Most wedding-planning advice tells you to make a plan. This article shows what happens when you actually do, fed through Owa Planner's AI Planner. Real Lagos couple. ₦20M budget. 9-month runway. The 36-question intake, the AI output, and the parts the couple kept versus changed.
In short: A real plan in 10 minutes. Timeline, budget breakdown, vendor brief, risk register, first 30 actions. You start from a draft instead of a blank page — and every line is editable.
The brief
Anonymised because the couple's wedding hasn't happened yet. The intake answers:
- Couple: Bride based in Lagos, groom based in Lagos. Both Nigerian.
- Date: First Saturday of February 2027 (target).
- Today: First Saturday of May 2026. Runway: 9 months.
- Guest count target: 350.
- Total budget: ₦20M, both families contributing.
- Ceremonies: Traditional (Yoruba engagement) the Friday + white wedding the Saturday.
- Venue preference: Mid-tier Lagos hotel ballroom; Lekki side.
- Vendor priorities: Photography, catering, decor.
- Must-haves: Live band, Aso Ebi at 2 tiers (family + friends), professional MC.
- Never-evers: No drone footage, no fireworks, no champagne tower.
- Diaspora?: Both in Lagos. ~40 guests flying in.
Twelve more questions about family roles, religious requirements, dietary, accessibility, contingency tolerance. Total: 36 questions, 9 minutes to answer on mobile.
The AI output — what landed
The plan came back in three sections.
1. Timeline (by month)
| Month | Stage | Anchor tasks |
|---|---|---|
| Now → +1 | Foundation | Family contributions confirmed in writing; budget signed off; venue tours scheduled |
| +1 → +2 | Big bookings | Venue, photographer, videographer signed |
| +2 → +3 | Mid-tier | Caterer, decor, MC, live band, cake booked |
| +3 → +4 | Comms | Save-the-dates out; Aso Ebi launched |
| +4 → +6 | Detail vendors | Makeup, stationery, transport, accommodation |
| +6 → +7 | Final fittings | Bridal party Aso Ebi delivered; final dress fitting |
| +7 → +8 | Final lock-down | Run-of-show drafted; vendor confirmations; final headcount target |
| Final month | The week of | Steaming, rehearsal, final settlements |
This maps cleanly to the 7-stage checklist. Each stage has 3–5 specific tasks.
2. Budget breakdown (calibrated to ₦20M, 350 guests, mid-tier Lagos)
The AI returned a 14-category sheet with the buffer line at 13%:
| Category | Allocation |
|---|---|
| Venue + catering | ₦7M |
| Photo + video | ₦1.8M |
| Decor + flowers | ₦2.4M |
| Bride attire | ₦1.8M (Nigerian designer, 3 outfits) |
| Groom attire | ₦700k |
| Music + MC + sound | ₦1.5M (live band priority) |
| Transport | ₦500k |
| Accommodation (diaspora block) | ₦400k |
| Stationery | ₦250k |
| Cake | ₦400k |
| Beauty + makeup | ₦450k |
| Officiant + paperwork | ₦150k |
| Hidden costs (line-itemed) | ₦1.6M |
| Buffer (13%) | ₦1.05M |
| Total | ₦20M |
The hidden-costs line was broken into the 13 categories from Hidden wedding costs nobody warns you about — generator, vendor meals, security, cake-cutting fee, gele changes, etc.
3. Risk register
The AI flagged six risks specific to this couple:
- Aso Ebi to 350 guests across 2 tiers is operationally heavy — needs a delegated lead or a system, not WhatsApp.
- The first Saturday of February is peak season in Lagos. Venue booking must close in the next 4 weeks or alternatives are needed.
- Live band booking — top Lagos live bands are 60–80% booked for Feb already. Decide + sign in month 1 of the plan.
- Diaspora guest block (40 guests) at a Lekki hotel needs to be locked 4 months out; rates jump 25–40% inside that window.
- The Friday traditional + Saturday white setup is a 2-day operational load; consider a day-of coordinator for each day, not one across both.
- ₦1.05M buffer at 13% is below the 15% recommended for this tier — the couple has slim margin for the inevitable last-mile additions.
The AI didn't decide for the couple. It surfaced the risks; the couple decided whether to mitigate each.
What the couple kept
Most of it.
- The 8-month timeline structure — kept entirely.
- The ₦7M venue + catering allocation — kept; matches their venue shortlist.
- The Nigerian-designer route — kept; matches their preference.
- The hidden-costs line itemisation — kept; appreciated seeing each line called out.
- The risk register — kept all 6; used to shape the next month's actions.
What the couple changed
About 20% of the plan, in two passes:
Pass 1 (within the first hour of seeing the plan):
- Bumped the buffer line from 13% to 15% (per the AI's own risk flag). Pulled ₦400k from the venue line to fund it; their venue shortlist allowed the trim.
- Reduced bride's attire from 3 outfits to 2, freeing ₦600k for the buffer + a small upgrade to the photographer line.
- Moved the MC from "premium tier" to "mid-tier" because their preferred MC happened to be available at his earlier-career rate.
Pass 2 (after a family conversation, week 2):
- Added a "village contribution" line of ₦800k for the bride's family's hometown obligation. Funded by reducing the decor brief from premium to mid-tier (groom's mother wanted to handle some of the decor through her event-planner cousin).
- Locked the traditional + white as a 2-day, 1-coordinator-per-day setup per the AI's risk #5.
Pass 2 is the work the AI couldn't do — family-specific decisions that needed a conversation. But Pass 2 happened in week 2 of planning, not month 5. That's the leverage.
What the AI Planner is for (and what it isn't)
It's for:
- Getting a full plan in front of you in 10 minutes instead of building one from scratch over weeks
- Surfacing the hidden lines and risks your first-draft budget will miss
- Calibrating to current Nigerian market rates (2026 numbers, not 2019)
- Giving diaspora couples + first-time-planners a starting point that doesn't require domain knowledge
- Generating the checklist + the first 30 actions
It's not for:
- Making family decisions for you
- Booking actual vendors (it briefs you on what to book; you decide who)
- Replacing a real wedding planner if you're at the premium tier with serious complexity
- Final answers — every line is a starting point
How to use the AI Planner well
Four things separate couples who get value from couples who don't:
- Answer the 36 questions honestly. Not aspirationally. If you want a ₦20M wedding but your real number is ₦14M, the AI will plan ₦20M and you'll be off by 30% from week 1.
- Edit the plan within 48 hours of generation. Don't accept the AI output verbatim. The plan is a draft; you're the editor.
- Re-generate after major changes. Family contribution shifted by ₦2M? Re-run the planner. Don't try to manually re-balance 14 categories.
- Use the risk register. The AI flags risks specific to your situation. Address each; don't ignore the risks page.
The conversion-honest section
This article exists to show you what Owa Planner's AI Planner does. It also exists to convert readers into Owa users — that's the editorial honesty section.
The product pitch: Owa Planner is a wedding-planning OS built for Nigerian weddings. AI Planner is one module. Budget, checklist, guests, RSVP, Aso Ebi shop, vendor pipeline, messaging, event-day mode are the others. The AI Planner is the on-ramp; the rest of the platform is what couples use for the next 8 months.
The free tier: AI Planner generation, budget tracking, checklist, guest list, basic RSVP, event website. Enough to run a 200-guest wedding entirely on free.
The paid tier: Multi-event support (planners), team collaboration with scoped roles, advanced Aso Ebi tooling, vendor pipeline management. Most couples don't need paid; planners do.
Try the AI Planner free →. 10 minutes from sign-up to plan-in-hand.
What to read next
- The Owa Planner Guide → — the flagship overview.
- The 7-stage planning checklist → — the stages the AI Planner organises tasks against.
- The Real Cost of a Nigerian Wedding in 2026 → — the budget calibration source.
- Tracking spending across multiple accounts → — the system you run on top of the AI plan.
Updated quarterly. Last refresh: May 2026.