African Adventures: Wedding of Esther and Femi!

On Sept. 17, the day of Femi and Esther's wedding was finally here! Femi is the president's driver and we have been anticipating this day since our arrival. We were excited to be part of a traditional Yuraba wedding. Mark and I made a practice run to the location--Bamfort Hotel--on Friday with one of our PEF students as the guide so we would be able to make it on our own on Friday. (To say the road is an adventure is a bit of an understatement--and only could be understood by someone who has been here. Another post will document our adventures on those roads.)

Here is the bride arriving at the hotel after the legal ceremony at the Registry Office

And here comes the groom

Here's a few of the guests--dressed in the wedding color of green--waiting for the ceremony to begin

The parents of the bride

The groom and his friends must beg the bride's parents for her hand in marriage

Happily accepted into the family

Seated and waiting for the bride to arrive

And here comes the bride--modestly covered to enter

Dancing before the groom to "entice" him. The women at the right with the gold hat is the "mouthpiece" who did most of the talking (in Yuraba) for both the bride's family and the groom's