The Send Off of the Bride has a long, cultural tradition.
The Bride’s family sends off the bride to the groom’s family. She stays with the groom's family until the wedding when the couple forms their own family. During the sendoff, the bride says, “Goodbye” to her family and is welcomed into the family of the groom.
There is a lot, a lot of prayers, biblical blessings, and gospel songs. Suma presented a cake to her family and served them saying goodbye and expressing appreciation for them. Then, she brought a cake to the Mwaisumbe family—Mpeli, Neema, and the family representatives (23 in all).
Two special times during the ceremony that Bonnie and I like are when the groom’s family dances bringing in suitcases for the bride to pack her things and go home with them (But most of the time now, the bride does not do like in the old days where she literally went with the groom's family). The bride's family decides if they will accept the luggage and the families tease each other over whether or not they will accept the luggage conditions.
The second special time is when Suma has to find her fiancé in the middle of the crowd. She did find Maka—she gave him the gift of a guitar (because he loves to play Gospel music on the guitar). Once that is done they dance together and are presented to the crowd together.
Throughout the ceremony, dancing breaks out and both families will empty their respective tables and join in dancing. The send off lasted about 3 hours and a half including the meal.
Now we wait for the wedding!
