Who wouldn't want a fancy dress, fabulous wedding and giant diamond ring? Ladies, say yes!

I was on the road early this month when it suddenly occurred to me that it had been ages since I last attended a wedding – more than a year ago to be exact. So I sent off a prayer, asking the good Lord to 'create' a wedding for me, and promptly forgot about it. Well, what do you know? Two days later, the hubby announced that he'd forgotten to share a wedding invitation he'd received the previous week, and the wedding was that very weekend! In fact, he had received two invitations for the same day! How's that for a swift answer to prayer?

Like most people (I mean women), I enjoy weddings; so much so that there was a time the two girls and I would spend hours over the weekend watching different wedding shows on TV. As we watched, we would discuss the pros and cons of everything that had gone into the wedding – choice of venue, number of bridesmaids and groomsmen, garden versus indoors, plastic versus 'real' chairs, menu, cake, parents' outfits and, of course, the Wedding Dress! Let me insert here that our youngest has warned me several times not to dare look 'like a mum' on her wedding day. I am not quite sure what that means, but at least she has plans to get married, which surely means another wedding I will get to attend some day!

But back to the point. Whenever we watched those shows, The Dress was a whole discussion in itself – sleeves, straps or strapless? White or unconventional? Long or short? Puffy or straight? Veil or no veil? At one point we would be in total agreement about everything and the next we'd be expressing extremely divergent views. For instance, once upon a time all three of us agreed that strapless gowns were a no-no. But over time, both girls crossed the floor. It started subtly, with them saying things like, "It depends..." and ended with us on opposite sides of the divide to this day. Oh well... On accessories, the older girl has been considering wearing sneakers on her big day, for no reason other than "I want to be comfortable". Because I'm a comfort-before-style kind of girl myself, I can't really argue with that. The one thing we have consistently agreed is that having the bridal party (especially if it's a big one) dance all the way down the aisle is not a good thing. For one, it extends the whole ceremony by half an hour (whenever we came across TV weddings with this particular add-on, we'd use this time for bathroom breaks or snack time) and secondly, some in the party are just not made for dancing. Going back to the last wedding I attended, the bride actually left from my house. Now among 'my people', no event is complete without traditional drummers. They are a necessary ingredient for the spicing up of most events. On the big day, you will hear them approach from a mile away and the excitement starts to build up from there. On the morning of the wedding, in the middle of all the hustle and bustle, we heard the drummers at the gate, signalling that it was time for the bride to leave, but not before we had danced a jig around the compound for a few minutes. It was a weekday so most of the neighbours had already left for work by then, much to the delight of several housekeepers who come from the same community. They had no qualms about 'shaking a leg' in the absence of their employers. Some even gave me a grateful thumbs-up and a hi-five for bringing a little life into our relatively quiet compound. The wedding we attended early this month was just as lively – there were drummers in attendance, as it was another 'my people' affair, and the young, energetic couple did not disappoint as they danced their way around the beautifully decorated room (yes, it was indoors and it was great!). There was a seamless transition from the day ceremony into the evening party, which meant the tempo was maintained. It was very evident that a great time was had by all. And that's another thing my girls and I agree on – a wedding must never be so posh that people cannot let their hair down. I'm still basking in the delight of that particular day so I don't think I'll say another little prayer just yet...