On Thursday, Frank and I traveled to Accra for the wedding of Carolina and Phillipe. We attended the traditional wedding on Friday at the bride’s eldest uncle’s (the family patriarch) home and the “white” wedding at the Catholic church on Saturday. I felt extremely honored and humbled to be part of this. Carolina’s family treated us like royalty.

For the traditional wedding, we sat in the front row with the bride’s family. The wedding began with some calling from Carolina’s family and then a response from Phillipe’s family outside the gates. After a couple of calls and responses, the gates were opened and in walked the groom’s family with gifts for the bride and her family.

There were spokespersons for each family — the woman in orange was the spokesperson for the bride’s family and the woman with the glasses was the spokesperson for the groom’s family. She introduced the  groom’s family and asked to be welcomed. Once they were welcomed, they began bestowing gifts and a dowry for the bride and her family. This took quite some time as there were many gifts and envelopes. Once they were done, the groom was introduced and he entered through the gates. Once he was seated, the bride entered from the family home. She was stunning!

The ring was blessed by another of her uncles who also invited Frank to bless the ring. Once the ring was on her hand, a few more stories and introductions were made. Beverages were served and then lunch. Frank and I had rice and chicken, while other’s had banku and stew.

The wedding on Saturday was in a large and open Catholic church. They referred to this wedding as the “white wedding.” I rode to the wedding with Carolina and entered the church with her, her maid of honor, and her father. What an honor! The choir was beautiful! The church was comfortable and cool. The mass was long and contained many rituals. There were photos and then the reception with beverages, food, and dancing.

Frank and I rode back to Winneba with the contingency from the UEW. Every seat on the van was taken and there were 15 of us.