In Nigerian culture, families and friends often wear similar fabric at cultural celebrations to show unity and support. At traditional weddings, the women whom the bride chooses to wear aso-ebi can be thought of as the equivalent of a huge group of bridesmaids. Check out some of the most stunning aso-ebi groups for some African wedding inspiration!
Banging in Blue
These beauties decided to rock a bright blue aso-ebi with strapless necklines and varying skirt styles, accessorized with silver geles and matching lace fans. Source.
Fab in Fuschia
Dunnie Onasanya-Hasan’s wedding a few months ago featured aso-ebi outfits for the bridesmaids in a bright fuschia and gold look. Though all the girls were able to choose whatever neckline they wanted, they all had mermaid style skirts to complement the bride’s dress. Source.
Two-Tone Texture
While mixing up colors with the aso-ebo outfits is a great way to bring out the color scheme of your wedding, mixing textures — whether lace and ankara, sequins and velvet, or any other combination — is a great way to make your aso-ebi stand out. Source.
Chocolate‑y Goodness
Who says brown doesn’t look good on brown skin? This aso-ebi look used a rich brown complemented by a blush gele to make the bridesmaids stand out just enough against the bride’s more subdued color palette. Source.
Pretty in Pink
Adanma — the twin sister of YouTuber Adanna (of Adanna and David), had her aso-ebi bridesmaids in a subtle pink lace, that some girls accentuated with silver lining. Source.
Royal(ty) Blue
This rich royal blue hue looks AMAZING against brown skin and is a beautiful option for a monochrome aso-ebi look. You can barely notice that one of the aso-ebi girls is wearing a different fabric, so monochrome looks are a great option when you can’t get the same fabric to everyone in the aso ebi group. Source.
Hot Like Fire
Some aso-ebi fabrics have the design on the bottom half, so this blue and orange fabric was sewn strategically to create beautiful outfits — which look just like a blaze of fire! Source.
Wedding White
Since many Nigerian weddings are colorful, and trifling guests sometimes go to great lengths to find out wedding coors so they can look like part of the wedding, outfitting your aso-ebi in all white is a great option to make sure you still stand out in the sea of colors at the wedding. Source.
Double (or Triple) the Fun
A common aso-ebi choice, especially if you have a lot of friends, is to use the same fabric in two or three colors to mix things up, bring out your wedding colors, or separate your childhood friends from your college homies. Traditionally, different sides of the family also wear different aso-ebis, as simple as a unique gele color, or as intricate as complete matching fabrics. Source 1, Source 2.
Which of these aso-ebi wedding looks do you like the best?
I am curious, I do not know what my specific background is (I am black), but is it offensive for me to wear this type of dress? I am getting married and saw a nigerian brides dress that I absolutely fell in love with. I would love to have it made if i can find the fabric and a seamstress..
HELL YEAH YOU CAN. Black Americans were mainly stolen from West Africa and you might have some Nigerian in you so it’s getting in touch with your roots. The gele (headwrap) seems to be the most common among the major ethnic groups so I’d especially go for that
It is definitely not offensive. Please, go ahead and wear it. I’m Nigerian and it’s an honor to have other ethnicities/cultures embrace our culture. 🙂
Go for it. We Africans love when our African Americans brothers and sisters dress in traditional African clothing. There is usually two ceremonies for the wedding. The traditional one which is pictured above and the non traditional ceremony with the white gown.
Why would it be offensive? I am Nigerian and don’t think it would be.
If you’re here as a result of the transatlantic slave trade, you are very likely Nigerian, too. I’ve read that our ppl were taken mostly from Sierra Leone, Senegal, Mali, and Nigeria. Therefore, rock that dress, girl! There are so many awesome sites that feature African dress. I love Zuvaa ?
Absolutely gorgeous
Pure Gorgeousness!! I love Nigerian weddings.
Aso-ebi sometimes known as “uniform” is also worn at funerals, birthdays, baby dedication/baptism and pretty much any social event, so aso-ebi does not mean bridesmaids. Aso-ebi is used to refer to the outfits made from matching fabric and patterns, worn by family members, friends, social groups, and colleagues etc to signify solidarity, and support etc
[…] October 20, 2016 by joromofin Please follow and like us:Aso Ebi is a garb common among West-african women usually worn by a bride’s friends on her wedding day. Image courtesy Blackgirllonghair.com […]
all of them look good.
I love my people!! You can’t out-do a Nigerian wedding!
The Royal Blue is amaxing!
Nor a nigerian funeral for that matter.
These are all amazingly beautiful. Wow! Such beautiful women and colors.
I just loved your African themed articles, it is a great way for our diaspora sisters to get a feel of our African culture.
Loved the blue aso-abi ensemble.
The blues and gold outfits were everything. Nigerian wedding are always nice.
So awesome !
Gorgeous!!
So beautiful! I love Nigerian weddings.
allthingsammamama.com
Gorgeous. And I see you Michelle (Ghana Goddess)
These are so beautiful!
The pink is phenomenal