Wedding bells

From Cameroon - We...

Yesterday Joe and I were invited to the wedding of Helms and Antonia. Helms is a member of SUFA, Joe's football club. We went with Didimus and Sylvester (who are also members of SUFA), the wedding was due to start at 1, I think this is to make sure everybody is there when it actually starts at 2:30. I even had time to go home and change my dress as it got wet in the back of Sylvester's car. The wedding was held in the University chapel, which sounds quaint and small but was actually pretty big. It was a Catholic service and a very large event. There must have been 100's present. There were about 6 bridesmaids, millions of lady's in waiting and two choirs. The service lasted about 2 1/2 hours, could not follow it too well due to problems with the sound system. A church wedding is not legal in Cameroon they would have previously been to the courts to get married and had a traditional wedding with the family.

After the service as with any wedding the photos were taken then we went off to the reception. This was held outside at the Mount Cameroon FC centre. There were 100's of people there. Once the bride and groom arrived and took their seats (well out of our view) the evening began. There is a chairman who gives some opening remarks then almost everybody makes a speech, this was pretty hard to follow without being able to see what was going on. Then it was time for the food, the SUFA guys decided there were way too many people and not enough food or beer so we left.

African weddings are usually pretty big, it is common for people to just turn up who are not invited as they know the couple, or heard there was a wedding on and hope for free food. There must have been over 400 people at the reception it was far to crowded I felt and was happy to leave. I think this wedding my have been bigger than usual as Helm's father is a chief so the whole village would have been invited, he has also travelled around so made many friends. However it is not unusual to have a few 100!.