GLANCE FACTS
Covering all your angles
• Aides: Check your bridal party and ensure they have your best interest at heart lest they check mate you.
• Ex-lovers: Ensure your house is in order by talking to your ex-lover whom you fathered a child with. If you do not arrive at an agreement, make your event a cards only wedding and hire security to cover for you lest you take a lesson on why hell hath no fury.
• Guests: The know it all guest will not run short of criticism wondering why you chose this colour, this cake design, the venue or even question your bridal team looks if not the groom. Always identify such guests in advance and find a way to curb their excesses.
• Inexperienced vendors: Do not allow a vendor to experiment with your wedding. Ensure they are experienced.
By Thorn Mulli
Congratulations you are getting married. Even as much as such an occasion calls for a befitting celebration, the best you can afford, beware though amongst the cheer lurks are those who do not have your best interests at heart and if left unchecked could spell grey to an otherwise colourful event.
Inconsiderate parents
It is not the joy of every parent to witness his/her children tie the knot. This is what Adam Atsiaya learnt after his would be father-in-law, with whom he had shared cordial relations before ensured that his big day was hell on earth. Adam had always been weary of his in-laws dowry traditions as rumours flew of how greed ridden some of the proceedings could become.
His fears were soon eased after he was allowed Cindy’s hand after he completed paying the asked bride price. On the wedding day Adam’s cheerful turned pensive after reports of a standoff between his future in-laws and his clan bombard his cellular phone. Confusion reigned as his father-in-law played brick ball, adamant that unless the grooms clan ‘pay’ a 10,000 litre capacity water tank valued at Sh70,000, no wedding would take place.
With no money to spare, Adam aptly pleaded his case to no avail. It took the intervention of the local Member of Parliament (MP) hours later, to get the bride’s father to cede some ground. The couple eventually tied the knot albeit time bad. The old man’s theatrics, however, did not end there.
“When the MP presented an enveloped gift to the us at the reception, the hawk-eyed bride’s father snatched it from our hands before whispering to me that the ‘debt’ had been paid,” said Adam. Sadly, with such a bad footing to begin a marriage on, the couples separate soon after.
It is always advisable that you cover all angle lest such a situation befalls you.
Ex-Lovers
“If there is any among you who oppose this union, speak or forever hold your peace,” is one statement that is always met with pin-drop silence, save for that odd muffled cough as all wait with bated breath. It is no secret that things are bound to end sourly if that estranged lover pops up at your nuptials as recently witnessed at a recent church.
So it simply is in your best interests to ensure your house is in order. If that fails, make it a card only event or hire security to cover for you, lest you take a lesson on why hell hath no fury.
Aides
If you thought mutinies exists only in the ranks of soldiers or sailors, think again.
Achiel Adhiambo found out the hard way as her best maid led most of her bridal team on a boycott of the ceremony leaving her with a bitter taste in her mouth.
Trouble began brewing when her best friend since college challenged her choice of the bride’s maid’s dresses. Achiel defended her choice and as the bridesmaids weighed the matter, they sided with her best maid, sending matters south.
