RAE Affairs Couple featured in NY Times

Mojoyin Onijala and Aderemi Jacobs

By VINCENT M. MALLOZZI
Published: March 31, 2013

Romance Aided by Counseling

Mojoyin Morolayo Onijala and Aderemi Ademola Jacobs were married Saturday at the Westwood Country Club in Vienna, Va. The Rev. Aloja A. Airewele of the National Association of Christian Ministers and an uncle of the bride, officiated.

On Dec. 22, the couple had a traditional Yoruba wedding ceremony in Abuja, Nigeria. The ceremony, which included elements of Christianity, was conducted by a group of women, leading prayers and taking the couple through traditional rites.

The bride, 28, is an associate at the New York law firm Shearman & Sterling. She graduated from Georgetown and received a law degree from Columbia. She also received a Master of Laws in public international law from the London School of Economics. She is a daughter of Moremi O. Onijala and Olutola Onijala of Abuja. The bride’s father, an ambassador, is the state chief of protocol to President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria. He works in Abuja. Until 2009, he was the chargé d’affaires at the Nigerian Embassy in Budapest. Her mother, a lawyer in private practice in Abuja, was until 2011 the special assistant on legal matters, migration and humanitarian services for Nigeria.

The bride’s maternal grandfather, Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian playwright and poet, received the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature. He now lives in Upland, Calif.

The groom, 30, works in New York as a director within the investment banking unit of UBS, the Swiss bank. He specializes in advising industrial companies on mergers and acquisitions. He graduated from Imperial College in London, from which he received a master’s in chemical engineering. He is the son of Bolanle M. Jacobs and Adekunle Jacobs of London. The groom’s mother is a senior nurse practitioner at the Princess Royal Hospital in Bromley, England. His father retired as a manager from the Industrial Bank in Lagos, Nigeria.

The couple met in October 2008 at a dinner party in London, when Mr. Jacobs was working there for UBS and Ms. Onijala was studying at the London School of Economics. “She was beautiful, very intelligent and well traveled,” Mr. Jacobs said. “She brought a different perspective to every one of my conversations.”

The next month, just after the American presidential election, Mr. Jacobs sent Ms. Onijala a text asking if she planned to celebrate. They soon embarked on a relationship, and in 2011 Mr. Jacobs moved to New York. In January of last year, they began premarital counseling through a church program in New York. “We both felt that marriage is this humongous undertaking and neither of us believe in divorce,” the bride said. “We wanted to make sure this was the right thing to do, so we discussed everything, from in-laws to finances to communication issues — everything that a married couple eventually has to face.”

Mr. Jacobs added: “Look around, a lot of marriages aren’t working out these days. Before we jumped into it, we wanted to be somewhat prepared.”

VINCENT M. MALLOZZI


A version of this article appeared in print on March 31, 2013, on page ST14 of the New York edition with the headline: Mojoyin Onijala, Aderemi Jacobs.

RAE Affairs Feature on Ardissa Video

It is always great to be a guest blogger and I was especially excited when Melissa the owner of Ardissa Video reached out to RAE Affairs about creating entries for her site.

So look out for more blog post features from us on her site. The direct link to our feature is:

http://ardissavideo.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/coordinating-a-wedding-day/

The actual blog post from Ardissa Video is inserted below:

Coordinating a Wedding Day Is More Than a Day

What does a wedding coordinator DO, exactly? RAE Affairs stopped by the blog to share some insight into the role of a wedding coordinator from pre-planning to the managing the event day details.

It is always great moment as a guest when you walk into a wedding reception and you are in awe of how beautiful the space looks, or when you attend a wedding there was not glitch. It is very hard to imagine how much work goes into having a successful wedding. I own and manage RAE Affairs an event planning company in the Maryland, DC, Virginia area and there are weddings happening here every weekend.

There is almost no way to put an event together without a team of hard working event coordinators.

Our role on the day of a wedding essentially starts at a month before the wedding. We know how important it is to transition all the information needed so the bride doesn’t have to worry about what will happen on her wedding day. There are phases of the work we do behind the scenes; from the pre-wedding to the wedding itself, and then there is the post wedding phase which I will talk about in a different blog post. The pre-wedding phase has to do with working with the vendors and all the details that precede the day. My team and I provide a detailed event timeline for contracted vendors and wedding party. We personally contact each vendor on the wedding week to confirm arrangements and to make sure they agree with the timeline that they receive.

We preview the wedding & reception site three weeks prior to wedding and we orchestrate rehearsal & ceremony. We arrive to wedding site hours prior to ceremony to ensure a smooth day and to set up whatever the bride has handed over the day of rehearsal.

On the wedding day itself, we distribute flowers to the wedding party and assist with pinning. There are always final payments, so we distribute final payments and tips to vendors. We assist with directing the seating of guests with the ushers, and queue musicians. It is our primary job to keep wedding party and families stress free, a happy family makes for a smoother wedding.

We draft a sign off sheet and ensure that all vendors sign off at the end of the wedding or at the completion of their agreed upon service. We act out as a liaison between the bride and her selected vendors to ensure that your ideas are carried out and activities are kept on time. We assist the bride and attendants during dressing for the ceremony especially the bride with her gown bustle at the reception. We coordinate all reception details such as Grand entrance & first dance, toasting, cake and we place personal items (bouquet, cake topper, cake knife, portrait, guest book, and goblets. Most importantly, we address any other task that is required for a wedding day to run smoothly.

As you see, there is a whole lot and more that goes into having a successful event. Trust me when I tell you there are a lot of unforeseen circumstances!

Stay tuned for more from Shile, of RAE Affairs! Next, she will give you a backstage pass “behind-the-scenes” at a recent wedding!

You can find RAE Affairs on facebook or on the web at www.raeaffairs.com.

PHOTO CREDITS:

Tunji Sarunmi: http://www.tunjisarumi.com/
Ishola Photography: http://isholaphotography.com/blog/
Simi: http://iwaphotography.blogspot.com/

Thank you Melissa for letting us reach out to your audience. Look out for more interesting articles on her site http://ardissavideo.wordpress.com/

Asibeli and Chubba Sept 4th 2011

I am not sure what it was about Asibeli and Chubba's wedding that made it so wonderful; maybe it was the undeniably love of the couple or maybe it was the fact that it was a Sunday wedding. but whatever it was, I knew the grace and favor of God was upon the date Asibeli and Chubba had set out to celebrate their love with their friends and family.

I loved Asibeli and Chubba's wedding at the Cherry Blossom Banquet Hall and it was an awesome experience for me as the wedding coordinator  as well. Thank you both so much for allowing RAE Affairs be apart of your day and we wish you both long life and a love that knows no end.

Thanks to Tunji Sarumi for the fabulous pictures; more of his work is available at
www.tunjisarumi.com

For a direct link to his blog for this wedding: http://www.tunjisarumi.com/2011/10/sterling-va-wedding/

 

For RAE Affairs no post is ever complete without an acknowledgement of all the vendors, who made the day possible :)

VENDORS

o   Floral and Décor: Davinci                                                               

o   Lighting : Davinci                                                                            

o   Wedding Coordinator: RAE Affairs                                                  

o   Photography: Tunji Sarunmi                                                           

o   Videographer: Femstar                                                                        

o   Reception Rentals:  Davinci                                                              

o   Food: Shiloh                                                                                      

o   DJ: D2 Productions                                                                            

o   Cake: Amphora Bakery                                                                      

o   MC: Mrs. Chika Ezenwachi                                                                

o   Makeup artist for bride: Zenab of Z-Faces                                         

o   Makeup artist for bridal party: Ogo                                                   

o   Hair Stylist for bride: Evenlyn Mann                                                

o   Ceremony Décor: Davinci Florist                                                      

o   Hotel: Westin Reston Heights

o   Church: St. Timothy’s Episcopal (Fr. Brad Rundlett)                         

o   Reception: Cherry Blossom Banquet Hall (Joan)