhagen’s own Natasha Sherpa.

After three days of partying, Alero and Brandon spent the week with family and friends who were able to stay in Copenhagen for holiday. They took a mini-moon to Montreux, Switzerland, for the legendary jazz festival, and then on to Puglia, Italy.

“This was the most amazing weekend of our lives”, Brandon says.