Brides sit exam in wedding dresses after schedule clash

Two Nigerian university students were photographed sitting final exams in their wedding dresses, after an unfortunate scheduling conflict.

Dorcas Atsea and Deborah Atoh, who study mass communication at Benue State University in south-east Nigeria, both set their wedding dates for 7 April - long after their final exams were supposed to be over.

But a media ethics and law exam, originally set for February, was unexpectedly postponed.

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Atsea told CNN Africa that the arrangements for her nuptials were “fixed and planned” when the university announced that the crucial test would now take place on 7 April, clashing with her big day.

“I attempted to shift the exam, but to no avail,” she said. “I went to the exam officer, she said I should choose between the two: the exam or the wedding.”

Atsea and Atoh had other ideas, however. On 7 April, both women married their fiances in a morning church ceremony, then took their seats alongside fellow students in the exam hall for the midday exam, before hurrying off to join guests at their reception.

Her wedding day may not have panned out as she had originally expected, but Atsea says she enjoyed her unusual nuptials.

“I was excited graduating and wedding at the same time. My classmates were so happy,” she said.

Atoh also received a rapturous welcome from her classmates when she arrived for the exam in her white gown.

“When I got to school, my mates were so excited. They lifted me up,” she said.

Course lecturer Dr Benjamin Ogbu told Nigerian daily The Punch that it had been a day of “double joy” for the students.

“I was with the deputy vice-chancellor when both women stormed the examination hall,” he said. It was a moment of joy for all of us as students and lecturers.”

As the images of the pair spread across the internet, social media users expressed admiration and encouragement for the scholarly brides demonstrating how to “have it all”.