The time Elijah figured out he didn't want to be a chauffeur, and I learnt I'm not a natural wedding photographer

So last Saturday, Isaiah House celebrated a wedding. It was actually beyond awesome. Fano and Khonziwe are members of the Isaiah House church in Molweni. They have been together 23 years(!) and have a family together. Since becoming born again Christians, they decided they wanted to get married. Culturally, this is a little tricky from a financial perspective. Usually there are stages of lobola (read: dowry) to follow. This would involve a negotiated amount of money (or cows, if you want to go the traditional route) paid from the groom to the bride's family, several different stages of gift giving, etc. This is usually vast amounts of money before you get to the actual wedding. Historically, this tradition has been a beautiful way of binding families together - sometimes it still is, but in modern times there is a tendency to manipulate this situation that bleeds couples financially dry.

But Fano and Khonzi just had a heart for a wedding - so, our extended house church network banded together and all of us - from Molweni, Embo and Kloof - pooled together to throw them an amazing wedding.

Elijah landed the job of bridal chauffeur (because his sister has a fancy car) and me, wedding photographer (because I have a DSLR camera, though I don't really know how to use it) along with my friend Simone. Oh my word, I am not born to be a wedding photographer. At the end of the day, and all the next day, my body ACHED, it activated all my lower back issues, and managing a whole bunch of people during bridal party portraits is not fun. Plus, the light was rather tricky. It was harsh or dappled - not nice options to work with. And Elijah learnt that all the people waiting, back and forthing, extra passengers and sometimes dodgy township roads that he faced as a chauffeur didn't inspire in him a career change. Throw in Africa time, and it was a little trying.

But that aside, the day was amazing. A beautiful backyard wedding was sit up, there was joy and smiles, singing and dancing in true African style. The amount of people mysteriously doubled when we got to the reception hall (read: food), and it was a beautiful day to celebrate Fano and Khonzi, and them becoming one under God.