Garden Weddings

The weather in Nairobi was awesome until last week. It's the unpredictable rainy season that has taken over. The extreme heat though not the best for ones health, has been ideal for garden wedding. Ask any bride or anyone attending a wedding or outdoor event in Nairobi and the majority would rather the sun anytime than a cold, drizzly, cloudy or worse yet heavy rains for outdoor events. Despite the weather or season garden weddings are not about to loose popularity in Nairobi anytime soon.

Which brings me to today's discussion: Garden Weddings. A lot has been said about them I would not like to copy and paste the information on today's blog. However I want to consider something that attracts me to them. Lush gardens. There are grounds that are well taken care of  that you just want to stare at them and not cover them with tents during your wedding.Then, there are those with dry grass that isn't attractive but still great for a rustic look.

As unpredictable as the weather is, there is need for plan B  when it comes to your garden wedding. The tricky bit is that October to December have always been a high wedding season in Nairobi, so it would be hard to have another venue or an indoor specifically available due to high bookings. So instead of looking for an alternative indoor venue how about working with your selected garden wedding?

Its a norm for many people in Nairobi to hire many tents for the ground which include: one for the bride, three for the wedding guests, one for the cake, gift and food tents. These are normally many tents and most of the time the arrangement is usually a standard one not allowing much room for creativity. The verdict? It's about time marquee tent made a come back this season. The main reason is that most of the garden wedding venues don't have an option for indoor events.

When working with a marquee tent, you can leave the walls open to allow as much natural lights as possible and only close it if it starts raining. The advantage of it is that the guests are protected from the rains. Another thing about a marquee tent is that it gives you option to set up the place as best as it suits your taste.  The space in the tent is usually big enough to allow a huge dance floor and one need not worry on how to get everything under the tent. So go on, have a stress free wedding day.

To say "I DO"

Some 7 months have passed since I wrote anything on this blog. It wasn't out of writer's block, lack of time or any excuse that one can think of. I just took a break to recollect my thoughts and ideas. I love working in the wedding and events industry and despite the challenges I have seen in it, I look forward to a lot of adjustments with time . I believe I have gotten better by learning from the best so far.

My article today is inspired by a song with a similar title by James Onohan. Quite a lovely song for walking down the aisle. With many acceptable ways of doing so in Kenya becoming acceptable and people no longer raising an eyebrow on how the couple chooses to do their vows. I will consider 3 that a majority of weddings fall into:

 Civil Ceremony

It might actually look cheap but the Civil ceremony is getting popular for various reasons. One being that some cannot afford a huge wedding and this allows them to cut costs on expenses associated with their big day. This to some saves them the hustle of dealing with the bridal team, booking a religious ceremony and meeting the legal requirements for using the venue. Not forgetting cutting the costs of decorating the venue. Later on they gather for a ceremony at a private venue for a few guests wich can be in a hotel, or restaurant, private home or any other preferred/ desired destination.

Aonther reason why some choose a civil ceremony is that they want to spend alot on their honeymoon. They may select a destination that they require; do a small ceremony for those closest to them or surprisingly none at all. Then spend the money on honeymoon. Those who choose to this are mostly lovers of travelling and want to have enough cash as possible to travel to one or more destinations at the same time.

Religious ceremony

A big majority of Kenyans get married in a religious Institution. This can be in a church, mosque, temple or any other available in the country. All of this religious institutions have varied rules and regulations that have to be met . A few are:

1. An extra deposit to be paid that is not refunded if the couple are late in starting their ceremony.
2. No petals to be used on the aisle.
3. The couple must leave the venue as clean as they found it.
4. Some only allowing their members to marry in the venue or requiring one to convert before being allowed to marry at the venue.

Whatever the restrictions available, its normally important to know all of them before the couple commit and pay for the venue, to avoid embarrasing situations where a vendor is stopped from bringing in what's already paid for as it's not accepted at the venue.

Garden ceremony

One way many end up saving on wedding costs is to have everything done in one place. One thing Nairobi is not short of is venues that can allow you to do both your ceremony and reception as one packaged venue. This saves on the time spend on travelling from one venue to the next. Most of these always have lovely gardens that the bridal team along with their team can enjoy photo shoots. It's always good to make sure the venue has enough packing for your cars and guests incase they usually allow more than one wedding on the same day and that the security is excellent for you.