Chiney Ogwumike and Raphael Akpejiori marry in epic four-day wedding celebration.
On Monday, November 27, the two-time WNBA All-Star and ESPN host Chiney Ogwumike, 31, announced she had married heavyweight boxer and mechanical engineer Ethasor “Raphael” Akpejiori, 33.
The epic, four-day wedding ceremony included not one, but two wedding ceremonies and a staggering 10 different bridal looks for Chiney Ogwumike.
The festivities started with a welcome party on Nov. 15 at Ogwumike’s family home, followed the next day by a traditional Nigerian ceremony at the Igbo Catholic Community Center in Houston, Texas, which was attended by more than 900 guests. Ogwumike is a first-generation Nigerian-American, and Akpejiori was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria.
Just like the Igbo culture, the ceremony unfolded in three stages, beginning with the groom’s introduction and bride’s welcome. During the “Wine Carry” stage, Chiney Ogwumike went “on a search” for Akpejiori.
Next, the bride and groom were married and officially introduced as a married couple. At that point, Ogwumike became an Edo bride as she assumed her husband’s culture.
The ceremony also incorporated other Nigerian wedding traditions including the presentation of the kola nut, a prayer of thanks to the lineage and people who came before the couple, and the blessing of the newlyweds by their parents.
In a touching detail, the bride’s mother sketched and designed many of her Nigerian wedding looks for the day with the help of two “top-notch” Nigerian tailors.
The bride donned a blue look by Anulika Ugwu symbolizing her “maiden” status, followed by a traditional white beaded Igbo look by Sapphire Lily that showed she was “ready for marriage.” After she and Akpejiori married and received their parents’ blessing, Chiney Ogwumike wore a traditional Edo red strapless gown adorned with coral beads by Anulika Ugwu.
Following the ceremony, guests enjoyed a buffet of traditional Nigerian foods including coconut rice, rice with stew, yam porridge, abacha, moi-moi, egg rolls, meatballs, puff puff, nuts and plantain chips.
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On Nov. 17, amid their wedding events, Chiney Ogwumike and Raphael Akpejiori — who got engaged on Christmas Eve last year — attended a Burna Boy concert at the Toyota Center with some of their loved ones. The couple has a special connection to the Nigerian singer, as they met up at one of his Los Angeles shows for their very first date after meeting on a dating app. They also saw him perform in Miami on their first anniversary together.
The next day, on Nov. 18, the couple said “I do” all over again — this time, in a “white wedding” ceremony held at Christ the Redeemer Catholic Church, surrounded by 700 guests.
To honour her culture, Chiney Ogwumike also wore a traditional Nigerian dress, a yellow design featuring a 10-foot detachable train. She later changed into a black party dress with hip cutouts and ombré beading.
The newlyweds celebrated their marriage with a reception at the Sans Souci Ballroom in Tomball, Texas, the town where Chiney was born. Celebrity guests included former WNBA player Lisa Leslie, congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, retired NFL star Emmanuel Acho and singer Tamar Braxton.
Dinner was a buffet featuring a fusion of southern cuisines and Nigerian delicacies, including Italian butter chicken, jollof rice, coconut rice, sweet yams, vegetable lasagna, Singapore noodles, southwest cabbage and greens, meat pie and suya bites.
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Photo credit: Getty