Josie and Dennis' Wedding, Day 1, Event 1: The Dowry Ceremony. I'm in a traditional Rwandan dress called a mishanana. And contrary to how it appears, John is not about to spear me in the face.
The dowry ceremony takes place at the bride's family home. Her yard has been transformed and on this end, the bride and groom will sit with various others once the marriage has been agreed upon.
Me and Steven, a friend-turned-translator to narrate the ceremony for me. We end up waiting for a few hours before it gets started.
The groom's side has finally arrived so the ceremony commences. Madness ensues as countless photographers and videographers storm the place and get in the way of every picture, ironically.
The bride's guests. This is one of the smallest ceremonies of the wedding weekend, with only a few hundred people present.
Soda factors into the wedding at every turn, which I found amusing given how traditional the ceremony was in every other way. The woman in blue is one of the bride's guests who helped to serve everyone present while representatives from the bride and groom's side negotiated the marriage.
Again, Fanta. This time, the groom's representative presents it to the bride's as a show of goodwill. Throughout, the two representatives are acting, with the bride's rep pretending he disapproves of the marriage, and finally haggling over how many cows will be exchanged (even though in reality, that number has already been determined).
Inside the house, the bride (on the left) waits with her bridal party for the part of the ceremony where she enters. All told, she and the groom play only minor roles here.
Although her photos may suggest otherwise, Josie really is having the best day of her life (John assured me of this when I asked him why she looked miserable--he blamed the millions of cameras all around her).
The bridal party, waiting in the wings. (I'm still seated outside, so by now my camera has long since been hijacked to get this premium behind-the-scenes look)
Two traditional dancers enter to provide some mid-ceremony entertainment prior to the bride's entrance.
The bridal party finally arrives, now that the marriage has been agreed to and the cows have been inspected.
Josie, in the gold and orange, finally appears. The build-up to this moment has lasted several hours. It's a very theatrical ceremony, suspense and all.
Josie greets the groom's side after entering the tent. And yes, hugs here are just as awkward as this one looks.
Finally, the bride and groom are permitted to be together, and he greets her with a kiss (much to the jubilee of the guests, as seen by the huge smiles all around).
Now that the agreement has been reached, they take their seats in the traditional setting. Dennis, the groom, is the very tall man (allegedly the second tallest in Rwanda) standing next to Josie. She's even shorter than she looks as she's wearing very high heels. The height difference amuses most everyone and is commented upon throughout the weekend as his head is cut out of pictures repeatedly.
If you're wondering why I look like a whale, it's because the mishanana is designed to make it so. Big is beautiful so they create lots of bunching and layering to make the wearer look like a big mama.
The groomsmen, looking slightly disheveled in their un-matching-ness. I love the expression of the man on the left--either he's thinking “I love Coca Cola” or “what on earth am I doing up here”.
The bridesmaids and the bride's niece, all looking stunning.
This guy is the man. He proved it on Day 2 of wedding mayhem, but even this picture gives a good hint of how much he rules. His name is Pacchu, and he's 5 years old.
Ceremony finished, we all move back into the house as the bride and groom enjoy some glorious African tea. I also like the bouquet of roses wrapped in banana leaves. Classy.
After tea, Dennis and Josie are planted in chairs and groups crowd around for pictures with them. I had my turn, but unfortunately it was documented on about 35 cameras and not my own.
Day 2, Event 2: The Civil Ceremony. Dennis and Josie technically get married here, signing the necessary paperwork and taking oaths on the Rwandan flag.
It takes place at a government building in an exurb of Kigali with only family and close friends.
Event 3: The Matrimony Ceremony. Here, rings are exchanged, a pastor presides, and many more guests attend. This would be equivalent to the U.S. wedding ceremony.
Exiting the hall-turned-chapel after the Matrimony Ceremony. Here is Pacchu (the man) and the flower girl looking like mini groom and bride.
I love that the little guys are holding hands. Because Dennis is a soldier, they followed tradition and walked under the swords after the ceremony with the Army Band playing in the background.
I love this picture. Captures it all.
Leaving the Matrimony Ceremony for photo time.
John, Francis, me. A massive hall overhaul is taking place behind us as they turn the chapel into the reception room. We'll return here later for part 5.
We arrived at a hotel for portraits and found a few other wedding parties there. John was amused by the police officer getting married, but the officer's wife did not understand why this random man was taking her picture.
Event 4: Official portraits.
This proved to be a hectic and hilarious segment of the day. Are wedding portraits always so intense and the photographers are able to hide it or was this one particularly insane?
The newlyweds!
Francis and me . . . looking skeptical. Mostly we were getting stressed out watching how stressed out the photography director was.
Francis and me discussing the merits of marriage.
Hey Julie, come pose in our family portrait!
John is on my right, and his Dad is on my left. What you can't see here is that his Dad and I are holding hands. I love Rwanda.
Family portrait over, now it's time for my personal photo opp with the bride and groom. At this moment I was probably telling John I was going to get him for this.
John and bridesmaids.
Dennis is fed up with pictures. He swoops up his wife and places her in the car. Ready for Stage 5.
Not everyone is so tired of posing. These two 7-year-olds were my buddies all day, cracking me up and donning some major 'tude. The woman behind them was my idol. She knows how to dress.
Event 5: The Reception. Here, the procession enters the reception hall.
The stage on which the well-clad sat for the reception.
Again with the soda. Love it.
Traditional dancers abound, and Pacchu is looking overwhelmed (but totally and completely well-behaved as he sat on a stage and followed instructions for upwards of 4 hours).
John listens to various speakers while I daydream and pretend I know what they're saying. John keeps forgetting to translate for me. Francis later tells me how impressed he is that I look like I'm listening and know what they're saying. Luckily, I have nearly 9 months of practice at that.
Traditional dancing. This was my favorite part of the reception and totally mesmerized me. Rwandan dance is famous throughout the world, and for good reason.
Cutting the cake. And yes, they are doing so with a sword.
Mmmm cake. I love cake.
John looks less happy than I about the cake . . . so after a couple of bites he gives it to me. Yesss bonus cake!
More dancing. You may notice, all dancing was done by professionals and not guests. As a bad dancer, I didn't mind. Instead, all guests sat in chairs facing the stage throughout the reception. There was no mingling, dancing, or eating (other than cake). Difference number one million compared to an American wedding.
Josie's siblings stand up to present her with traditional gifts, each of which has symbolic meaning. I'd also like to point out that to take these pictures, I had to stand at the front of the hall, facing every guest, and looking incredibly obvious. I'm fairly certain I was flourescent red throughout.
Manus takes on the role of explaining each of the gifts to Josie, Dennis, and the guests.
This is what we did for most of the reception . . . laugh at each other and ignore what the speakers (there were so many!) were saying.
Reception finished, the Army band marches out. Francis and I try to rescue the decorations they leave tumbling in their wake.
Event 6: Bride Moves In to Groom's Home. After the ceremony, the bride returned to her home and had to gather all of her belongings to bring to the groom's home. A select number of guests come to the groom's home where dinner is served and the bride officially enters her husbands roof.
It is 1:00am now, so technically Day 3 of Wedding Extravaganza. Josie is looking drained from the more than 34 hours of wedding events.
