Didas and Claire's wedding - Saturday 4th

Wow what an amazing day we had today. A Rwandan wedding is quiet an experience - it goes all day and is a mixture of traditional and western components. Here is the groom (Didas) in his traditional outfit.

We are all waiting outside of Claire's parents house to be invited in. The first part of the ceremony is an introduction. The groom's family visits the brides family home. The brides extended family sit on one side and the grooms on the other.

The elders of the extended family do all the talking and bargaining. The steps seem to be

• each family gives the other a drink before they speak
• the families bargain around how many cows must be paid to the brides family
• they check if there are any issues between the families
• some elders go and check the cows are real, have good water, are well fed and healthy (they just walk out the gate and wait an few minutes and return)
• its is agreed the cows are good
• the bride is brought out with some other girls. Its is suggested they take a different girl, she is rejected. This continues until the bride (Claire) is offered and accepted.

Finally got the right girl!

Poets from each family then name the cows so we know they are real.
The brides family provides food and drink to both families and friends. I guess there were greater than 200 people!

Then its was a change of clothes and off to the Church wedding. This was held in Claire's church and it took us a while to find it.

After the church there were photographs in the garden at the old Novotel Hotel.

And then we headed to the reception. This was a combination of western (clothes) and traditional (music, dance and ceremony). At the reception the grooms family provides the food and drink.
They had about 12 wedding cakes. They cut each one and then they were presented to various people and groups - parents, close family, work people. We (Hope Global) were presented with a cake. It was a real honour.

It was often hard to get a good photo. The whole day had been photographed and videoed. The photographers would often completely block our view. The video guy had a light that seemed brighter and hotter than the sun - we almost had to put sunglasses on. They also do crazy thinks like video the bridal cars moving. They stand in the back of a moving utility and hanging on with one hand while videoing.

The traditional dancing was amazing. People spontaneously went out onto the floor and started dancing.
It was beautiful day. The bride and groom looked amazing, happy and very much in love.

Steve