How we ended up with a ‘village wedding’

What do you do when the parents - probably the most important people at a wedding after the bride and groom-make one definate demand? You grant it. Agatha Ayebazibwe’s groom’s parents requested for a wedding at their home in the village where they would be comfortable.

The thought of having my wedding upcountry had never once crossed my mind. When the time came this year, my husband and I agreed it would be in one of the hotels in Kampala.

My husband’s parents were against a wedding in town however, and with good reasons: they were a bit uncomfortable with travels, and it would be hard to have most of their relatives ferried to the city “just for the wedding” when his two elder brothers had wedded and held their receptions at home in Bushenyi.

And just like that, my only choice was for a village wedding so I planned accordingly to make sure my day was a successful one.

I travelled to my home district – Bushenyi- to identify service providers, ignorant of the challenges that awaited me.

The challenges
Although home was in Bushenyi, we ended up getting wed in Mbarara, about 70km from home, before travelling back home for the reception.

This was because it was only in Mbarara that we could find decent service providers like photographers, caterers, salon and gardens where we would take the photographs. But after we settled for Nyamitanga Cathederal as the church where we would be wed, we were still faced with the challenge of the mandatory pre-marital counselling sessions that would have to be held in the church where you will be wed. Both of us were staying and working in Kampala.

Thankfully, the priest allowed us to hold just three sessions, two of them during the last week to the wedding and another a month before. That was settled.

The perks and disappointments
We, however, failed to get cars because most bridal cars in Mbarara were already booked while there were no such service providers in Bushenyi. We finally settled for the new model of Toyota Premios, booked and paid for four, only to receive one and a black Mercedes Benz on D-day! We had no choice but to use our car and our friends’.

On D-day, we were almost late to church waiting for the hired cars which never came, at which point we decided to go with cars that had taken us to the salon.

Attendance was also on the low side because of the distance. When it came to studio and garden photos, the time keeper kept pestering us, reminding us of the journey ahead if we had to be at the reception latest 3.30pm. I remember losing my temper. I told him that it was our wedding and those that could not wait for us should go, but we had to take enough pictures since we would not be wedding again.

We did not spend on food at all since it came from the farms at my new home. My father-in-law took care of all the details to do with food and some drinks. The food was really nice, I could hear people complementing it. At the reception, the venue was well decorated with our theme colours of hot pink and silver, it was spacious enough and I was very happy about it.

And then the rains came tumbling down
All these nice things, however, did not last long. All of sudden the clouds started rumbling and the skies became darker. I felt weak in the knees. We had not seen this coming since we had convinced ourselves that August was not a rainy month. We had just had lunch and were just making our way to the bridal tent when it started raining. I cried.

We had another tent brought to shield the cake and the programme went on as scheduled even with the rain. We had umbrellas held for us during the cake cutting and serving session. Because we were in an open place, by the time we finished serving cake to both my parents and his parents, the rain had stopped but the ground was very soft and muddy. I remember my gown looked like something I cannot explain.

Despite it all, however, I look back at my wedding as a success, especially because we had our day and our parents were happy and satisfied.

fullwoman@ug.nationmedia.com