The institution of marriage has gradually been moving away from the simple, traditional affairs that we used to have to the extravagant, money sucking holes we now call the ‘white wedding.’

These cumbersome ceremonies have become the order of the day, and somehow pushed the other options towards marriage into the background, or at best an introduction before the big ‘Christian’ ceremony.

However, the options still exist in terms of variety in legally getting married. Since marriage is a cultural event, the law looks at the issue through that prism – therefore the three forms of marriage avenues under our law constitute the customary, the Islamic, and the ordinance (which is civil marriage).

Each has its criteria that has to be met before they become official, and each has different rules on polygamy and other pressing matters.

Below, we break down each of these three…first up is customary.