A Wedding!

I went to my first African Wedding last weekend and I have to say it was quite different than anything I've ever experienced.

The first of many differences was that the ceremony was at 8 am. Yeah...can you imagine what time you would have to get up to be ready for that wedding? and they do the rehearsal before-hand. Crazy.

But the other insanely weird part is that not a lot of people attend the ceremony. In fact, only the bride's mother, father, aunt and grandmother attended from her family. None of her siblings or other relatives were there. They said it is too short to waste their time, and they will just go to the reception. I know...crazy.

So, I get to the wedding at 8:05 and just about 20 people are the there and the camera guys are just now setting up. I end up sitting..get this..NEXT to the Bride's father and mother on the FRONT ROW! and not even in the middle of the row, but on the edge of the aisle! Seriously! I felt kinda weird because I've never even met the bride or groom and here I was this stranger in the spot of honor at least in American standards.

So, finally around 8:30 the ceremony begins. Its starts with really upbeat fun music, and then bridesmaids and flowergirls coming in the back of the church and dancing their way up the aisle. They stopped halfway, and I couldn't figure out why they weren't moving, till I realized the groomsmen had come in the side door and were dancing their way to them!

After they joined, and danced up to their CHAIRS (!) to sit in at the front, the dad, mom, and grandmom danced their way back to the bride and danced up with her, until the groom danced over to her and "danced" her up the aisle. If you haven't caught on, there's a lot of dancing going on.  By the way, I would like to impliment the grandmother dancing part in my wedding...because watching Granny dance up the aisle at my wedding, would just be hilarous.

So, they finally get to the front of the church, and sit (!) up front. The rest was a lot like an American wedding. They exchanged vows, exchanged rings, and there was a sermon.

My favorite part was that we all danced out of the church with the bride and groom. SO fun!

Then, it was time for the wedding photos. I was asked to take a picture with the bride and groom, with me standing in the middle of them.....I HAVE NEVER MET THEM AND THEY DON"T KNOW WHO I AM! but because I was white, I was told I would honor them with a photo. Crazy what the pigment of your skin can do.

So, I went home to eat lunch...now its about 11:00...and then its time for the reception at 1:00.

I meet up with the bride's brother, Watson, and we hang out at the reception hall. The bridal party, you guessed it, danced in and then they all went to sit on stage.

The Master of Ceremony begins the party. The whole aim of the reception is to give money away. All the guest bring money in bills equivelant to dimes, quarters, and dollar bills. The MC will then give you reasons to dance to the front and throw money: friend of the bride, your a baptist, you liked the mother in laws speech, whatever. So, you dance to the front, and start throwing the money in the air, still dancing, then dance back to your seat.  This went on from 1:00-7:00...NO LIE! I was SOOOOO tired. The only thing similar to an American reception was that they had a cake cutting ceremony. They fed each other but then the rest of the cake was sold. You could come up and buy a piece of the cake.

We did get a glass bottle drink and a small piece of a doughnut, but they ran out like 3 people before they got to me.

It was a lot of fun, but such a long, long day.

Plus, I got stared at alllllll day long because I was the only Mzungu there....and I don't think they were expecting me to dance...and ask Julie Charron...I have MAD dancing skills.