Weddings, to me, are beautiful and joyful events; most weddings will leave a beautiful and lasting memory with everyone that attended. I can still remember the weddings I attended and few of the beautiful things thay happened there.
My sister's wedding was the best one I ever attended because there was no restrictions, I was free to do as I liked, enter places and took things I wanted (cake,food and drinks😅). And yeah, I also did a lot of work, skipped sleeps to make sure it was a succesful one.
It all started when I overheard my sister's conversation over the phone and it was obvious that she was talking to a guy. I decided to enter her room and sit to listen to the conversation, I left her room when I confirmed what the conversation was about. I came back an hour later to ask her some questions and she told me she had found her man. I was like "oh really?" because my sister never looked or behaved like one who was interested in the opposite gender, lol. She then told me more about her man and we had long and interesting conversation.
6 months later, around the first week of October, I came home for holiday. My parents told me that my sis would be having her wedding in the coming month and I was a bit vexed because I did not receive any notice while I was in school. I told them how I felt about the late info and they explained why they couldn't inform me earlier. Actually, I planned to stay only for two weeks then leave for school but I couldn't anymore.
In this part of the world, a wedding usually has three part; the introduction where the groom and his family come to officially present themselves to the bride's family, the engagement is when the groom's family come to pay the bride price to the bride's family, the wedding which depends on the religion. So, it could be a Christian wedding, Islamic wedding or a traditional wedding.
My sister's introduction was held two weeks before the engagement. The engagement happened on a Friday and the Christian wedding the next day, Saturday. The engagement was stressful for me because I did a lot of work; carrying and moving stuffs, buying and securing things needed for the engagement. You wouldn't believe that I couldn't take my bath until after the whole party ended around 7pm; there was no enough time to do that. I also could not wear the clothes I sew for the party. I even had to stay with the drinks while the party was going on else, many of the drinks would be stolen. But I made sure I ate whenever I was hungry.
After the engagement, there were so many people to greet, appreaciate, see off and say goodbye to. I was too tired but the task for that day had not ended. I went on to help the women who were frying the fish and meats for the next day, which was the wedding day. That night after all the work, I ate a lot of meat to my satisfaction then had a short sleep till the next morning.
The next day was the wedding day, one of my happiest day on earth. Very early in the morning, around 6am after morning devotion, the house was busy again, every person already preapring for the D-day. The jollof rice, the fried rice, more meats and fish, local dishes and drinks were being prepared. By 9am, we started packaging everything and moving them into the cars that were available to take the foods and drinks to church and the reception. By 10am, we were done with packinging of foods and necessary materials for the church service and reception, I had breakfast and was ready to leave for church.
I got to church during the praise and worship session. The service went well then I saw my beautiful sister in her lovely white wedding gown and I could feel her joy through her smile, it was contagious; she smiled the more as my dad held her hand and they walked side by side to the altar as the hymn was being sung. It was a beautiful moment as the choir sang beautifully. The exchange of vows and kissing of the bride is that part where no one wants to miss in a wedding. I ran to the front when the pastor said "you may kiss the bride" and I was able to capture that moment, romantically beautiful!.
The church service ended and everyone moved down to the reception which was a 5 minutes drive from the church. I saw so many old friends, family members, neighbours at the reception. Two of my uncles and I were in charge of the drinks at the reception. I didn't stay up to 20 minutes inside the reception hall, I was appointed to specially serve food to the church choir members then the all our neighbours that came around. At a point while the reception was on going, I saw some people coming out from the back of the hall with small chops in large trays, I asked for one and I was offered a plate. It was delicious, so I decided to search for the source of the delicious small chops. I found my mom there at the back, making the small chops, I was so happy because I would take as much as I needed. I took enough for myself and my guys who came around.
At the end of the reception when about 90% of the crowd had gone, the groom and his bride, my sister, were about leaving so I said my goodbye to my sister who was angry at me that I wasn't inside the reception hall to dance with her (she was aware not that I was so busy satisfying the guests for her sake). I couldn't believe that I almost cried when the newly wedded couples left. I was already imagining how the home will be without my sister, thoughts of her food, care, support, advices all filled my heart.
I had to go sit in the car to comfort myself. We got back home around past 6pm, there was plenty of cleaning to do. I made sure we cleaned the whole mess before I ate my food, had about an hour rest then went to give the excess food to the neighbours and children in the area. By night, I was already exhausted, said goodnight to everyone and slept. Following morning, I was already missing my sister. I can't wait for my other sis to get married this year.
All images in this post including the thumbanail were gotten from Canva.
This is my entry for the #aprilinleo day 21st monthly initiative. You can read and know more about this initiative here.
Thank You For Reading Till The End