A Ghanaian wedding

If I ever get married there are certain things I would hope for in the day, lots of family and fun, nice weather, a beautiful ceremony that brings honor to God,... There are also, I'm sure, plenty of things I would be a little worried/nervous about. But there are some things, like having electricity for the whole wedding and the groom being on time for the wedding that I would never think to worry about.

Georgina and Linda waiting for the wedding to start

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend my first wedding in Ghana. The wedding was for our cook, Lizzy and was at a church in Nsawam. The wedding started at 9:00am prompt. We took all of the girls and I was a little worried that we would be late because of traffic. Never fear though, it started at 10:30 and the groom showed up closer to 11:30 (yes Emily, I will be letting Andrew know that this is acceptable for weddings :-)) What I understood or had translated for me by the girls was very interesting. It started with a lot of singing and talking, and then the bride’s family had a long list of things that the groom had to provide, a 100 cedi knocking fee, an acceptance fee, and many other things. Once they brought the various things the bride’s family expected the bride had to accept it three times. Following that they paraded in and exchanged rings and the pastor did some talking.

Then there was a lull in things happening and people were starting to walk around. We went outside and were taking a few pictures

I thought it might be finished… silly me, they were just changing clothes so they could do it all again. The ceremony went until around 2:30. Throughout the ceremony the electricity went out 2 different times; for a half hour the first time, and the second time it didn’t come back on. There were about 200 people at the ceremony and at one point almost all of us were introduced. It was all quite different from weddings I’ve been to in the past. From what I here some things about it were pretty traditional Ghanaian customs, and some things not quite as much, but it was a great experience. I am very happy for Lizzy as we love her dearly and I hope it was a very special day for her.