An Event to Remember (FOREVER!!) Part 2

Yesterday I posted the first half of this story about our wedding in Zambia 3 years ago.  Check it out here if you missed it. (I accidentally posted yesterday's without the pictures, so if you want to see them, click back over- they're included now.) 

THE ACTUAL EVENT: Now that I’ve explained the individual components, I’ll try to give you a picture of the whole event. We were already married in a legal ceremony, so we just had the reception. The event was scheduled to start at 5 pm, which of course means 6 or 6:30 in Zambian time. We were supposed to leave by 5:30, take pictures, and then arrive by 6.

We were all dressed and ready, but our ride didn’t show up until 6. Then, we drove off in a caravan of 6 cars, all honking and flashing lights. They purposefully drove around the roundabout with all that noise 3 times and then went to the photo location. After 20 minutes of pictures, we got in the cars, went back around the roundabout and went to the reception.

Our ride, all decorated for the wedding.

The bridal party then did their entrance dance and came back out. The junior bridal party danced in, and then the bridal party danced back in to wait for us. The matron danced in, leading the flower girl and then Joshua and I. Several women joined ahead of us and danced in front of me. They were so close I could barely move. We were seated and the MC started the program by introducing the head table.

Wedding party entrance dance.  They had to learn 5 choreographed dances and we had rehearsals all week for it before the wedding.  Most bridal parties actually rehearse for 3-4 months.

The junior wedding party dancing in.  Natasha is only 8 in this photo, but she is an incredible dancer.

After the introductions, we had speeches from each family. Of course, each family was asked to dance before speaking, and all the Peace Corps Volunteers joined my mom so she wasn’t dancing alone. (My sisters REFUSED). Joshua’s Dad spoke in Luvale with a translator and it was very sweet. My mom made me cry (and several bridemaids/guests as well). Then, we had a short message about marriage, a prayer, and began dinner.

All evening, it had been cool and cloudy, like it was about to rain. So, just as people were starting to eat, it started pouring down rain. All the venues in Zambia are outdoors, so it wasn’t good. People crowded under the few shelters that were available. Joshua and I decided to stay at our table and eat in the rain. Someone brought us an umbrella. (Later the DJ played Rihanna's song “under my umber-ella-ella-ella”.) It continued to rain on and off for the next 2 hours. We were soaked through. The bridesmaids and I all took the jackets from the groom and his groomsmen. My flower girl had to go inside because she was so cold. The MC and matron discussed ending the event early but the rain did stop just as we were about to give up.

Then, came the commercials. (Yes, commercials.) The MC announced the decorator lady and had her come up and tell people where to contact her for their events. She even had the audacity to say she would do anything they asked for. Then, the caterer was called up for the same thing. And the DJ and the matron and even where the MC’s clothes were from.

After the commercial break, we cut the cake (refer to that section) and the bridal party danced out with it. Then, we had our first dance. After we finished, our bridal party surrounded us and did a cool salsa dance around us. We even warmed up enough to give the guys back their jackets. The dancing started and lasted about 20 minutes. We went around to say hello to everyone and then the MC called for everyone to come to say goodbye and bring us our gifts. It started raining again. We ended the evening by 10:30.

The Families: My mom and sisters were real troopers. They handled all the cultural confusion in stride and my sisters even wore citenge dresses that his sisters had gotten made for them. (They were new citenges, so after the hours of rain, my sisters actually turned blue just for me.) His family was awesome as usual and worked all week to make it as good an event as possible. His sisters were busy all week feeding and taking care of my family and friends and were working behind the scenes all night. The two families were really brought together during the event and that is, of course, the real reason behind all the hoop-la anyway. (The Bride never likes to be told it’s not about her, though.)

Rebecca, Mama, Robin.  My mom & sisters.  The bright blue dresses are the ones that Joshua's sisters gave them as gifts. 

Like I said, despite all the stress and difficulties and rain, it was still a really fun event. All the décor was beautiful and everyone enjoyed themselves. The rain was just what I needed to make me give up all my hopes of control and just enjoy.



Most of the family.  Some had already gone home by then, but this was the closest we came to a full group photo.