Schola & Beaufils – The wedding

Today is two years ‘jour pour jour’ as my French folks will put it, since our special day but memories are so fresh it feels like yesterday. I have to thank the Heavens for the absolutely  beautiful and sunny day that it was and indeed for making it all possible. Thanking Mama Maria, St Scholastica, all host of Angels and saints for their prayers. It was a beautiful spring day. God take the Glory.

I woke up this morning feeling an intense sense of gratitude and thought I will quickly make a note of the things that excited me the most about the day.

Here we go 

1. So we said ‘I do’ again. That without a shadow of a doubt is highlight numero uno.  Needless to say it was said with a fair share of enthusiasm on both sides. After 10years of being legally and spiritually married, it was heartwarming that we both wanted to do this again…

2. Having my mom and mom-in-law. So our moms looked like royalty. I couldn’t be more thankful to God for having both our moms at the wedding. We had some real drama with visas in Cameroon which meant my mom-in-law came quite close to missing our wedding. In fact she arrived at 4:00am the morning of the wedding. Her near miss really freaked me out. Truth is, she had her visa well on time but  she would not agree to travel without my sister-in-law whose visa took longer than usual. Lord, I panicked. I could not imagine walking down the aisle without this woman. She has been a true mother-in-law from Heaven. Well, as far as my mom goes, she has lived a life of sacrifice for her children, so no greater joy than having her on the day. 

3. And what is a wedding without family and friends? We celebrated the day with people we love and cherish. Family showed up big time. Spiritually, emotionally, financially, psychologically, you name it. Yes indeed family is gold. And our friends did not hold back on giving us a memorable day. No amount of thank yous can truly convey our gratitude.

4. My childhood Parish priest showed up to co-celebrate the mass with our South Africa based parish priest. Thank you Father William for making the trip, it meant the world to us. I would like to take this opportunity to pay homage to our Parish priest and main celebrant of our wedding – Rev Father Joseph Leathem  (OMI) – who passed on in March this year.  He would have been 85 in April and had been a priest for over sixty years. He was a Priest among Priest, one who will be celebrated for ages to come. A priest worthy of the name. May you continue to rest in peace Father Leathen and please give our love to our biological dads. Weddings are beautiful and special and I am grateful to God for preserving you to officiate ours.

5.  Family and friends who travelled the seven seas to come celebrate with us. Delphine (USA), Gilbert (Japan), Catherine ( Canada) Sang (Finland) Fr William ( Nigeria) Ni Julius (DRC) Tony ( Angola) Fiona (Zimbabwe) Felix (Cameroon) Aunty Maggie ( Cameroon) Ma Yolande (Cameroon)  and our moms who defiled their aviation blues to travel to South Africa from Cameroon. We love you all so much️. We shall never forget.

6. All readings and bidding prayers during mass were done by our children, our nieces  and nephews and our children’s friends. Oh, the sound of those Angelic voices on the pulpit still warms my heart. Love you all kiddos. 

7. We had fun – yho !!! All those who thought I could not dance were in for a surprise. And Beaufils had an even bigger surprise in store for me. As a friend, university crush, husband, and father to my kids, I have known the guy for 20 years now but I saw dance moves on the day which  I never knew existed. 

8. Oh my bridesmaids looked elegant- I’ve got to take some credit for the fashion flair but I certainly can’t take the credit for your gorgeousness and your curves. 12 beautiful women that I am grateful to call sisters and friends. Caro, Irene, Catherine, Sang, Medina, Ogechi, Nyasha, Chimene, Glory, Nadi, Isabelle and  Mispa – my maid of honour, my little sister and bestie, no one could hold that role with more merit than you.I salute you all with love. Grande soeur Delphine, you had the dress as a  souvenir but you were a lot more in this celemony, so wouldn’t count you as bridesmaid. Your presence made all the difference and in more ways than you can ever imagine…We shall be forever thankful for your presence for making the long trip to celebrate with us.

9. My dress – mehnnnn- loved it – embodied all that I  admire in fashion. Simple, yet sophisticated, chic and classy. And yes,  I had a waistline once upon a time… two years can take its toll hahahaha.

10. We wanted our guests to feel like VIPs, so we rolled out the red carpet. And I could see from the photos that the red carpet did its job.  Can you believe hubby and I didn’t get a picture taken there? Truthfully, it was never meant for us, so  the objective was met – my petit frere Basile on the red carpet looked like a ‘nouveau’ rich millionaire, Zac thought he was a better red carpet model than Djimon Hounson or will it be Idris Elba these days?.

11. And that 1948 Chevrolet Fleetline hubby got for me as a ride, made me feel like a real princess driving to church.  Yes, classy, traditional is all that I am about and he got it so right. 

12. We went with a theme that spoke to many things and we captured all we wanted to say in precious stones. Pearls, diamonds and Sapphire. Pearls are my favourite stones without a shadow of a doubt, Diamond to honour the grandeur of the occasion and Sapphire for a little touch of blue. September 8, being the birthday of Mary the mother of God- a bit of blue to honour her. Sapphire is a stone for September babies and I happen to be one as well, along with my twinny and first daughter.  A big shout out to all the ladies for honoring the request to accessorize in pearls. You all looked fabulous.

13. Flowers – Not a single artificial flower in the entire ceremony. All fresh flowers and all my favourites –  white lilies, white roses, any white flower on a green bed was going to pass. But hey – someone brought in a bit of South Africa into the mix with those protea flowers for the bridesmaids. Hah Julie & Jacky, thank you. It wouldn’t have been the same without you two.

14. Hubby’s speech – oh boy, I was so proud of my hunk!!! As a communicator, I have to admit that I am quite nosy and always prone to giving editorial guidance on everyone’s scripts.  I honestly thought I would have a say as to the content of that speech.  But not this time it seemed. Even the kids kept their speech a secret. But, I was so incredibly proud of you all. Beaufils, that speech hit all the right notes .I was in awe of you my UB crush.. And teacher Ino, you deserve a Bell for the kid’s speech. It was spot on. In fact, I can’t help but admit that the speeches at THE WEDDING were perfect. And it hurts that I can’t take credits for any of them. Ni Honore, grande soeur Delphine, Uncle Tingo, Aunty Grace, and our very own MC uncle Felix, you were all brilliant. 

15. We went with a golf club and had the first part of the reception in full view of the golf course.  And the course was as green as it gets on the 8th day of spring. Okay, there were deep historical and sentimental reasons for the choice of a golf course. If you were there, am sure you know, so let’s not recount the full story again, right?

16. That mini social media storm with photos of the wedding was like a highlight after the party. There could have been no better way to make us know how much you enjoyed the moment. Loved every single picture you shared with us on your timelines.

17. Another minor attempt at the whole VIP effort was to treat our guest to a  three course plated meal. I hope it went just a little way to make you feel like celebs and royalty because every single one of you is a royalty to us.. Thank you to aunty Maggie, Chimene, ma Yolande, Caro, Irene, Mispa  and all who drove the idea to have that little touch of Cameroon cuisine on each table, It surely did compliment the chef’s x star cuisine perfectly.

18. The mob dance – there’s nothing more heartwarming at a wedding than watching your guests have  so much  fun. The mob dance of ‘o bunia kwacha bunia’ was by far one of my most enjoyable documentation of the wedding night. Love that video. Yeah, our celebs got moves.

Okay, Someone just whispered that I left out a very important highlight, hahhaah. The story of  Schola and Beaufils which I recounted with incredible amounts of detail- how long did that take again? Okay, if you feel the same, drop that  in the comment, or  share with us what you enjoyed the most. 

From the very depth of our hearts, we thank you all for making our special day truly special and for leaving us with such great memories.  

Official photos of THE WEDDING at the Fokwa Tsafack’s residence. See you soon!