By Wangeci Kanyeki
Like many engaged couples, Seth Busolo and Daisy Nyawira were scratching their heads hard wondering how they could finance their wedding.
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| Seth Busolo and Daisy Nyawira |
Three months to the wedding, the two had only managed to pay for their wedding rings. All the other expenses glared at them. Feeling that they had hit a snag, they opted for a budget wedding where they would hold the ceremony on a Friday and serve guests with tea and mandazi or a meal of rice with vegetables and no meat.
When they presented their brilliant cost-cutting proposal to the parents, the idea was severely shot down.
“We needed money and we resolved we were not taking a loan. We did not want to start our marriage in debt,” says Seth.
Still unable to think of any other income generating idea, they wrote down a list of names of friends who would sit in their committee and allocated an estimated contribution.
Adding value
“We were reluctant to push pledges down people’s throats. It leaves people with a bad taste and they talk behind your back wondering how you did not know you were going to get married or wondering why you are not cutting down on your budget,” says Daisy.
“We needed an idea that would encourage people to happily and willingly fund the wedding in exchange of a product or service,” says Seth. “So we asked ourselves what we could create that would add value to people’s live?
“How would we get 1,000 people to willingly give Sh350 each? At that point a thought crossed my mind,” says Seth. “Why not write a play? I had been writing plays for a long time in my church and Daisy had experience as an actress. I decided to write a play about what we were going through.
“The play It’s Not About The Bride, would shine the spotlight on Kenyan weddings and how to deal with the cultural functions. In a humorous and dramatic way, we wanted to tell the story of how aunties push for their children to be in the line-up, mothers want you to wear a particular dress and uncles ask for alcohol as parents insist on a particular church or priest.”
Seth shared his idea with Victor Ber, director of Heartstring, a local theatre group and comedian Daniel Ndambuki who encouraged him and gave him tips on what to do.
