I almost did it without a gown

BRIDE: Judith Ndanu

GROOM: Shadrack Sila

CEREMONY: Africa Inland Church, Ziwani, Nairobi

RECEPTION: Jamhuri High School, Ngara

DATE: November 2, 2015

BUDGET: Sh500,000

GUESTS: 500

FIRST DATE

We met at a youth rally at our church and again during a leadership summit. During one of the breaks, I being a moderator of the day made a statement, "today make sure you mingle and exchange contacts you never know what might happen in your life".

I took my cup of tea and walked out of the hall shaking peoples' hands. Hers was the last hand I shook. We spent time sharing our experience as leaders in the youth ministry and our future strategies.

 Before long, the break was over and so we quickly exchanged phone numbers and called it a day. In the evening, I made a call to her just to confirm that she had reached her destination safely. This continued for almost a week calling and chatting until we planned for a coffee date.

THE PROPOSAL

Shadrack: During the coffee date, we had the best time ever to talk and know each other better. As we were about to part, I opened my heart and asked her to be in a courtship that would lead to marriage.

She accepted my proposal and the journey of courtship started and continued for almost a year and half. We made our official visits to the parents on both sides and expressed our agenda which was positively agreed on. We also did the same to our pastors in both churches.

THE BIG DAY

Shadrack: Judith was and is a teens pastor in their church and I was a youth leader in our church. I waited for her to graduate for serious wedding preparations to start.

After the dowry payment was the customary wedding whereby we exchanged our engagement rings before family members and friends. In the final ceremony, our parents blessed us and gave us a go ahead for the church wedding.

Judith: The day was very bright and the sky was clear. The bridesmaids and groomsmen kept time and dressed on time and they were all ready for the day.

THE DRAMA

Shadrack: There was anxiety when the person we had hired to provide the tents and chairs and do the decor was late to decorate the cars. He didn't pitch the tents as expected and this was a mess.

Judith: The tailor we hired to make the dress I was to wear to the reception didn't make it on time. In fact, she was cutting the material to start making it on the morning of the wedding. We kept smiling but we silently wondered whether we would indeed be married by the end of the day.

 In the end, everything went well. In the planning, the main challenge had been our tight schedules at work and managing our expectations with reality of life. The other challenge was at the Attorney General's where we registered our marriage. We kept being sent away and time was not on our side.

WITH HINDSIGHT

If we were to do it again, we would change the service providers for decorations and tents as well as the tailors. Working as a team – being the key team players with the right people leading us – helped us achieve our goal.

Trusting God in everything – you have to be determined, focused and have great faith so as to achieve the objective. The step of life we were making wasn't easy but we had faith with God and everything was possible. We indeed prayed for courage and strength to make the wedding day a success.

Our marriage counsellor taught us that we have to make marriage work through finding true intimacy and developing a dynamic marriage- love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:7-8

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

There was an exceptional entertainment by the Ukulele band and trumpeters.