S&T wedding

Thandi arrived at her village very tired. She was greeted by her family and neighbours who were so excited about her wedding and could not stop ululating. This was what she loved about village life, the whole village celebrated your success because they all played a part in raising you. Everyday married women came to advise her on how to be a good daughter-in-law and how to respect and take care of her husband. She thought some advices were outdated and made her more like a slave than a wife but she appreciated the intent and knew that it came from the right place. These women were like Mothers to her and they wanted her to have a good marriage. A day before the wedding was the bridal gift day. Her whole village came in numbers to give her gifts for her new home as that was their custom. Some gifts were small, others big but Thandi was very humbled by the generosity. They all knew that her husband was rich and didn’t need anything buy they gave anyway. It was also part of the tradition for the groom’s family to present their daughter-in-law with a gift. The representative from the Jobe family came but instead of presenting their gift as usual, they informed everyone that S’bu has requested to present his gift immediately after the wedding. This left everyone wandering what the gift might be with some speculating that maybe it was too big to carry and bring to the village. Thandi also had no clue what her gift might be.

That evening her Mother forced her to go to bed early. She did not want her looking tired on her wedding day. She however tossed and turned on her bed, too excited and a bit scared about her wedding.

Her wedding day had finally arrived. Her home was buzzing with noise and ululating. The professional make up artist and hair dresser had finished with her makeup and hairstyle. Thandi was impressed with the work. The makeup highlighted her best features and she really looked beautiful. The dress designer had personally came out to help her get into her wedding dress. This was a high profile wedding that would boost any designer’s publicity and sales. By the time Thandi was ready, her Grandma, Mother and Aunts could not hold their tears seeing her look like a princess. When she went outside, she could not believe her eyes. Her sister, Mandy, Cindy and Jane were standing waiting for her. They had the most beautiful bridesmaids dresses she had ever seen. Each one of them was holding a small bouquet of flowers. Thandi looked around and her jaw dropped. There was a long queue of exquisite cars with S&T number plates. She recognised a lot of excited familiar faces from her village getting into the cars.

“Mandy, what’s this?” Thandi asked amazed.

“It’s transportation for all the village guests” Mandy said.

“You must be joking, there’s over 50 cars here!” Thandi exclaimed. S’bu had promised to arrange transportation for the village guests, she just assumed that it would be buses like most events.

“You should know by now that your man is extravagant” Mandy said.

When it was time to go, Thandi insisted on being in the same car as her Grandmother.

“I’m so scared Grandma” she confessed. “His life is so different from mine. We from different worlds, what if I never fit in?” she added.

“Is that cold feet I’m sensing?” Grandma asked holding her hand.

“Not at all Grandma, I’m marrying the love of my life. I just can’t help worrying though” Thandi explained.

“He knows who you are, where you come from and still wants to marry you. That means he wants to be part of your world” Grandma said reassuring her.

“Thank you Grandma” Thandi said grateful and relieved. S’bu knew exactly who she was, she never hid anything from him. She just have to be herself and that made her happy. The entourage of cars were about to get to the wedding venue when the driver of Thandi’s car suddenly stopped.

“Why are we stopping?” Thandi asked. She did not want to be those brides that arrived late at their weddings.

“I’m sorry Ma’am, I was instructed to stop because your carriage is here” the driver explained.

Thandi opened the window and could not believe her eyes. In front of her was the most beautiful white carriage with gold wheels. Pulling it were two perfect white horses. In front of the carriage was at list twenty Jobe men ridding black stallions.

“We are the four generations of Jobe men and have come to receive and escort you to the venue” S’bu Grandfather explained.

Thandi was speechless, she nodded her head and fought tears from dropping down her face.

“Don’t cry, child. You will mess up that face” Mr J said with a smile.

Thandi nodded again, still speechless.

The horses started trotting towards the stadium as soon as she and her Grandmother were inside the carriage. The Jobe men led the way, looking so majestic on the black stallions. Thandi thought she had seen it all until they arrived at the stadium and her eyes almost popped out of her head. The entrance of the stadium was redecorated and now looked like an entrance to a castle. This must have taken a lot of money, precision and time, she thought. All of this was too much, she was starting to have a headache taking it all in. A loud noise of ululating was heard in the stadium as soon as the her carriage led by Jobe men arrived at the stadium. That is definitely coming from my village and neighbouring village people, Thandi thought smiling. When Thandi got off the carriage, her Mother, the dress designer and make artist were there waiting to do touch ups on her before she walked down the aisle.

“Thandi!” Amahle exclaimed hugging her. “You look like a queen” she added.

“And you look like a princess” Thandi said hugging her tighter.

“In few minutes, you will finally be my Mother”Amahle said excited.

“And you will be my daughter” Thandi said lovingly.

“Don’t keep the groom waiting”Thandi’s Mother said. She knew the two could chat for hours if not stopped. A piano started playing ‘here comes the bride’ and all the guests stood up, their eyes glued on where Thandi was standing. Amahle walked sprinkling petals on the red carpet all the way to the stage. Thandi held her Grandmother’s hand and followed. At the alter, her Grandma gave her hand to S’bu who kissed Grandma’s cheeks before taking Thandi’s hand. S’bu looked dazzling, like a prince. She could not keep her eyes off him. Everything felt like a dream to Thandi, meeting S’bu at the alter, their vows up until they were formally pronounced as husband and wife.

“S’busiso, all of this is too much” Thandi said during their dance.

“All this was necessary for my queen”he said charmingly.

“Thank you” she said truthfully, becoming emotional. Everything was planned to perfection, the decoration, the cake, the five course signature dishes by the best chefs, music by TT and the thank you gifts all their guests received. It was all more that she could have ever imagined.

“Save that for later” he whispered whimsically.

Thandi blushed, looking away from him.

He gently pulled her face back to face him and kissed her passionately, giving the photographers and journalists their perfect front page news photo.