Chimamanda unveils 2009 wedding photos, speaks on mother walking her down the aisle

Chimamanda Adichie, Nigerian novelist, has finally unveiled photos from her private wedding with Ivara Esege in 2009. 

Since the pair tied the knot, the novelist had kept pictures of the event away from the public.

But in an Instagram post on Wednesday, the 43-year-old shared her first wedding photos wherein she is seen flanked by James Adichie and Ifeoma Adichie — her now late parents.

In a note accompanying the pictures, Adichie revealed that she was the one who instructed her friends and family members not to share the photos publicly.

She also called out the extant western wedding traditions which, according to her, often relegate the mother of the bride.

Adichie said her resolve to share the wedding photos eventually was informed by her quest to further honour her late mother and to inspire those rising up to challenge such traditions.

The renowned writer disclosed that she allowed her both parents to walk her down the aisle to break such traditions which allow only assign the role to the bride’s father.

 

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A post shared by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (@chimamanda_adichie)

“I felt that western wedding traditions sideline the mother of the bride — the father walks the bride down the aisle, the father has the first dance with the bride, often the father gives a speech while the mother doesn’t,” she wrote.

“Our wedding, many years ago, was small and lovely, just as we wanted it. I asked family and friends not to post any photos publicly. I wanted privacy. But my need for privacy is now superseded by my desire to publicly honour the rare and wonderful woman I called my mother.

“I hope this perhaps inspires any young women (and men) out there who are questioning any kind of convention.⁣

“I decided my first dance would be with my mother. My father, who I teasingly called DOS for ‘Defender of Spouse’, was supportive. He wasn’t much of a dancer – I inherited his unrhythmic genes – but my mother was.

“Convention is something made up by somebody and then repeated by others. If convention feels wrong for you, if your skin bristles and your spirit stalls at the thought of doing something ‘the way it is done,’ then stop and act’⁣
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“And my mother’s joy on that day was a gorgeous glowing thing.⁣ We can make changes. We can try and craft small slices of the life we want. ⁣We can unmake convention to make things more just, more complete, more beautiful.⁣
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“Not everyone will be happy with you because it is human nature to try and conserve things as they are, but your spirit will feel full, and there is nothing more meaningful than knowing you have been true to yourself.”