December is typically considered to be "party" season with all sorts of festivities taking place, new bars cropping up all over the city (Kampala) and an influx of Ugandans living in the diaspora returning to spend the holidays with their loved ones.
Many will also choose to say “I do” during this season. Typically, I will receive at least 3 wedding invitations and a number of invitations to traditional wedding ceremonies. I do try my very best to honor these invitations however there are only so many speeches and long wedding receptions one can sit through so I will occasionally choose not to go to one
This December was no exception. I was invited to and actually attended 3 weddings. Wedding number one was a colleague’s. I did not make it to Church , the most important part of a wedding because here we witness the presumably happy couple exchange vows and promise to honor these till do them apart. I attended the reception at which I gave a speech on behalf of the bride’s employers. I of course said all good things about the bride and imparted words of wisdom seeing as I know quite a bit about marriage, ahem. The bride was stunning as one would expect and she seemed over the moon. After my colleagues and I collected the customary cake that is given to workmates, we left. We had eaten and saw no other reason to stay, the couple are born again so no chance of evening sniffing vino, beer or any other choice of poison.
Wedding number two, now this was something. A prominent Kampala businessman was finally making an “honest” woman of his partner of 12 years. Let us just say, no expense was spared here. All the glitz, glamour and splendor that you could possibly imagine was laid on for this wedding. Once again, I did not attend the Church service, slaps self on wrist. I pitched up to the reception where preferred dress code was black and white, I wore pink, looked pretty hot I must say. Now this was no alcohol free wedding. It was a very hot day, before I proceeded to the huge elaborately decorated marquee, I was offered a drink and accepted a couple of sips of ice cold beer. Once seated inside the marquee, snacks were served, drinks of all sorts were flowing. Kampala’s notables were either already seated or in many cases milling around perhaps to ensure that the MCs spotted them , the expectation is that the MC would then mention/acknowledge them at some stage. The couple eventually pitched up or rather arrived in style. Their convoy comprised of no less than 10 (I kid you not) top of the range SUVs, mainly Mercedes Benz MLs. I caught myself whistling, how rude. There was no shortage of entertainment with a number of popular local artists performing. I left at around 11pm, I understand the party continued well into the next day.
Now the third, and most enjoyable wedding for me, the one that actually inspired me to write this. This was unusual in many ways. For a start, there were no invitation cards, we all got Facebook messages giving us details. A photo of a black and a white puppy were incorporated, the intention was not lost on me, the bride, a dear friend of mine is a “Muzungu”, her Prince Charming is an all round sports man from the West Nile. There was no church service, instead the couple exchanged vows they had penned at an outdoor venue that sits atop one of Kampala’s 7 hills. The view was amazing, the vows were short and we got to raise a glass of champers to the newlyweds straight after, perfect. Lunch was served indoors, 3 speeches were given by the groom, his bestman and the bride’s mother who also wrote and read a very witty poem.
Once speeches were done, food was finished and quite a bit of wine was consumed, we were given instructions to proceed to the after party venue, a beautiful, perhaps somewhat little known spot by the water less than a 10 minute drive away. I was asked by the bestman to ferry unconsumed alcohol as well as water to the after party venue, happily obliged for more reasons than one. The bride and groom joined us at the after party venue, they did not travel in a convoy, they did not have one. The rest of the day was about fun, frolics and guests getting to know each other. Games including the tag of war and sack race were laid on. In addition to the DJ, a group from the West Nile kept guests entertained. Just as we were starting to get peckish, muchomo was served. I left at around 11pm, seems to be my threshold, again celebrations carried on into the next day.
What struck me about this wedding was the focus on the bride, groom and their close friends and family. The guest list was somewhere between 100-150people. It gave us all a wonderful opportunity to really witness the couple’s joy and to have a sneak peek into their life together. We all walked away having made at least 2 new friends and to me this really felt like a celebration of love.
So whichever way you choose to do it, I think your big day should be very much about you and the love I do hope you share. How many you wish to celebrate with is of no consequence. It should be a day that should always conjure up fond memories shared with your loved ones.
Lovely story (ies)
ReplyDeleteThank you Michael, hopefully I will be inspired to write a bit more.
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