Love Is In the Air...

Love is in the air in Blantyre...

Of course I'm not referring to myself!

This weekend, I had the extreme honor of being the Best Man in my friend, Kondwani's wedding.


So... throw all your preconceived ideas about a wedding out of your head and travel on this excited journey with me!

The day started out bright and early for me on a hot Saturday morning at 5:30. As much as waking up that early is like a quick slit to my neck usually, I was so excited about the day that I woke up with no problem, and was ready for all that the day had in store for me.

I've heard so many stories about what to expect and stuff... but, honestly in order to really know what I had gotten in to, I just had to do it.

I realized early in the morning that I had better just throw my watch to the side, because it would be pointless. We had strict instructions to be there NO LATER than 7:00 am. Well... I sat on my porch waiting for my ride at 7:15 am, with a 30 minute drive to the church ahead of us. I was getting all worried and stuff... but, it was no big deal. In fact, we went out of our way to pick up the groom's grandparents before we ever made it to the church.

After spending the morning with the groom and other groomsman in a nearby house, getting interviewed and deciding what our wardrobe would actually look like for the day, we headed down to the church a few minutes before the ceremony was scheduled to start (which was 9:00 am).

At about half past 9:00, the bride and rest of the wedding party came bee-bopping up to the church, and within another 15 minutes or so, the music started thumping, and the party had started!

Malawian weddings are the bomb!!

There's none of this marching solemnly down the aisle to music whining from a pipe organ. OH, NO!... We quite literally danced down the aisle to some gospel/R&B/African music with the base maxed out and the speakers about to pop! It was this white boy's dream come true!



I had spent the last 3 days in rehearsal perfecting my dance steps that I would have to perform in front of an excited crowd of people I didn't know. When I rounded the corner of the door that I was hiding behind, and started my jig, everyone started yelling.


It was KRUNK!

Now... as the "Best Man" in a Malawian wedding, I pretty much just had one responsibility: Whipping sweat from the grooms head.

No lie...

It was definitely needed too. We were wearing really thick suits, and the temperatures were just above 100*F most of the day. I think I sweated off about a gallon or more of sweat throughout the day. By the end of the night, by hankerchief, along with my suit, was ready to be wrung out like a dish cloth!

So... throughout the ceremony, it didn't matter what important thing was happening, I would stand up in front of everyone and dab the beads of sweat from my dear friend's head. It was one of the most awkward things to me... but, completely expected from everyone else.

After about an hour and a half of sitting in a small, hot church building, the first scene was complete. And, once again, we danced out of the church the same way we danced in.

After the wedding, traditionally, everyone in the wedding party hops in a train of cars and literally parades around town, honking (hooting) their horns (hooters) for everyone to know they are married and celebrate with them.

After that, we were already getting a little worn out. So, it was rest time. The wedding party ended up at a relative's house for some traditional Malawian cuisine. We sat there for a few hours eating and waiting for the newly weds to receive some quick counseling from some experienced people... even though the reception was scheduled to start an hour earlier. No rush though... it's Malawi!

Well... if you thought that the ceremony was happenin', you soon realized that it was more like a funeral compared to the reception. I haven't been to a party like this back home!

The hall was packed with a few hundred people waiting for us to dance down the center aisle once again. This time, however, our dance steps were a little more scandalous!



I'll just go ahead and hand in my resignation now...

Once we were in our proper places on the front stage, the action started.

For the next 3 hours or so, non-stop streams of people danced to the front of the place and threw a constant flow of money at the bride and groom! I really think that we should do this in the States!! Or at least do it at my wedding...

Different groups of people would be called out over the overly amped sound system that was thumping with the latest tunes, and you would dance to the front with your pockets full of Kwacha.



One of the coolest things was watching people that don't have a whole lot of money to be throwing around, dance up to the front with the biggest smiles on their faces and throw their money with utmost joy! There wasn't a person in the place that wasn't gettin' down with it.

Meanwhile, I sat on the stage with the rest of the sharply dressed wedding party, occasionally getting up to move my hips a bit (much less frequently than I would have liked)!

Then at about half passed five, the party began to wrap up, us dancers danced our last dance out the door, and I hopped in the car heading back to my place with a huge smile on my face, and an amazing experience that I will remember for a lifetime!

These boys are my new best friends...

Special note: I had several comments from Malawians that I was the best Azungu (white boy) dancer they had ever seen! I should figure out a way to work that into a resume somehow...

If you want to see more pictures from the wedding, click here!