BEGINNING:
Grace and Kakai met in campus, “We were both at the University of Nairobi where we were studying law and we also happened to be classmates.
I was attracted to Grace but I was not in the dating mood at the time,” Kakai says. After graduating they found themselves working in the same building and still remained good friends. They later on went to further their studies and still kept in touch. They started seriously dating in 2008.
PROPOSAL:
Kakai never formally proposed to Grace. They just started the wedding plans with Grace having no ring. “ I wanted to give her a ring mainly for formality so I made reservations for dinner on a Friday but I forgot that she was to travel to Mombasa that same day. I ended up proposing a day before on a Thursday when we had gone out.” Kakai says.
“I expected the ring which actually showed some seriousness and yes! he did go down on one knee.” Grace adds. The dinner reservation is still pending to date.
FASHION:
Grace wore a halter neck gown from Afro Elegance, “I loved my gown because it made me look smaller and did not need any jewellery”. For shoes she had two pairs of Jimmy choo shoes, a heeled pair for the church and yellow wedged pair for the reception. She bought the shoes from the States.
Kakai and his five groomsmen wore the same normal grey suits, which they bought from Delvis Exclusive.
Their five maids wore yellow flowing dresses, which were made at Lacasa. The dresses were beaded with purple crystals to bring out the theme colour.
SETTING THE DATES:
Grace and Kakai had planned to wed on the 4th of December but they pushed it to November 6th because the grooms brother who was on the line up was getting married on that date and Kakai was the best man.
WEDDING THEME:
Their venue Karen Blixen that is a museum was the perfect place for the theme they had in mind.“We had a vintage theme because of our love for the oldies and so the old machinery that is ancient at Karen Blixen provided the mood and match for our theme. Our wedding tables were listed according to various old movies like out of Africa, which was shot at Karen Blixen.
We had a vintage car to transport us. For entertainment we chose Maroon commandos who are good at playing songs from way back in the old days. We had makuti fans as gift favors for our guests which were placed on every seat.”
GUEST LIST:
They discussed and decided to split the guest list into two. It was a cards only wedding and they invited 400 guests.
STICKY SITUATIONS:
Grace and Kakai started their wedding plans early and hired a planner a year to the wedding because Grace is never around. She works in Tanzania.“We hired a planner to make things easy and we gave her the vision we had for our wedding and the budget.
However two and a half weeks to the wedding we had to look for another planner because the previous one also plans events and she had an event that she was planning at the same time as our wedding. She could not be able to fully focus on our wedding. It was not easy for the new planner to understand our vision but we were very fortunate because she was able to catch up fast and worked at ensuring that our day was a success.”
GRACE’S CONTACT BOOK
- Flowers and Décor, House in Bloom
- Bride’s gown, Afro Elegance
- Groomsmen attire, Delvis Xclusive
- Video/ Photography: Naiko
- Venue, Karen Blixen