I thought that this was forever lost -- the original was badly damaged by the elements. However, here is a copy of E's and my marriage plan -- half a year before the event -- which I found on an old hard drive. Most of it had by now been well discussed. This post is about what made it distinctively African:
• LOBOLA: Of course, lobola. Translated, the bride price -- yet it is far more than that. In my experience, one receives most if not all of the lobola back, through generosity.
• INVITES: We had to accommodate limitless people somehow. This is African tradition.
• RETINUE: We deliberately went "European" here, with a modest retinue. African retinues may be large.
• ORGANIST: We didn't have one. We had traditional African singing (and African dress, for decoration).
• AFTER-CELEBRATION: Much of this was provided as a gift, by African tradition. In fact, half of the "European" reception was a gift.
• HONEYMOON: Originally, my new wife would mourn her parting from the family. However, we ultimately went "European", going on honeymoon soon after the wedding.
• TOTAL COST: This was greatly reduced, compared to the cost of a European wedding, mainly because the African family was deeply involved, and "I am because we are."
3 comments:
You had a very expensive Western reception as well.
There were two wedding receptions: European and African. I assume that by "very expensive", my reader means that it cost someone a lot. It might have looked that way, being held at an iconic hotel. The average cost of a reception, at the time, was around R40–R80,000. One sees on the Marriage Plan that it cost me R10,000. Would you wish to add anything to that? Perhaps the cake. Wife E says that it was blessings from God.
P.S. On what basis did you decide that it was "very expensive"? Is that what you saw? What people told you? And why is this important?
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