Folarin Alakija Weds Wife in Lavish Ceremony

The wedding between Folarin, the son of Nigeria’s richest woman, Folorunso Alakija, and Iranian beauty, Nazanin Jafarian Ghaissarifa, is reported to have cost £5 million.

The groom, a father-of-one, is an entrepreneur, investor and cinematographer who lost his first wife to cancer.

It has been reported that the family flew hundreds of close friends and family members over from Nigeria, who were no doubt put up in a lavish hotel for the weekend.

While Folarin makes his money as an entrepreneur, investor and cinematographer, it’s his mother who has an estimated fortune of $2.1 billion. Forbes ranks her as the 14th richest person in Africa and the richest woman in Nigeria. She is number 80 on its global Power Women list and overtook Oprah Winfrey as the richest woman of African descent in the world in 2014.

The Woodstock venue of the wedding, which is the ancestral home of Sir Winston Churchill, was kitted out with one million white roses, a lavish cake decorated with hundreds of ornate white roses and even hosted pop star Robin Thicke, who performed  at an estimated cost of £150,000.

Wedding planners believe the venue hire was exclusively hired at a cost of £150,000 with the bespoke marquee and bespoke marble floor with their initials etched in gold costing around £200,000 on top.

Searcys were the approved caterers for the Orangery at Blenheim palace and three course meals started at £52 per head – excluding alcohol – but it’s believed they had a much more expensive bespoke package with catering company, Rhubarb.

Bringing over 30 staff members to the UK for the ceremony, Jeff adorned every inch of the venue with copious amounts of roses and white orchids. Jeff, who is reputed to demand up to £250,000 for flowers, has worked for Madonna, Oprah and Tina Turner. He was also the man behind the flowers at Eva Longoria and Tony Parker’s wedding.

There was a magnificent firework display in the hotel grounds later in the evening.

With an eight-tier wedding cake, topped with elaborate iced flowers and doves, it is estimated that their cake could have cost up to £10,000. Wow!

Photo Credit: Daily Mail