Dara!!!! Honestly, I don't even know where to start.... We are still in love, in disbelief, and in awe at how perfectly everything turned out! Honestly, we owe it all to your hard work and care. Everyone is calling this the best wedding they’ve ever been to and not to be biased but us too lol. It was beyond our expectations, and I’ll be the first to admit it’s hard to meet my expectations!

Pulling off two events in a destination neither of us had ever been to was incredible. You went far and beyond for us, and it was perfect. From people management and the guest experience to holding my hand and talking me down when I wanted to quit, it was truly a 10/10 experience. You treated us like family and we cannot thank you enough! At this point you ARE family!

Everything went so quickly that I want to repeat it over and over again. We appreciate the work so much and will definitely be coming back to celebrate our anniversary and maybe babies?? lol thank you thank you! We love you soo much!!!

couldn’t have asked for a better wedding planner! From start to finish, Dara was absolutely amazing. Professional, organized, and always full of positive energy, they brought such a calming presence to the whole planning process.

Every meeting felt easy and fun — they were always smiling, genuinely excited for us, and made even the tiniest details feel special. Nothing ever felt stressful; Dara handled everything so smoothly that we were able to actually enjoy our engagement and wedding day without any worries.

Our day turned out better than we imagined, and it’s all thanks to their incredible work. If you’re looking for someone who’s not just experienced and reliable, but also brings joy to the entire experience — look no further!

This crew took care of my sister’s wedding and they truly outdid themselves. They were very organized and efficient, and they paid attention to every detail. Their efforts to ensure that my sister’s day went smoothly did not go unnoticed. Highly recommend!

Context on Us
For context, we got married during COVID. My husband and his family lived in the US, and travel restrictions made things look like we may have to pull the plug 5 weeks to the big day. As if getting married wasn’t stressful enough with cultural family expectations and competing priorities, -- we had a global pandemic and ever-changing (and immensely confusing) government guidelines.

Through all of this, and although we didn’t know at the time -- the number one decision we made was choosing Dara & Tayo from Oruka Events as our wedding/event planner extraordinaire. Thanks to them, we literally had the BEST WEDDING EVER.

I’m Ghanian, and my husband is Nigerian. We needed someone who understood the complexities of a cross-cultural contemporary wedding that highlighted both cultures beautifully. In our search for a wedding planner, my husband and I had criteria we were looking for in a wedding planner -- especially when it came down to coordinating an international wedding. Things like; strong project management, experience with cultural weddings, excellent communication skills, good use of technology, the list goes on!

Why We Chose Oruka Events
One of our main tenants was that we did NOT want to be stressed during the day. We had seen too many brides crying at their wedding because of one thing or another, and we just weren’t about that life. So, although there were many other compelling wedding planners, we ended up choosing Oruka Events.

Our reason? From the first conversation, we knew right away they genuinely cared about us as a people. We weren’t just their “next client”, it truly felt like they were part of the community accompanying us as we made the next step in a life-changing journey. They were 100% here for us and would be in our corner and champion our vision of our wedding.

Dara, the owner, is amazing and seemed to be more excited about our wedding than we were! Her business partner and lovely mom Tayo (we call Mama Tayo) is the absolute sweetest and offers an amazing perspective.

Planning Process
Dara held routine planning meetings to ensure everything stayed top of mind and front and center. During the times when we, admittedly, dragged our feet on things we were responsible for, she would kindly but firmly hold our feet to the fire to ensure we were accountable for the vision and goals we set forth.

Vic - the meetings were held over Zoom, which was great since I lived in the US. It never felt like I was out of the loop on what was going on.

Budget
One of the initial things Dara and Mama Tayo shared was that they wanted to ensure we spend money on the things that mattered the most to us and try to find ways to save on things that matter less. I really appreciate that we reviewed the budget in almost every meeting. We had a collaborative tool that I referred to and made edits on as things changed. We always knew the status of vendor payments and how to scale back if we were running close to budget. There were no surprises, and we felt confident that we wouldn't have outstanding balances at the end of the wedding. No one likes that feeling and, because of them, we walked into our wedding stress-free of any pending financial obligations.


Day of the Wedding
One of the common tropes at weddings, especially African cultural ones, is that they invariably start late. The Oruka Events team ensured that’s not how they roll, and they’ve figured out the secret formula for having on-time cultural weddings. I was skeptical; however, the proof was evident. Queenie on the Oruka team was there at the hotel, ensuring everyone (guys, girls, parents) was up and getting scheduled. It felt like I was in Hollywood, and a director was in the background exclaiming, “Places, people, places! T-minus 15 minutes!” Having that level of personal accountability made all the difference, especially with our VERY early wake-up times.

We hated going to weddings where you just sat there and waited…and waited…and waited until something happened or people showed up. So for us, we were really big on keeping our guests engaged and having fun that fit with our personality and who we were. Dara and Mama Tayo assured us from the beginning, the “sit-down and wait” syndrome is not an Oruka style wedding. They held true to that. Everything was coordinated and timed immaculately. There were games, activities, 360 cams, caricatures, fireworks, and so much more! Our guests had a wonderful time, and we were able to focus our budget on the experiences we cared about most. Our parents kept saying people thanked us for inviting them to our wedding. To our parents, that was the highest honour.

All in all, our wedding was breathtaking. It didn’t hit us for a while, but we had a dream wedding beyond our wildest imaginations. We even got approached to be featured in a magazine! None of this would have been possible without the management, coordination, and ingenuity of Dara & Mama Tayo from Oruka Events. They are the bomb.com! We wholeheartedly recommend them and know that when you choose them, you will have your dream wedding too!

We are incredibly happy and pleased we decided to hire Oruka events. Dara, we cannot thank you enough! You were an absolute pleasure to work with and made our whole Trad wedding experience a breeze!! Not only were you extremely professional and helpful, you were also so sweet and friendly!
Thank you Oruka events for all of your amazing work and making our wedding day so perfect.

Oruka Events executed a stellar event in Canada and executed it flawlessly in Nigeria. All my spouse and I really had to do was show up, get married and enjoy the party. Thanks again guys. You were phenomenal!