A Missionary's Perspective
Wedding
Not too long ago we were invited to a wedding in Aruba for the first time. The bridal couple had followed the Marriage Course that we organized. After the course ended, we received the invitation and I must honestly say that I was not expecting that, but I felt very honored.
I had attended a wedding in Uganda before, but it remains special to be a wedding guest in another country. All kinds of questions came up in advance. What clothes do I wear and are there any expectations about that? Are there customs that I should take into account? What is normal to give as a present??
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Wedding parties especially are the parties where culture is expressed. Is there dancing or not? Are you also expected to stay for dinner or not? In one culture you are either a day guest, an evening guest, or you are only expected to go to the reception. In another culture you go to a wedding or you are in the wedding. In a third culture, everything is for everyone and it is inappropriate not to participate in everything, including the evening dance. In some countries you can only marry before the law, in some countries you marry in the church, sometimes it doesn't matter and sometimes you cannot get married if you cannot demonstrate that you have a certain nationality. There are all kinds of variants thinkable in this regard.?
When I think of all those variants, I immediately wonder what the big wedding will look like. Will it be full of ceremony? Or is the emphasis on meeting everyone we haven't seen for so long? Will there only be focus on the meal, or also on the dance? I'm very curious. We know that we are allowed to wear white clothes, but I am also curious about the taste of the wine we drink. I hope it will happen soon.
In any case, the Aruban variant was beautiful; the couple was already legally married when the blessing took place in church, including putting the rings on their hands. This was followed by a very pleasant reception with lots of cheerful people, lots of photos and lots of tasty snacks. A wonderful abundant feast. I am looking forward to experiencing more of that!