Wedding day, January 6, 2018

Christophe and Solange are married. The wedding was way beyond expectations. We learned that Rwandan weddings are very long and have enormous formality. There are four parts that start around 9:30 AM and go well into the night:

1. Negotiating the dowry. Although this has been done before there is a ritual dowry negotiation that where the groom’s family and the bride’s family sit in separate tents and one representative from each family speaks. This was all in Kinyarwanda but essentially the bride’s family needs to be guaranteed the groom will take good care of her and provide the all important cows. There is even a cow man who goes to look for the cows and comes back and does a long cow dance complete with mooing. Once the dowry aspect is sorted, gifts are offered to the family members. We were incredibly moved to receive gifts, as Christophe considers us to be family. This part finishes with lunch. We estimate there were about 200-300 people present. The women are dressed in gorgeous brightly coloured clothing.

2. The church wedding. Two couples were married in the same ceremony, so the church was very full. This was a Catholic wedding with beautiful singing from the choir.

3. Photographs. About 2 hours were spent photographing Christophe and Solange with multiple combinations of family members in two locations.

4. Reception. This was in a brightly decorated community hall. Another meal was provided for everyone. We did not stay long but the party would continue well into the evening.

We feel enormously honoured to have been invited to the wedding and to be received as family. Christophe and Solange look beautiful. We wish them happiness and longevity.

Tents for dowry negotiation-groom’s family on left, brides on the right and the couple in the middle

The wedding party by Lake Kivu