Wedding Thoughts

Here is just a random mix of thoughts that are running through my head concerning my wedding:

• I am less interested in the wedding but more focused on getting married. If at the end of the day, I am married to Kelvin I will be a happy lady. 
• I am sure that people in Kongowea are more excited for my wedding than I am. It is the buzz in the community. Talk of the town. Women are fussing more over what they are going to wear, how they are going to do their hair, their jewelry, their make up than I am. You would think Kelvin is some sort of politician with all this hype. If we didn't make it an 'invitation only' wedding, I think we would have 600 people there. No jokes. 
• Speaking of invitations, they seem to be a major issue. Everyone we meet is asking for their 'card'. We  have issued all the cards so if you didn't get one, you can't come. Period. So please don't fuss. We invited 320 (yes...320) of our closest friends and family. If you weren't invited, that means you are probably not as close to us as you think. Another thing, please don't ask for a card for you teacher, pastor, friend, etc. I had my sister-in-law tell me I need to invite the teacher of my other twin sisters. I said NO. 
• We even have people who are willing to pay for their friends to get into the wedding. We have to keep a strict number because we are paying per head (which isn't usually done here). Once we explain that, we have people who are offering to pay for their friend's to get in. 
• We have invited all of Kelvin's family from upcountry (trust me, they are an army of people themselves) but we are not providing their transport, a place to stay, or a new outfit for them. Because of these 3 factors, most of them won't come. But we still get calls from them asking for money to come. I am blessed to have an awesome mother-in-law who totally agrees with us and doesn't even push us to hand out more money. She is not even allowing her own family to stay with her in Mombasa. I am so thankful for her. 
• People are admiring how 'simple' our wedding is. We are not doing some key Kenyan things like decorating the cars or hiring professional make up artists or wearing excessive jewelry. We have also decided to put a big bowl of candy as our centre pieces. Never heard of here in Kenya. I love it. 
• We got our wedding song the other day and Kelvin can't stop listening to it. Honestly, I have fallen in love with it too. The local band we have wrote the song especially for us. It has our names, our parents names, our hometowns and everything. LOVE IT! 
• I love being called 'Bibi Harusi'. I will miss that once I am married. 
• Prayers are being offered all over the place for us. My sister-in-law told me yesterday how her church just finished 3 days of fasting and prayers for our wedding (meaning they didn't eat or drink for 3 days because of us). Part of me is so humbled, but part of me thinks it is a little crazy. 
• I am no longer going to fuss over whether or not my bridesmaid dresses are going to fit properly. I am making all of them even for 2 girls from Canada. Because we didn't get measured properly by the fundi who is making them, they could very well not fit well. However, I was at a wedding yesterday and saw that the majority of the clothes the women were wearing did not fit them properly. It worked and no one cared. 
• Our marriage license has costed 6 times more than we thought it would. With all the special letters we had to get, my trip to Nairobi to the embassy, a special license to marry outside, a special license to marry a kenyan and a foreigner, and all the other small details, we probably could have put a down payment on a house. Ok, not that extreme but it was a lot of money. 
• As we sat at the registrar's office to get our license approved, we watched countless young black ladies and white old men come in and get married. Some looked like they were in love, but many looked like it was just convenient. I was just so thankful for my relationship with Kelvin. 
• Kelvin has been my hero through all of this. When people ask me if I am stressing over the wedding, I can honestly say No. But that's because Kelvin is doing most of the work. He is dealing with everyone who is being fussy, he is making all the small arrangements, he is calm, cool, and collected. I am so excited to be his wife!