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By:
Mosez Mathenge | |||||||||||||||
| Posted:
Jun,13-2017 17:31:14
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LOWELL, Mass.,__At exactly 1.30 pm. the Justice of the Peace asked the very familiar questions, "do you take her to be your lawful wedded wife to love to hold and to cherish?"
Wait a minute! I thought procedurally, women commit themselves to their husbands before the men do. I guess the end justifies the course, for the wife to be didn't hesitate nor stammer when it was her turn to commit herself to the man.
The Acre Village Pub in Lowell is an all very familiar destination for Kenyan revelers in Boston. Back in the day, it was highly popularized as the destination of choice for the popular Mugithi (train) lovers before it transposed itself as the place to go for the good old oldies as Kenyans enjoy the fruits of their labor after a long work week.
The joint now co-owned by some enterprising Kenyan businessman has changed ownership a couple times. One Patron has always endeared herself a lot to the customers that no single new owner has ever dared get out of the front line.
That royalty is what was explicitly displayed on her greatest day, Sunday June 4th, 2017 at the Princeton Station ballroom in North Chelmsford.
The day was one beautiful Sunday afternoon dedicated for the auspicious event, where invited guests starts streaming in and phrases like "wait a minute who is that? You must be kidding me!, Get out of here!, really?, Waoh---,"' became all so common. Reason, well most of the guests have always met casually in their every day work clothes and has never seen each other dressed up. Today they are all dressed up in suits and ties. Inside the hall not a penny has been spared in preparation and decoration. In a decor aura that would mirror any Hollywood event, the only "on invitation guests", took seats on the assigned round tables. The DJ is playing some oldies as uniformed waitresses walk round replenishing guests wine glasses with a wedding class Champaign . At exactly 1.30 pm wedding bells rang and guests are requested to stand and usher in the bridegroom and his entourage. Among them, sons Phillip (Phill) Noucella and Nicholas (nick) Noucella two of the bride's three siblings. They stand under the arch in front of the room. The following moment is marked by some murmurs as the bridegroom impatiently waits. The music tune changes and all the murmurs are silenced in a diminuendo. Here comes the moment. The pageboy and flower girl walks down the aisle effectively announcing the moment. Closely behind them is the rest of the bridal party. Among them was the brides beautiful Daughter Jennifer. Finally here comes the bride. Pam Noucella beaming in beauty and glamour walked down the isle amid a deafening applauds from the exited crowd of close friends and family members. As usual the guest ladies attention was quickly drawn to her dress, a sparkling Ivory bridal gown. And straight to arch she met the groom Charles Doulamis. It's here where they took the vows before God, and in front of over 220 cheering guests among them a--delegate of Kenyans close to Pam--the bride. No sooner did they go through the procedure of taking their vows of love and commitment to each other than they interlocked in a kiss of love. Pockets of Kenyan women in the crowd tried their traditional ngemi (ululations) but the applause was just so drowning forcing them to abandon the practice. In an event that was calibrated to the minute and fine tuned to precision, the groom now a husband waved to the crowd and shouted as she escorted her wife out of the hall hanging on to her shoulder. "Bye, see you. We have to leave now," he quipped with a sly smile. With the bride and bridegroom out of sight, the alcohol counter became the focal point as guests almost entirely adults in their fortys and above sought to quench their thirst. At this juncture, guests most of them friends and acquaintances, mingled freely in the room as the DJ played some oldies in the background. Though highly outnumbered numerically (by the Caucasians), the "natural instinct of the people like us" saw the delegation of Kenyans abandon the tables assigned to them and dominate two tables adjacent to each other. A salad bar was set at the center of the hall where guests picked up china and served themselves snacks of choice. Is this what we goanna be treated to on a wedding day? Approximately an hour later, the newly wed walked back in to the hall (presumably from a mini honeymoon) and took their seats at the high table.
The waitresses changed from replenishing Champaign, needless say that at this time not many are still interested in it (Champaign), for they have turned to their every day drink of choice, to serving the main meal of the day--roast beef. The Maiden Dance As though they have been rehearsing they took to the stage in style, both looking straight into each others eyes. Like the popular West African wedding dance where guests shower the newlywed with cash money, the invited guests did the same. After a short break, the master of the ceremony invited all married couples to take the stage. The stage was full prompting the emcee to clarify that the stage was for the legally married, with a varied marriage certificate and not any of the come we stays. Following the clarification, a sizeable number sneaked out of the stage. Wawili kwa wawili ii, aii, O mundu na muratawe. The love dance had just caught fire when the elimination started.
"If you have been married for less than three years, please leave the stage NOW!," demanded the emcee. At only seven years of marriage, I wasn’t the first but I was eliminated pretty early in the process. Second to the bride and groom all the eyes were on the only black couple in the center of the ring. With him clad in a British style suit and her dressed a dress reminiscent of African pride, Mr and Mrs Henry Macharia (Wakaruoya) a long time friend of the Noucellas, charmed the hall with the co-ordination in their dance moves as they put their best foot forward. There was a light moment when Mr Henry popularly referred to as sir Henry insisted on finding out who beat him in the game of marriage longevity when the axe fell on him. With 52 years in marriage, the title went to Carol and Evan Dimitrou. Mr and Mrs Henry took the runners-up position, at a time when The Doulamis (bride & Groom) were only a little over 52 Minutes in marriage. Contrary to the tradition where single ladies and single men, take the stage separately in an endeavor to catch the bouquet of flowers and the garter, from the bride and the groom respectively, the two were thrown simultaneously to a mixed group of spinsters and bachelors. As fate would have it, the mother's bouquet of flowers fell right next to the two sons, who scrambled to catch it.The ultimate trophy ending up in with Nick, younger of the two. Perhaps the most awkward but perhaps laughable moment came when the gentle man who caught the garter was made to slide it up the leg of the bouquet recipient. Asked for a comment about the event, Samuel Mbugua one of the co owners of the acre pub where the groom has been a long time employee said that he really impressed by the events choreography. "I was personally humbled by the invitation to attend the wedding and am gland I attended." Mbugua however regretted that not all the Kenyans who were invited and confirmed attendance showed up.
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Source:
AJABU AFRICAN NEWS
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