One of the last weekends, we were invited to a pre-wedding and a wedding of more or less known friends of us. Actually, I never saw the couple from the pre-wedding before, but that’s okay. Here, friends are allowed to bring other friends, and since we are Mzungu’s, we are an attraction for the celebration anyway 😉
So, we went to this “pre-wedding”. Before I did some last minute shopping since I didn’t bring any clothes you could wear at a wedding! (Note for the next time: Bring fancy clothes in case you go to a wedding). As it was “only” the pre-wedding, we thought we won’t be under-dressed and everything will be just a lot of fun. Like “Poltern” at home, right? Haha, but not in Tanzania. The pre-wedding is the main celebration for the bride. So, it’s actually almost as big as the wedding itself and the guests almost looked like they’ll go to a wedding. Thus, I finally felt under-dressed, but never-mind…
The “Pre-Wedding”
This celebration was really unique. I never saw something like that before. The bride was wearing a ballroom dress, there was a camera team filming everything and everyone (with live-broadcast on 2 screens), a moderator was leading us through the program of the pre-wedding, which was organized in detail. At one point, one group of friends/family after another HAD to go on the dance floor for introduction, touch glasses with the bride, or deliver their presents. Each time in combination with dancing to ONE song. Then, the moderator waved you good-bye. Was that funny! Well, after food (still eaten with fingers) and all the speeches and rituals, we thought it will be definitely fun and less serious. But the “official part” was never over. Or actually, at the point it was, we suddenly left! Without saying good-bye. I think, that was the most strange thing on the whole evening haha…
The wedding (of another couple) was at the next day, Sunday. Now, we were expecting a lot and at least some more party there! But, let’s say, it was very decent. There was no alcohol, some people were singing religious songs and all these rituals were even better organized. There were about 200 (?) people, some more European since the bridegroom was German, and the decoration was amazing… Also at the pre-wedding the day before. Look at these pictures:
The only differences to the pre-wedding were that the celebration was indoor, we had forks and knifes, some more cakes (probably because of the Germans?), we got a small thank-you gift, and the music was more traditional and religious. Anyway, it was definitely worth to experience wedding celebrations in Tanzania 😉
