One of my brothers is getting married so I thought it would be a great way to give readers who don’t know an idea of what Yoruba weddings are like. There are several stages in the average Yoruba wedding. Like someone said to me, the number of ceremonies expands to fit how much money you have 🙂 It really is like that with Yoruba weddings.
Preparing the fruits that will be part of the gifts given to the bride’s family
Once the groom (to-be) has told his family that he has met the person he wants to marry, one of the first steps in the wedding process (after the parents have chatted on the phone if they don’t know each other) is ‘momimo’ which loosely translates as ‘getting to know you.’
For the momimo, the groom’s immediate family (bearing gifts, usually fruits, soft drinks and so on) goes to the home of the bride to meet her immediate family. Usually, the momimo is a small, intimate affair but once again, this varies depending on how much money the families want to spend. There are some momimos where a live band is present and the money spent is enough to fund a small wedding and there are momimos where the only people present are the parents and siblings of the couple.
Usually at the momimo, the groom’s family introduces themselves and says why they are there (as if no-one had the foggiest), the bride’s family introduces themselves, says they are fine with their daughter marrying the groom, accepts the gifts the groom’s family has brought and gives gifts (once again fruits, soft drinks and so on) in return. The parents of the couple have a private chat there getting to know each other better and sometimes agreeing on the dates of the traditional and white wedding ceremonies. Finally, it is time to eat, drink and laugh then everyone goes back home.
Here are some more pictures from my brother’s momimo.
The finished product
The parents of the bride and groom
My brothers (the one getting married isn’t here), my mother and I.
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