The wedding at Cana

Photo | Courtesy
John Waiganjo (second left) prepares to give his bride Jacky Wanjiku a wedding band at the Cana of Galilee Catholic Church in Israel

What you need to know:

  • Exchanging vows at a local tourist destination is quite an achievement but when it is in an exotic, far flung country, with lots of history, it is even more memorable.

It could be in the middle of a national park, at the beach, on a boat in the middle of a lake or on the foot of a mountain. That is almost the extent of what a destination wedding can be, locally.

But today, stylish Kenyans, and specifically Nairobians is taking weddings to another level—the exotic destinations for that special, unique and memorable day.

Saturday Magazine spoke to two couples who wedded outside Kenya a few weeks ago and unravels the lengths they went to make the most memorable event in their lives.

Jacky Wanjiku and John Waiganjo

“Suppose I wed you at the spot where Jesus turned water into wine. After all the years together, life can only get better for us.”

With these words one evening last year, lawyer J.M Waiganjo jolted his wife of 12 years Jacky Wanjiku Mureithi into a spin. The couple had gotten their first child before walking down the aisle but thoughts of the big day never left their list of “things to do”.

“That would be incredible but what about the logistics…?” Jacky, an events manager commented. But two months later, Jacky and Waiganjo were being proclaimed husband and wife at the Cana of Galilee, where Jesus performed his first miracle.

“It was a dream come true. We wanted a symbolic and religiously significant wedding. When he mentioned Cana of Galillee, I instantly bought the idea,” says Jacky.

Last November, the strict Catholics were headed to Israel for a pilgrimage and decided they would get married there.

“Time was ticking fast but luckily, most of those in the pilgrimage were our church congregation and friends who would still make our guests if we were to wed here in Nairobi,” says Waiganjo. The bridal party had about 50 guests.

From here, they met Zipporah Gitonga, a director of Acacia Safaris, the tour company that had organized the 10- day pilgrimage.

“I told them it was possible only that they had to fulfill local legal requirements,” Gitonga told Saturday magazine this week.

With her contacts in Israel, Zipporah, in a short notice, managed to fix a wedding session at Cana of Galilee Catholic Church and a booking at St Gabriella Hotel in Nazareth for the evening party.

Cana is where Jesus Christ performed his first miracle and turned water into wine after the latter run out during a wedding he had attended with his mother, Mary.

The adventurous journey to Israel started with the bride and groom flying to Cairo, visited the Pyramids of Giza (one of the seven wonders of the world) before the pilgrimage team took a bus and crossed the Suez Canal into the Sinai Desert. They spent a night at Nuweiba, and crossed Egypt into Israel at Taba border town

They had lunch at a Kibbutz and were served with a fish meal.

“The fish are called Peter’s fish there and are caught at a specific area at the Sea of Galilee,” says the father of three.

From here, they proceeded to the Garden of Gethsemane and later River Jordan to fetch its water as a souvenir.

The wedding preparations were awesome, by any standard. On the big day, bride and groom sailed, in the Sea of Galilee (in a boat similar to the one Jesus sailed in). 

“The boat crew played our Kenyan National Anthem and the waves were calm,” says a delighted Jacky and adds, “It was very emotional. I shed tears of joy.”

The couple had bought their wedding attires in Nairobi so they just dressed up for the ceremony that morning. The next stop was the church.

“Fellow pilgrims sang Kenyan songs all the way to the church and I felt like I was at home away from home,” says Waiganjo.

Beautiful and fresh white flowers with green foliage stood conspicuously at the altar and the walkway. Well-choreographed dances were performed and within a few minutes, curious Israelis threw glances at the black couple wedding in their local church.

The vows were taken in the normal Catholic style but the couple  signed an Israel certificate.

According to Waiganjo, he had to be cleared by his Nairobi parish and obtained a certificate of No Impediment from the registrar of marriages in Nairobi.

The hotel provided the cake as a token and organised the evening dinner for the guests plus the entertainment.

“Our marriage was like water and we wanted to turn it into wine. The older wine is, the better it becomes,” chuckles Jacky on the significance of the wedding site.

Among the areas they visited during their 10- days stay were Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Sodom and Gomorrah, the church of the Holy Sepulchre where Jesus was buried after being crucified. On the last day of the honeymoon, they climbed Mt Sinai at dawn.

The couple is reluctant to disclose the financial implications but the airfare and taxes alone cost slightly more than Sh300,000.

A grand reception in Nairobi for relatives and friends is in the offing.

Henry Otiende and Aisha Hassan, in Barbados

It needed more than 18 hours to cover the more than 10,020 kilometres for Henry Otiende to find a place to wed his sweetheart Aisha Hassan.

A businessman, and Sir Henry to his buddies, he chose the coast of the sun-drenched island of Barbados to say “I do” to his sweetheart.

Though small, the former Portuguese territory is regarded in the world of hospitality as a leading tourist destination in the Caribbean and boasts some of the most exclusive hotels in the world.

The Otiendes, however, chose a more moderate beach hotel for their wedding and honeymoon that took several days. But they would not be drawn to discuss the  budget.

“What I can say is that it was worth spending a substantial amount of my savings to wed this lady. That was my dream,” Otiende says.

From Nairobi to Barbados, a flight costs about Sh164,000 per person (return). The Otiendes were accompanied by their best couple only, Debra Sanaipei, whom they picked up in London, and Ken Oyolla, the Nokia General Manager for East and Southern Africa.

“We decided not to have guests, ,” says the businessman. Again, he adds, the wedding was supposed to be a surprise for Aisha.

“All along, she knew we were going there for her birthday,” says Otiende.

Being an inter-religious wedding, it took a while to plan.

“Aisha is Muslim and I am Christian. I took about five months to organise the ceremony,” he says.

The bridal colours were white and Ivory with the tall, bespectacled groom clad in a white godfather hat with a black and white headband.

Their flowers were green with fresh white foliage.

The couple took up a wedding package at the hotel and hired a planner to make things move smoothly.