He stole my heart, I stole his name

BRIDE: Lynda Dwalo

GROOM: Alphonce Mvoi

DATE: December 19, 2015

GUESTS: 600

CEREMONY: Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, Nairobi

Reception; St Nicholas Senior School, Nairobi

FIRST DATE

We both grew up in Kibera's Olympic Estate, only a few blocks apart each other. We went to the same church and were both members of the church youth group. She was not as active as I was and would use the excuse of passing by her place to see the cousin, who later unfortunately passed on, just to get to see her. Lynda is a great cook and I would gladly accept every invitation from her cousin. Lynda worked at a media store and were privileged to having complimentary tickets to events which she gave to her cousin quite often. One day, Lynda's cousin told she had movie tickets for me. That gave me the courage to ask Lynda to accompany me to the movie. We had frequent dates thereafter, most of which comprised of ice cream dates every Sunday evening at Uchumi Hyper along Ngong Road. We loved hooking up on Sundays as this was the only day in our work calendar when we could share quality time. The little money we spent didn’t matter as much as the time we spent with each other.

THE PROPOSAL

We did not have the traditional proposal as most couples do. During our relationship, we happened to be blessed with a beautiful daughter whom we both loved and treasured. Our child bound us together. We both saw no need of a proposal since we already had a binding factor.

THE DRAMA

ALPHONCE: The wedding plans began a year after I went to her home to pay the bride price. This was initiated by my dad one December holiday. Her family had ended up spending the holiday at our home. After we exchanged gifts, my dad asked Lynda and I  whether we had any plans for blessing our union now that nothing tied us. This caught us off guard. I quickly answered that we were already working on drawing up the plans only that we were yet to set a date. We decided on a date to set the pace. It got things rolling and we drew up a list of what we wanted; we agreed on the colour scheme and immediately began identifying and acquiring items. We nominated my sister as chief organiser to help coordinate errands with the bride. We decided to work with a small manageable team comprising our own brothers, sisters, their children, a few close cousins from both sides and lastly settled on my sister and her husband who live in Denmark as our best couple. The entire team was a balance between her side and my side to ensure equity.

WITH HINDSIGHT

Consistent prayer plays a big role in the day’s success. A very strong and calm bride is a plus. Men are generally not good when it comes to planning weddings because they grow weary. Plan in advance and draw up a list of what you both want to avoid disagreements. True and trustworthy friends helped make our day a success but a small team is easy to manage. Choose friends who you know cannot let you down. Don’t go for big well renowned names in the business, upcoming names offer great service at reasonable cost as they will want to leave a lasting statement. A wedding happens once in a life time, invest in good memories. We hired professional photographers and videographers. True to their word the pictures and videos they produced will go along way down memory lane.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

I will never forget the dowry journey to their home in homabay. The company that escorted me was sufficient and able to the task. The spokes man made it very humourous and enjoyable.

WORDS: Maureen Odiwuor

PHOTOS: Willis Awandu