Any Day Is Wedding Day.

 Kenya's main crop of export has always been tea.There is alot of it available country wide, of good quality and the price has always been pocket friendly. Probably that is where the famous saying was coined "any time is tea time." I am a big fun of tea and I should understand that saying better. That said, wedding industry has become a serious industry that could borrow from the same saying. Why is that so? In the past, Nairobi Weddings were famously done on Saturdays for a majority, a few on Friday and Sunday mostly for the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) but there has been a complete switch.

What makes Any Day a Wedding Day? Well public holidays are great days to get married in Kenya. Wednesdays to Fridays are seeing more weddings being done here. It might have been the trend some where else but its finally caught up.


Why do Weddings on odd days? I once tried to find out from a few couples and one thing stood out from the response I got: to cut down on guests and have a small intimate wedding. Why not just do a card only wedding? Well, Kenya like most African countries, still have a communal feel when it comes to weddings and social events. One response that I found interesting is I invited you to mine/my brother's/sister's so you should reciprocate! The one response that I once got from a group of 3 women-If you can't invite me to your wedding then don't bother to tell me when you have a funeral!Wow some are overwhelming but should instilled guilt by your to-be or not to-be guests determine who comes to your wedding? Its a couple decision at the end of the day.

An interesting Scenario is He might come from a large family and his parents would like a chance to invite to Nairobi all the relatives from rural home, including the ones in the cities and that can be a crowd of 300 all together and He hasn't invited his friends neither has she invited her crowd. Bearing in mind the famous habit around for guests to invite their own friends to the wedding without the couple's consent. Its no wonder the crowd can easily grow to between 500 and 700 people attending a wedding.

Back to the earlier on discussed strategy some couples use. They employ what I considered earlier on when discussing on tea-any time is wedding time method. Last year a wedding reception I knew of started slightly after 8 pm and you had to drive in to get to the reception. The result?- A few people attended those who had cars and once who could car pool and the cost of the wedding reception was drastically reduced.


Two couples tried that method of far drive in reception but it failed on them. The reason being. The receptions were done during the day on a Friday and a few guests paid a few more shillings and the matatus drove them to the reception  and came back for them. So even though any time is wedding time to some. If you want an intimate wedding, communicate with your guests: make it a card only affair. You will upset a few but still get what you aimed for.

Here Comes The Bride -------------------------------

----------------------All dressed in

I thought I write on something that's essential to a wedding the bridal dress. Something quite essential to any wedding: formal, informal, traditional or even religious wedding. We carefully select an item of clothing before going to an event and the bride especially takes her time to select what she will wear for her special day.A lot is normally considered for it: size of the bride, figure, color length, traditional or modern designs.

Most dresses can either be bought or rented depending on the bridal shop. Purchasing Online dresses is especially cheaper than the local dresses sold in Bridal shops in Nairobi. Its important for the bride to have the right measurements before ordering. It lowers the total cost of the dress. When a dress has been identified, the bride can pay a visit to a designer or tailor to get their right measurement before placing an order. 2 to 3 weeks before the wedding, measurements could be adjusted with the right designer in case the dress is not a perfect fit. You can help the dress remain fitting by exercising. Keep fit and you will be in the right shape for the wedding.

You only have this one day for your wedding (hopefully), hence bought or sold the dress should fit and be the IT dress for the occasion. Accessorize well and the make up should help you look as natural as possible or as tasteful if bold. The right shoes go well with the dress too. Don't try high heels on your wedding if you have never done so before. It could spell out disaster for you considering you will be on your feet most of the day.




And when you get up and dress in the morning of the wedding, Keep the smile. Smile for the photos its your wedding day, and you should feel as good as you look the whole day. The cameras are on you, so go on enjoy being the day's celebrity.   

The singing Bird

If you live in Africa and especially rural Africa or uncrowded area, you can enjoy being woken up to the sound of the singing or humming bird. Their tunes are pleasant if you take time to listen to them. Birds have a rhythmic sound to them, but the sound normally last for a short while before they fly away. This brings to mind about wedding and music. Its nice to be entertained by music in a wedding and especially if its the kind of music that you like and can dance to. Different individuals have different tastes when it comes to music.

There are songs I would not have picked for any wedding but lately with choreographed wedding dances any song serves to entertain guests at weddings. Nairobi has a lot of songs that are not related by any means to weddings but many people have turned them to wedding songs and they are enjoyed and danced to by many especially a majority of them having being sang by local musicians. I have come to respect how well they blend to the weddings.

A hired band especially with a lead singer has a way of being a crowd puller as their music though not familiar to the crowd they have a way around it.There is another aspect though of the singing bird when:

1. A friend chooses to sing for your wedding or pays someone (can be the couple's favorite singer) to sing at your wedding
2. bride/groom decides to sing.

Well, the bride/groom singing is where my interest lies because most people who choose to sing at the wedding have a voice for it . But the bride or groom singing, do you have the voice for it? I love birds singing in the morning but the owl outside my window in the night/morning is another thing: terrible. Before you entertain your mate as a surprise its good to have someone realistically listen to you sing. An honest opinion may just be what you need to know whether you can be the singing bird at your wedding or the owl. Either way, its your wedding and keeping your guests entertained and comfortable is a decision only you can decide.


Hasslefree Clip Art

A Critical Look at Wedding Committees

Most weddings in Kenya are planned through committees. This may be a group of friends, family and workmates brought together to help plan the wedding. Even the group planning could have the roles assigned to follow up on vendors or even to be in charge of the vendors during the wedding. Most committees help to raise money for the wedding. Sometimes one can be in up to 3 committees a year which require not only raising the amount for the weddings but also money to be part of the bridal team and all expenses you require to met by you the individual.

Weddings are planned events. We plan to get married if we wish to do so. How do we make it easy for those who are assisting us to raise the cash. There are several things

Save, save and save. Its important for the couple to have saved some money on their own before involving others. A common scenario is where the couple want a wedding an average budget of Ksh. 500,000 or more and how much have they set aside? Well, they are waiting for the committee to help them raise the whole amount.Money isn't the only thing under consideration. The time too is important having weekly meeting for a span of 7 months and paying venues and drinks for meeting including goat eating and selling items to raise the amount? We can save on the time required to meet to be able to cover alot instead of weekly meetings. And in the end time is money.

Budget plans. I believe its important to have a budget and at the back of our mind how much we are willing to spend on the wedding. Failure of which if the amount was Ksh. 500,000/= it escalates to Ksh. 650,000/= and no one knows what happened or how they got there. Part of the budget should also include emergency amount. Working with a budget helps to adjust as necessary when an amount increases where to reduce or do away with all together. The wedding budget should also include honeymoon budget and its important to pay for your own rather than leave it to the committee to factor it into the amount they are raising.

Do something. Most people meet in a committee with nothing done. A better approach would be the couple identify vendors with their own savings, pay up deposits for everything or a majority of the things required so that the committee is spared the time to identify and bring quotations from 5 or so vendors to be approved on the basis of price or being known to a member. Most couple have been part of a previous committee so most vendors used are known to them whether they liked the services they offered to a friend or not. If they did they could take and keep the contact especially if they know they have a wedding coming up in a few months it saves them the time to visit a future event planned by the vendor. There is also a down side to this if a committee members wants to gift you something you have already done a down payment which could save you money that would be used elsewhere.


Be flexible. Money limits what we can get for the wedding. Just because the same committee raised 600k for someone else a few months ago they might not be in a position to raise even half of that amount for you because they have had a funeral committee to be part of, person commitments that they have had to pay for and if you didn't contribute much to the wedding of a friend they might just contribute the same amount to you which might not add much towards the budget.Or even those who pledge a large amount but due to personal disasters can only give a quarter or half of the promised amount. A lot of factors come into play when dealing with a committee but be flexible enough to adjust to the kind of wedding that you can afford considering the cash at hand against the wedding you believe you deserve.

Planning a Friend's wedding.......

September is proving to be a hot month in Nairobi so far a perfect weather for weddings here.Since I'm all about weddings so I'm more interested in what it takes to plan a friend's wedding. Its said that friends can help you launch your career and most people who start small rely on friends to get the word out there about their work and most of the time they are not so tough on how many clients you have handled like complete strangers are.

Planning a friend's wedding the Nairobi way. Let's explore a typical scenario....You have a friend whose wedding is coming up. By you I refer to vendors_florist,tent and decor supplier, DJ and music, photographer, video person, private venue hire, and they call you and not only say are interested in your services but most times would like to involve you in the committee that helps them raise money for their wedding so the question is: How do you join the committee and still make money for your business?





As a friend to the bride and groom if you have an established business and wouldn't hurt your business there are several ways to go about this you could:-

• Offer your services as a gift to the bride and groom and not charge them. That can get you out of the committee but still support the couple on their big day.
• Instead of contributing cash to the bride and groom you could give your services at really reduced prices which you wouldn't normally do so for other clients or would normally reject clients on such budgets.
• Another alternative would be to offer cash towards their wedding and your services at friendly rates but you have got to be at a comfortable place business wise to go this direction especially if you settle for a substancial amount to offer the couple for their wedding.

For a start up business not established I consider option 2 as a way to get your business out there. Even if its a friend's wedding its important to work out a contract because you are still running business  at the end of the day.It protects the couple also at the end of the day. Remember the planning started out as friend helping friend whether for free or paid at a reduced rate and at the end of the wedding, the still want to remain friends not foes.

Icing on the cake

There is one thing to be said about the wedding cake: there is got to be some form of icing to complete it. It never matters whether its glazes, butter, flat, foam, fondant,fudge, and royal icings. What's important is the cake is attractively finished to the preference of the couple.  In last week's blog we looked at wedding cakes and a bit about the icing which won't be part of this week's article but a reference to what I hoped to explore this week.

In my DON'T GET MARRIED WITHOUT IT article, I wrote on the fact that that the most important aspect to a wedding varies from a couple to the other  to which a variety of things can top the list with varied reasons as to why its considered to be so. If a cake is badly cooked, stale or for some reason not as tasty as expected by the couple or their guests, then no matter how attractively finished the cake is (good quality icing); it just won't  make much difference.

If the flowers are the icing on the cake, its important that they're beauty shows. In the arrangements selected by the couples. Budget weddings and extravagant weddings have one thing in common the wow factor can be achieved by the flowers and for this to happen, the minimalistic or Cinderella brides have to work with flowers well. The one thing about Kenya, our weather is favorable and a lot of flowers are available most year round at reasonable cost. These flowers include and are not limited to: carnations, calla lilies, mums, tiger lilies, rose flowers, and tulips. Despite the availability, flowers need to be ordered in advance to ensure the color, type and amount is available on time, during the wedding and also less disappointments as far as the wedding is concerned.

 Well besides use of flowers as beauty, the whole theme can be enhanced when flowers are well arranged,
most weddings in Kenya use flowers for bridal and maids bouquets, flower girls, bridal car, flower arch, ceremony aisle, reception tents and walkway stands to the cake the arrangements are most of the time similarly done as weddings use reception set ups for a majority, others have center pieces for restaurant set ups. The arrangement have to be attractive and meet the theme of bride and groom in order for theme to be "the icing on the cake."

Sugar and spice

I love poetry not composing but reading what other people have written and making sense of some while others are self explanatory. The poem Sugar and spice and all things nice that's what girls are made of.............are words I have heard over the years I wasn't sure the source or how the rest of the words continue but Wikipedia.org-the online encyclopedia is quite helpful as I was able to trace the origin to  of Sugar and Spice to a 1963  song by Merseybeat band The Searches. A further search led me to scrapbook.com and the rest of that poem brought to my mind a lot of things that I can easily associate with weddings:


Sunshine and rainbows
and ribbons for hair bows
that's what little girls are made of

Not to drift too much to the poem: one thing most guest in Kenyan weddings await at a reception is the wedding cake. So why the poem: Cakes are sweet (sugar) and the flavors (spice) vary from individual wedding, The cake flavors vary from: chocolate, marble, lemon, carrot, and even black forest are amongst cakes that I have seen being selected by brides around especially in Nairobi. The wedding Icing can include: Royal Icing, Fondant, Whipped and Butter creams.

Whatever option one settles for its important to remember:

1. The groom should also be comfortable with the flavor chosen, it would be terrible if its a flavor he hates or even a few people close to him can't it eat.
2. Its good to keep in mind the color scheme of the wedding so that the cake blends with the overall theme.
3. If you choose to keep a tier for yourselves having it done in fruit cake is important. More importantly to check with your cake vendor before you settle for your option.
4. Whether you settle for decorations for your cake that are flowers that are either silk, icing or fresh flowers your cake decorator is in the best position to advice you including how much cake-the number of tiers that will feed your guests.
5. Be sure to check out the wedding cake servers, knives, and stands the vendor plans to use for your wedding.         
   
   
   

After all is said the overall cost should fit within your budget and enjoy the day, when it comes without much worry. Our next article will discuss the second part of the poem that I highlighted on this article. Feel free to leave a comment

Don't get married without it!

Every time there is a wedding, its important to have a check list. The planner can keep one, in case he/she is hired to work for the couple, the couple can keep one or even the best maid/man can keep one. Who ever is in charge helps to remind them of whats needed to have a success of the big day. Its Friday today and a majority of Nairobi weddings take place tomorrow though quite a number one done today and at the end of the day the day is judged as successful or not based on the standards of who is doing the judging.

A few instances when guests or even the couple are asked how the day was the response would be something like this: "it was nice but......" this could come in a vatiety of reasons. Some I have heard around Nairobi include:

the food wasn't well cooked, the icing on the cake wasn't to my standards, the bride arrived too late, it rained at the reception, the bride's make up was ruined, the maids dresses weren't attractive and the list goes on as to one thing that would have resulted in a perfect day.

So what comes in mind when you here the words: DON'T GET MARRIED WITHOUT IT?, could it be a great vendor, planner, an item of value past from generation to generation in a family during wedding. It kind of reminds me the famous words in wedding preparations: something borrowed, something blue.....

What ever these ends up being sometimes they can be forgotten. What could lead to this? A couple could decide to settle for a cheap wedding that's simple and due to a strict budget do away with things considered basic for a wedding, a piece of item could not sit well with their theme and even though you only have this one great day to remember there are alot of things to be done that one can forget basic things needed for example forgetting rings at home during the wedding ceremony.


Every other thing can go wrong but it will still be a wedding if the bride and groom show up and they have a legal officiant the rest of the things missing doesn't stop it from being a legally binding agreement and with time can become history-

A Picture's worth Part...........Part 2

Time flies so fast when you are busy, its something I here people say and its so true so much time has flown since I wrote the last article and missed my Monday deadline for which I am sorry. To get back to my last

article, photography is quite an important part of weddings. Are there any fast rules to go by when it comes to where to have your wedding photo shoots.

Most couples have always preferred having them at beautiful gardens, hotel grounds, parks and even photo studios. What makes a choice attractive ranges from a variety of reasons but a common choice would be that this grounds provide a beautiful scenery that one wants to capture and remember forever. When you combine a happy couple and lovely scene its such a beauty to behold. Most gardens in Nairobi  hotels, individual homes and parks have hired the services of land scarpers and the grounds are attractive places for photo shoots.

Sometime couples however, choose to go against the current and settled for unexpected grounds and venues for their photo shoots this could include in railway stations, garage, at airports and wherever we would least expect a shoot to be taken. Wherever a couple choose for their shoot, its important that they have fun and this be evident from the picture that they did this. So have a lovely shoot irrespective of your choice.

A picture's worth........

Its a slow weekend here with no functions for me. One to reflect on the activities of the first half of the year and consider what worked and didn't and see how to make things better. As a blogger I have from time to time suffered from writer's block (if it applies to a blogger also) and haven't had a chance to have as many articles as I would want published regularly but its one of the things I hope to make better in the months ahead.

I would like to explore photography from a Kenyan perspective especially the Kenyan bride. Every time I meet a potential client and have a chat with him or her one main thing that crosses their mind is

Do you have photos of work you have done?

. Its a question that doesn't escape many here in Nairobi even when you meet them at Wedding Expos. Why the question? Pictures attract and capture the eye. What we see attracts us to what we want. Its generally agreed that first impressions count and that's why some fall in love at first. What do we see in a wedding picture: the quality of photography,a loving couple, a well arranged reception and decor set up, happy friend and relatives and the list is endless. I am an avid reader of a Kenyan magazine called true love, one of the reasons that makes me purchase it is the attractive photos I like looking at-besides the fact that the quality of articles written is exceptional for local content. Glossy magazines, advertisements appeal to many because of the quality of photography conveys a message.
Which brings me to why I thought about today's article: wedding photos can tell a lovely story of the day. Its common practice in Kenya for a couple to select a venue for their photo shoot right after saying I do. How they go about selecting a venue is a topic I would like to pursue in a second part of this article this coming Monday.

Eyes of the Beholder

I can't say enough of this but its wedding season again (at least here in Kenya). In this half of the year more people get married than in any other season. It reminds me of the famous saying, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". The thought comes to mind as at the reception there are those famous for asking "what was he/she thinking?". There are always those who think another man/woman would have been better for the bride/groom. Whats sad the negative talker in most instances was ditched by the bride/groom. Which begs the question : should you attend the wedding of an ex if they left you at the alter?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder means that you can't quite explain why someone choose a particular individual for a mate if you don't see the same qualities that the individual does. As weddings seasons progress....many couples choose vendors for completely different reasons: referrals, bridal shows, online search and also based on the good work they have done before. I like watching on DSTV the show Whose wedding is it anyway? several brides watched previous shows and they loved what they saw especially how well organised a planner is, how they came to the aid of the couple who are their clients at their time of need and also how they put value for money and quality work before anything else what ever makes you select a vendor one thing is for sure we like working with vendors whose work is known and has worked with those in our own circles. Take this past weekend as an example Vera Wang had the opportunity for two of her gowns to be worn on Saturday by A list celebrities: Alicia Keys and Chelsea Clinton. What do you think that does for her sales this wedding season......

As a bride how well know is your vendor do you just use their referral list or have you attended some of their events and had they done events for friends with weddings or functions before you or is price the only reason that leads you to a vendor? Why is beauty again in the hands of the beholder? Whatever your reasons for selecting a wedding vendor I hope your choices don't lead to disappointment. One things is for sure you can hardly go wrong with a well known vendor online, on TV or in your locality.

All That I Have

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-life-that-i-have/

This is a lovely poem i thought I share it with all it was recited by a friend of Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky at the couple's wedding in Rhinebeck, New York July 31, 2010. The wedding was well organized and so far so good no bad press attached to it. The words by Leo Mark in his poem, THE LIFE THAT I HAVE are quite captivating. Especially are they applicable in a future couple who are about to share their life together. They promise to share the life that they have and all that they have. Its a beautiful start to most couples and this words they vow to live by. Its a fitting poem to a couple as they promise to share the love that they have and only death should do them apart....

After the break from writing that I have had, I will take time to continue with my articles on how a bride can make her day successful. So for those who have upcoming weddings this august, I wish them the best in planning successful weddings and an enjoyable weather at that.

Memories are made of this.......

I love photography. I appreciate good image as an amateur I sometimes get critical of photos. I have in the past selected photographers after seeing their work some are attentive to detail and the angles they take: I wouldn't have thought it myself. There have been photo exhibitions in the past few months but the one that has stood out for me is Nation Media Group's "A piece of history" theme photo expo which has been on from 17th May to 15th June 2010.If you check them out in www.nationmedia.com you probably might fill the same or different depending on whether you let photos speak to you. Back to my point before I get carried away....

One thing about photos is the memories can be kept for years later. The bride gets to know who attended, the funny moments and guests who didn't make it get to appreciate the photos and relive the day. Many times by looking at photos you can tell a happy bride, sad one, lovely make up and the list continues. The thing about wedding photography they capture never to be repeated moments at least for that wedding.

Destination weddings are lovely and more brides are opting for them from Nairobi to lovely areas in the Rift Valley and Mombasa. What this often means is identifying your vendors way in advance and going with them to your preferred destination. It cost more but you have reliable people. Last year though a bride had more than one wedding moment in different days. What happened? She had a wedding planned for Kisumu, bought her dress in Nairobi and flew to Kisumu. Apparently to cut costs she opted for a local photographer who was affordable are way cheaper than Nairobi. For some reasons best known to him the photos and video were damaged and she only learned this after her honeymoon. This meant after 3 weeks of her marriage posing in a studio with the groom to capture his/her wedding garment. The rest of the team had moved on and couldn't be traced for the shoot.....

What of cases where a family member or friend of the bride/groom who wants to start business sees your event as a launch pad! well some have lived to regret it. I could go on and on but its too depressing to dwell on negatives from the wedding industry our next article will consider the lessons learnt and why bride(groom) are getting better and wiser in Nairobi.

When the perfect day goes wrong

Lou Reed had a song that was titled perfect day. The song has interesting lyrics: description of the day meant drinking in the park, feed the animals, watch a movie then go home, problems are left alone that day. The day is gladly spend with someone special who makes them feel that he's someone good as he forgets about himself that day.Such is his description of a perfect day. It kind of reminds me about weddings-they are viewed as a perfect day in an individuals life everything from the start to the end should be perfect without a problem and when most people hire planners this is their biggest expectation.

So when the things take a twist for the worse it can be a disaster to this day which wouldn't have been for another day. I would like to consider some five disasters that have been in Nairobi last year at some weddings that I knew about:

Brides love cakes in most weddings around the world and Nairobi isn't any different, so when a bride whose 5 tier cake was turned to 4! The problem the baker comes really late by 2 hours to set up his cakes he is so drunk and doesn't carry cutlery with him neither does he supply cake stands but opts to improvise stands which makes one of the cakes collapse on the ground and the planner has to rush to the hotel as the reception is in their grounds to get cutlery and save the day. The wedding started its church service two hours late and most guests have left for the day, the cakes left are more than enough to feed the guests and the bride doesn't get to worry much so what went wrong....the bride selects her own baker and doesn't introduce him to the planner

Most people in Nairobi look forward to receptions because of the food besides the cake that they eat. Most couples during the planning stages are given a list of vendors with their friends in the wedding committee and so they settle for the cheapest vendor in terms of price. Scenario 2. Everything about the wedding is planned and the caterer has been selected the only problem is she is paid her money too late after she has waited in vain for it and her balance? well, she has to bring food first before she can get it. She decides to do a no show for the event- what then happens the committee representatives have to rush to coca-cola depot that stores sodas to buy sodas and a shop to buy loaves of bread to feed guests who are about 700 talk about a day gone wrong and this time no planner is available to rescue the situation.

Karen area in Nairobi is a lovely place to have a reception a bit pricey than town venues but definitely a breath taking view. Picture this when you fly from abroad and have a good job and come home to marry you really want the perfect day to ring out loud. But what happens if your vendor for tents and chairs has already charged and supplied you with the required items, you're fully paid and they have delivered early. The perfect day is going on well but the imperfect thing comes in where she gets a good corporate deal on the same day and decides that may the best person win and definitely by Nairobi standards weddings hardly competes firms that are launching big events as far budget goes so the bride and her high profile guest are left in the lurch and a friend to the mother of the bride comes to the rescue to supply a few tents and chairs to the guests as the reception progresses they are pitching tents and arranging seats the theme lost and most guests seat on kindergarten seats the good thing the vendor refunds the money. Mother of the bride cries and its not because her daughter just said I DO

Does the Nairobi Bride still need a planner? Well, its still her decision. Next time we will look at the two other scenarios and a way out of the maze that might prove useful but to end with Lou Reed's song "You are going to reap just what you saw". The beats might not impress you but the words ring true as far as weddings go.




Lyrics | Lou Reed - Perfect Day lyrics

Does she need a planner?

Wow! I still can't believe its taken me 3 and a half months since I wrote my first blog its not a good rate and excusing the fact that I'm not a journalist neither a good writer doesn't work but I'll try to enjoy my writing just like I do my work. Its been busy time analyzing what works or doesn't and the changes to be made for my company. Now that its in the past, I will get back to my question does she need a planner?

I especially admire the work done by Samantha Bridal Exhibition and The Wedding show on Citizen Television in Nairobi-why? I have seen brides I've mentioned to try certain colors or trends in their wedding but its been a firm NO so I had to deal with what they know its tried and tested from other brides but the more the brides have seen how creative other brides are getting they are willing to try out new things too. One show that really touched me was the last show that featured a couple whose reception was at the railways station in Nairobi that was amazing to see a reception done in a place I associate with the so many problems its had in the past I was glad to see it as a reception ground.

Back to my article. A majority of the Kenyan brides prefer committee planned weddings where a group of friends gather to help the future couple (bride and groom) raise money for their wedding. Most don't earn enough to finance their weddings and even for those who do prefer to still work with a committee its easier to work with trusted friends than complete strangers (read planner), the case being they're considered expensive and out to extort the bride and groom. But is this true? Well... I will leave it to an individual to decide whether they can trust a planner or not besides many articles have been published on the importance of a planner.

I do however want to look at a planners work from the angle of blunders that occur during a wedding and why a planner comes in handy. The next article will address the issue.

the modern kenyan bride

I have been in the wedding industry for a while now since 2005 but officially I opened my own business in April 2008. Its an exciting industry with so much to look forward to. As time passes we get more trendy brides who know what they want and aren't afraid to go for it. At the same time there are well....those who don't like the risk and prefer playing it safe. They use whats already tried and tasted by other brides and wouldn't dare bring something different to the table. Then there are those who get things online and want it exactly the way they got it regardless of whether or not it will suit their theme or the environment they are in. Other brides combine all these methods and still have a successful wedding. So am I criticizing what method a bride uses? no on the contrary tastes and preferences differ from bride to bride and we can learn a lot from what ever combination a bride puts together.

The purpose of my blog: I hope to inform and entertain from real life and probably ideal situations in weddings in Kenya more so I'll like to understand and probably appreciate how a bride goes about in selecting her dress, flowers, vendors and the list continues.

There are problems that occur when weddings are planned here that are hardly talked about. More so I would like to start my articles with an important question that can be considered in Nairobi especially as a bride plans her wedding: Does she need a planner? well will look at a few cases that have occurred in Nairobi weddings and let her make that decision. I look forward to hearing from all who have a chance to read my future articles especially critics.