African weddings have always been about community. Families come together, contributions are pooled, and entire villages celebrate. What's changed is how this happens. Today, couples find photographers on Instagram, collect contributions through mobile apps, and livestream ceremonies to relatives across the world.

For wedding suppliers and couples navigating this shift, understanding what works can make all the difference.

The platforms connecting couples and vendors

Nigeria leads with 25 wedding tech startups. South Africa has 32. East Africa has 15. These numbers tell a simple story: there's serious demand for digital wedding planning tools.

EventPlanner.ng has become Nigeria's go-to platform for finding photographers, videographers, and other vendors. It includes budget planning features and helps couples manage vendor payments. In South Africa, Plan My Wedding Africa connects over 500 couples each year with nearly 4,000 suppliers. Couples get free wedding websites, guest list tools, and an easy way to discover and compare vendors.

The payment side has caught up too. Paystack and OPay handle most Nigerian wedding vendor payments. In Kenya, M-Pesa processes everything from deposits to the communal contributions that fund many weddings. Buy-now-pay-later options are growing, letting couples spread photography costs across several months.