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When Ruka Aderogba-Curate was in the process of planning her wedding, she was faced with the same challenge that most soon-to-be-wed couples face, which is figuring out how to have the wedding of one’s dreams without falling into major debt. It was in trying come up with the answer that the seed was planted for her platform Our Day Circle. Co-founded with Fatima Aderogba, the site launched on October 23 is a crowdfunding wedding campaign aimed at helping couples headed to the altar gather the funds they need to pay vendors for their big day, or to cover the entirety of their wedding expenses. How you ask? By seeking contributions from friends and family ahead of the wedding, instead of through gifts the day of or after. She’s replacing the ordinary wedding traditions with ones that are helpful for couples today facing exorbitant costs to say “I do.”
Aderogba-Curate talks about how the process to set up and receive funds from a campaign works, the lifeline Our Day Circle is for not only the bride and groom but also their vendors who may be struggling in the pandemic, and why she calls the taboo nature of asking guests to help pay for a wedding “strange.”
What inspired you to come up with an idea like Our Day Circle? What was your own experience like trying to plan a wedding?
When my husband and I finally decided we were ready to have our wedding, we were shocked at how expensive it would be. Even when looking at some of the least costly venues, we still saw packages over $20,000. The packages did not include catering, and they were for a day like Tuesday. We knew that none of our parents would be able to help us pay for our wedding and that we’d have to pay entirely out of pocket. We discussed options like putting the expenses on a credit card but realized we didn’t want to be in debt to celebrate our love. So, this was when I started thinking of alternative ways for couples to pay for their special day.
Can you elaborate on how it works? If you are seeking monetary contributions for the actual day, when would you recommend people set up a campaign?
Our Day Circle is a web application that allows couples to sign up for free and start a wedding campaign to help raise funds for their wedding. Their wedding campaign is shared with their circle of friends and family, who, if they choose, can contribute to the campaign knowing that whatever they give will be used for the wedding and nothing else. All contributions raised on the platform are sent directly to businesses that they are working with.
Once a couple joins the platform, they will be able to add all the vendors they’re working with and how much they owe the vendor. The total owed is what we calculate as their campaign goal. For this reason, an Our Day Circle team member will confirm that the couple is working with the listed vendors before the couple can be approved. So, before the couples join, they will need to have an agreement or down payment with a wedding vendor two months before their wedding to sign up. This way, each couple has enough time to fully benefit from the platform.
Once the couples are approved, vendors will get an invite to join the platform for free. And couples can begin working on their personalized wedding profiles, with a link for them to share their page. All links can be shared by email, a private wedding website, social media, or even included in their “save the dates” or electronic invitations. If the couples raise more than needed, they will receive the balance at the end of their campaign.
How has Our Day Circle fared during the pandemic? A lot of people are postponing weddings or going for small, intimate ceremonies right now. But, seeing the financial constraints people are in but still wanting to have something, I wonder if more people are actually setting up campaigns right now.
My co-founder Fatima and I actually started working on Our Day Circle during the pandemic and just did a soft launch. Unfortunately, the pandemic has dramatically impacted the wedding industry. About 16 percent of couples take out loans for weddings, and the average wedding is about $33,000. Unfortunately, there are billions of dollars owed by couples this year for loans taken out for weddings that did not happen. We wanted to help couples who were getting married leverage their circle to celebrate their day while also helping small wedding vendors and businesses. Since our launch on October 23, we have already begun to see users sign up. We are excited to see our company make a difference.
How does Our Day Circle help vendors who may be struggling right now?
Vendors are invited on the platform by the couples who are using them. Since this relationship exists, Our Day Circle has created a space for the couples who are on the fence about canceling their wedding to utilize the platform and get support with the wedding cost.
What do you say to those who might remark that if a person needs others to financially contribute to their big day, they need to go for something smaller that they can afford?
Great question. Talking about money and weddings in the US is often taboo. In many cultures, guests bring money to the nuptials. For example, across Asia, it’s the red envelopes, and Nigerians perform a money dance. Couples usually recoup all they spent on the event. The shyness of asking people to contribute is strange because the guests are asked to visit a wedding registry to purchase gifts or even sometimes contribute to a honeymoon. We are just shifting the gift giving idea to the beginning of the wedding experience that is actually shared with their guest. However, like all wedding gifts, it is important to note that this is always optional. We would also like to note that Our Day Circle is not for the couple who is looking to have a $100,000 wedding. It’s for the everyday person who wants to celebrate their love, but they live in a society like ours where even a simple wedding can cost $10,000.
Again, friends and family often buy gifts or give money to the wedding. Why not contribute to the day they get to celebrate? That’s why our motto is “making and breaking traditions.”
