Planning a cross cultural wedding

Traditional Kenyan weddings are quite different from Canadian weddings.

Kelvin and I have decided to put away our cultures and just do what we want to do.

We have gotten a few raised eyebrows with some of our decisions.

We met our wedding decorator the other day and I told him that I want one of my colours to be navy blue. He looked up at me, raised his eyebrows and gave me a puzzled look. Not a colour he is used to working with I assume.

I have had a lot of people ask me the colours of the wedding. In fact, it is often the first thing they ask (even the men). They ask so that they can dress to match my colours. My eyes brows raise as I looked at them like, "huh? You want to match my decorations?" Why should I even pay for decorations when they can just be my living, breathing, moving decorations?

Our wedding is on a wednesday. Up go the eyebrows again.

Our guest list is about 350 people. When I told my parents that, they both were like, "What!?" I couldn't see their eyebrows but I am sure they were sky high.

The reception is going to be a bit later than most Kenyan receptions. It is going to be almost like a Canadian one where they eat supper and then there is a dance afterwards (but our dance will end at around 10pm). Whenever I tell people that, they go, "Oh?.....that sounds cool..."It's new concept that, after thinking about, people really like. It takes a while for them to get it though.

We want to do a private ceremony outside in a garden or backyard. We have gone a couple of places to see what they would charge and what the conditions are. I explain to them that I just want it for the ceremony. They start talking about food, a band, a high table, etc. I say, "no, no, no, just the ceremony." Kelvin then pipes in and says, "she means the church service." I guess that is what it is called here. The person we are talking with then goes, "Well we don't have a church here." I say, "No, we don't want the church service in a church. We want the church service outside." Eye brows raise, eyes roll to the sky as the person processes what I just said. A few seconds later he says, "Ok, I think I understand."

It's only been a week since we started planning. I can't wait to see how many more eye brows will raise in the next couple of months.