Kenyan Weddings:Some lessons from Kate and William's ceremony.

The Royal wedding is over,all the brouhaha has died down and life has gone to normal.It has been estimated that over billion people watched the ceremony and twitter listed it among its top five trending topics this year.

After swearing i would be watching teletubbies with my son i finally succumbed to the urge to see Kate's dress and i watched the whole ceremony from 1.02pm to 2.03pm when it ended,just so i could see if there were any differences with Kenyan
weddings.Granted ours are more colorful and there is more song and dance but i did pick a few pointers on how Kenyans can make their weddings easier on the pocket and for those attending.

The money we spend on our weddings is just a drop in the ocean compared to the royal wedding that but who says you have to bust the bank to have a simple and elegant event.

Seeing the way wedding planners are growing by the day i decided to write some tips on how you can carry the same elegance and simplicity to your event without being shackled with loan repayments.

1. Time
Catherine Elizabeth Middleton was picked from a hotel,and she drove with her dad to the church for the ceremony.It took just over 9 minutes from the upmarket Goring Hotel to Westminster Abbey,and she did not have a convoy of luxury vehicles adorned with flowers or ribbons trailing her.

It is interesting when i hear of some brides who insist on being picked from their mother's house even if they live 2 hours from where the ceremony will be held.If you love the man please do not let him walk on live coals to prove he loves you.

Take into account the time of day you are going to have the wedding,traffic snarl ups that may ensue especially if you have it month end and plan accordingly.This is so as to have enough time to make it from the house to the church using the shortest route and time possible.

2.Walking down the aisle
Kate was walked down the aisle by her father while her mum sat at the front of the church , on her next walk up the aisle after the ceremony she would have be turned from commoner to royalty.
Having watched and attended many Kenyan weddings it is painful to see the bride's walk down the aisle with both her parents squeezing between the aisles which always never have enough room for three people to make the walk down.In mot weddings men are just by standers,its the women who get all excited.I am an old fashioned kind of girl and i feel dad's do need to have the seconds of fame as you make your walk down the aisle as daddy's little girl. Seeing as it is dad's have to watch their daughters leave their homes,while maintaining a calm demeanor and holding your hand as you walk down to meet your future prince should make the transition easier for them.

If you do choose to have both you parents walking you down the aisle ,please increase the walkway by pushing back the pews to create enough walking space for the three of you.

3.Flowers and Decor
Westminster abbey had a minimal amount of flowers with trees lining the last few yards to the altar.Kate had a really small bouquet and her maid of honor had none,the only other people who had flowers were the small girls who had garlands on their heads.

Flowers and decor take a huge chunk of the wedding budget,with flowers for the altar,entrance arch,the church pews,the reception not forgetting the cars and the flowers for both the bride and her maids there is a lot of money to be spent to look good.If you add all the other elements incorporated at mot weddings like ribbons and fabric you get to see that the florist walks away with almost a third of your budget.

Minimal decor gives you the simplicity and style that was exhibited at the church ceremony.The only decor lining the last few yards to the altar were trees that had been brought into the abbey to lend it some feel of nature and to blend with the Gothic arches at the abbey.

4.Wedding party
The wedding had a small party that was just made up of four girls and two page boys,the only other grown ups were Kate's sister Pippa and Williams brother Harry.

Having a smaller wedding party not only saves you and your friends money,but it is also more manageable logistically because you do not have to have a fleet of cars reserved or hired for their exclusive use.You do not love or appreciate your friends or family any less just because they did not march down the aisle with you and in my opinion flower girls are just the highlight of any wedding.

5.The Dress
Kate's dress was simple ,it was an off white lace Chantilly creation by Sarah Burton .It fit her perfectly ,didn't show off too much cleavage and it didn't look too heavy,it was the perfect gown for the church gave it the reverence it deserved by not showing off too much.

Most Kenyan brides opt for the Cinderella type ,bare shoulder approach.It is important to bear in mind the location you will have your ceremony at,be it church or outside,weather and your body shape.Wedding dresses arent all made for the same body types.Too many brides have been seen pulling up their bodices for fear that they may reveal too much during the ceremony.Find something that fits and complements your body shape,what may look good on slim Jane might not quite have the same effect on me who is a little bit more endowed.Resist the urge to take that dress that is oh so beautiful off the rack no matter how much you have fantasized about it if it doesn't suit you.

Something i find quite fascinating was that Kate chose to mix in something old as part of her ensemble when she wore an old Tiara of the queens going back to 1936.

6.The Sermon
The Sermon delivered by then Bishop of London was beautiful-short and straight to the point.He started off with quoting Catherine of Sienna who said"Become whom God wanted you to be and you will set the world on fire".He asked the couple to remember marriage was a way to transform each other into the best they could be and not reform them.

Yes,let us keep wedding ceremonies short,the bride and groom already have a long day ahead of them and an hour in church should be enough.Sometimes pastors and priests do get overly excited and deliver long sermons,a short one that delivers the intended message would be twice as good.

7.Wedding Songs
The songs sang and played at the wedding were out of the norm,some were old classics and there was even a Gregorian chant- Ubi Caritas Em Amor(where charity and love are God is) which brought to the ceremony a lot of rich history and old world glamor .


When choosing wedding songs pick the ones that mean or lend some symbolism to your event,too many weddings are caught in the moment where pop songs are played.Some of them have no meaning but are just creative creations with a play of words and a funky beat added.Carefully though out songs give meaning to your event and are a way for you to reflect on how you want to start off life as a married couple.

8.The Kiss
There was no kiss at the altar and instead the couple opted to exchange the first kiss as a married couple on the famous balcony at Buckingham palace.

A lot of our wedding practices are borrowed from the American way of doing things and the kiss the bride now common at most services has made famous by Hollywood.

Many a Kenyan pastor have been caught in the excitement of the moment and i have seen blushing couples being asked to repeat the kiss in front of their grandmothers and elderly relatives,lets us spare them the drama and have the kiss at the reception.It does not make the wedding any less special if you choose to do it later.

Happy planning!

EVENT PLANNER-What to look for before you hire one.

I have always loved planning for as long as i can remember and i always have sticky pads with to do lists in my handbag.Am also a stickler for time and absolutely love starting everything on schedule and hate waiting.Maybe that is what makes organizing a perfect fit for me.

Kenyan companies are quickly catching up on the event planning business though it is a herculean task to land a job with some.Usually when a company need to have its carpet cleaned it calls in a cleaning company,for deliveries you get a courier company but most of the time for events the company marshals its employees to organize what should be a fun event for everyone.

An event organizer can save the company a lot of wasted man hours,get great discounts and generally let everyone relax and have a good time wile the organizer sweats it out to make your event a success.They allow you to concentrate on your business while they snag you the best venue,caterers and other service providers for your event.

While hiring an event organizer make sure the person is knowledgeable about their job.It is also important that they should listen to you and not employ a one size fits all solution for any event that they have organized.

A successful event requires careful attention to details and you want your planner to make sure all the details are ironed out.The organizer or planner also needs to be someone who answers all your questions regarding any back up plans they ,may have in case something doesn't work out the way you had planned it.

Finally make sure you know how much you are going to be paying them for their services.It should be reasonable and should not cost an arm and a leg.

KENYAN DOMESTIC TOURISM -Way Forward.....

Kenya has for the longest time ever marketed itself as a safari haven and more often than not we have overplayed our white sandy beaches theme.It is time we repackaged our tourism industry to offer to both the domestic and foreign market more variety and choice as people are becoming more selective in their choice of holiday destinations.

The Kenya Tourism Board is organizing the 2010 tourism fair and on its advert that was in the Sunday paper there were over 80 exhibitors listed from the region.While appreciating the work that has gone to make this event a success there is a lot more that the board needs to do to market the country as a unique destination.

As an event organizer who handles a variety of clients there are a lot of gaps that i have found that if taken care of would go a long way towards promoting the domestic tourism market.


Lack of information:Most times the first place one goes to when looking for information nowadays is the internet but our local hotel industry hasn't realized that.While it is true that you cannot always make your website as comprehensive as possible,there are some vital things that i have found lacking in the local hotel industry.Just type in local hotel names on search engines and more often than not you are going to end up at a travel agent site.Wile this may have been useful awhile back,what happens when people like me who are independent organizers or planners need to contact these said hotels for inquiries,why do we need to go through a travel agent.It is time players in the industry designed websites that will be able to provide first hand knowledge on their services and products.With all the talk on e tourism and e commerce going on why cant the board provide information on the content that could be provided on these sites for both local and international tourists.


Customer experiences:The hotel industry needs to take some lessons from Safaricom.This company that has broken all records in terms of revenue and success,has always insisted the customer is first and this has been the key to their success and most of their innovations -Mpesa being the best example.A month ago i was looking for a place for a Kenyan couple to spend their honeymoon and i settled on a lodge in the Rift Valley that has a really scenic view,when i called them for a reservation and requested if they could provide a bottle of wine for the couple,i was met with the statement that they don't provide anything of the sort but they would give them a glass of wine as per my request.I was flabbergasted to say the least because with this kind of attitude how do we expect to have more Kenyans spending their honeymoons within the country instead of taking off to Seychelles,Egypt,Paris or any other destination,yet we have so much scenery,wildlife and experiences to offer.Great customer experiences will always bring customers back because there is no better way of advertising than by word of mouth,a great experience at your hotel/lodge/camp and that customer will be singing your praises to the high heavens.

Going local:Sometimes some staff at hotels are still saddled with the colonial mentality that the color of your skin determines how fat your wallet is.While this may have been the case some decades back things have changed in the last 10 years,at the moment we have younger C.E.O S than 20 years ago.Young men and women in their late twenties and early thirties who are running their own companies or who are senior managers of multinationals and drive fuel guzzlers and fat checks to boot.It is time we repackaged our destinations for local tourists.It is also necessary for hotels to provide rates for local tourists because more often than not you either have to call(after a gruelling search for the hotel phone numbers) or send and email to a travel agent who will then forward it to the hotel before you get an answer a after a day or two.

Finally in spirit of regional integration d cooperation we need to have the tourism bodies in the member countries of the east African common market get their heads together and come up with a way by which citizens from each of these countries are encouraged to tour this states.The famous Saint Augustine said that “The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”let these countries encourage their citizens to travel the region to learn,explore and build relationships.

KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORS-Have a Block Party.

“Better a near neighbor than a distant cousin.” Italian Proverb

More often than not we rarely take time out of our schedules to get to know our neighbors.That is unless you have small children and a ball has occasionally strayed into the neighbors compound and you have had to apologize as you went to pick it up for your little tot.But children are great teachers sometimes,watching my daughter i am amazed at how anti social adults are,she makes friends so easily with children her gae and before you know it she will be chatting away with her new friend like they have known each other for eons.As for me the mum that i am and living by the adage of not talking to strangers i take a while to talk to strangers.

Nowadays more and more people are living in gated compounds or apartments yet they may not even know the name of their next door neighbor.Yet you may be surprised that if these two families have children ,the kids play together when the parents are out.While it may be said people are too busy with careers or businesses to socialize, we all know that Kenyans are serious party goers and you just have to look at the booming bar businesses to know Kenyans know how to unwind at the end of a busy week or even in the middle of one.


Having a block party in your court or apartment building is a fantastic way to get to know your neighbors,voice concerns that may be troubling you as a neighborhood and generally have a good time with people in your block.You never know , a good neighbor may even save your life at one point.

The key to having a successful party is to get your neighbors involved and to plan it.Make sure there are activities for everyone from kids to adults to get involved in.Plan on how to provide for the meals and drinks it is said there no better way to know someone by sharing a meal together).You could decide to have a pot luck or even have houses bring finger foods for the event.Remember to get a license from NEMA if you plan to play music.

Relax,walk around,talk to as many of your neighbors as you can and have a blast!

TOURISM REVAMPED

As the world celebrated World Tourism day last week,two things were uppermost in my mind:the East African Community and the devolution of administrative units in the country to counties.

Lets start with the issue of counties.From the way they have been structured the idea is to have all these units becoming self sustaining in the future.A lot of potential benefits are in store for the tourism sector in Kenya and specifically for all the counties.

In the past we have had all major events be it international conferences or award ceremonies and product launches all being held in Nairobi.It is very rare that this major events venture out of Nairobi though Mombasa has had a share of its own.

I think its about time these counties started bidding for these events just the way we have countries pitching and stating their case to host the Olympic or the World Cup.This will not only encourage economic growth in this areas but it will lead to better infrastructure and development of real estate in these counties and this can only be good news for the residents.Any county that gets the bid to host an event will not only have to work extra hard to provide the necessary infrastructure but it will have to be top notch too.The hotels in these areas will definitely have to raise their accommodation standards and cuisine to world class standards as tourists be it local or foreign visiting these areas will definitely be willing to spend their dollars or Kenyan shillings on quality services and goods.In this case goods will involve cultural artifacts and Kenyan designers in these areas had better get their sketch books out because its time we showed the world what we can come up with using our local textiles be it the khanga or the kikoi.

The opening up of the East African common market that encompasses Kenya,Uganda,Tanzania,Burundi and Rwanda came into force on the 1st of July 2010.This allowed for free movement of goods,services and people .Looking at the potential this holds for the member countries is mind boggling.But one area that has a lot to gain from this is the tourism market.

Each of the member countries in the community have a film festival and it is about time organizers in each of these countries thought of consolidating this into one big fete.Not only will it be a way for each of the film makers from member countries to learn from each other it will encourage film tourism (which is defined as movie induced tourism among the citizens of member states).

The five member countries though sharing a trading bloc have and hold unique histories and cultures and the films from these countries reflect the diverse ways culture has influenced the way of life of people in these states.Having a regional annual film festival will be a way for film makers from these countries to learn from each other but it will definitely encourage residents from the region to travel to member countries.And there can be no better way of fostering the east African community spirit .

SUNBIRD LODGE

Located along the Nairobi Nakuru highway about 20 minutes drive from Nakuru town,just before St Marys Hospital is a little gem!

The cottages at Sunbird Lodge are located on a rise overlooking the scenic Lake Elementaita overlooking the Sosyambu conservancy.This view offers you a fantastic glimpse of the lake and from the restaurants terrace you are able to see the flamingos and sometimes buffaloes grazing by the shores of the lake.

Their rooms available in singles,doubles and triples ,children accompanying parent(s) above the age of two get a 25% discount on their own room.

Their cottages are tastefully done with a strong emphasis on use on natural and local materials giving their rooms a truly authentic African ambiance.And did i mention that their rooms all have slide doors and its just breathtaking to wake up with an awe inspiring view of the lake!

And the best part of all this -the balloon safaris.If you are wedding soon and are lost for choice on your honeymoon destination,you just have to go to Sunbird.You get a morning balloon safari as the sun rises over the scenic Rift Valley,enjoy the beautiful scenery as you float over the lake maybe you might even catch a glimpse of Mt Kenya and touch down after an hour, finish this off with a bush breakfast.Totally awesome!

LORD EGERTON CASTLE

The castle is an architectural masterpiece of its time and listening to the guide (a former employee of Lord Egerton) as he takes you through the life of the castle and its eccentric owner, you can’t help but wonder what begot the young lady who jilted the Lord after he had built such a magnificent castle .The 53 room castle was modeled after his family home in England.

The castle is located in the Ngata area about 14kilometres from Nakuru town

The castle stands amidst well kept lawns that are great for picnics and other garden events.

Gate charges are kshs 100(Kenyan citizens) and you get to enjoy the gardens as well as a guided tour of the castle. They also have very great rates for weddings and other events.