By Githinji Mwangi and Matthew Ndungu
It was a wedding like no other the villagers have ever witnessed.
Julius Kamau and his wife, Margaret Wamweru, woke up early on Monday morning and prepared to witness their son’s wedding.
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Unfortunately, Julius and Margaret had to witness their first-born Kennedy Muriithi tie the knot with his fiancee Pauline Waithira on Facebook because of the unusual Covid-19 situation.
Flanked by over 20 relatives and neighbours, Julius, who is a rice farmer at Mutithi village quietly waited for the wedding to start, with a phone call from his son alerting him that the ceremony was live on Facebook.
When he received the much-awaited call, Julius smiled broadly and called the group gathered at his home that the ceremony was live.
The group attentively followed the proceedings on two laptops place a top a coffee table and connected to a stereo system.
But the savvy young followed the ceremony on their smartphones.
Immediately Kennedy and Pauline exchanged vows, the women in the small group at Julius’s home burst out shrieks of joy.
Speaking to K24 Digital, Julius said that the ceremony was fulfilling, adding that he was happy to see the day that he had been waiting had finally come.
Julius said they started planning the wedding since February but Government banning travel in and out of the Nairobi Metropolitan Area to stop the spread of Covid-19.
"I'm happy my son has finally got a wife. I wish them the best in their marriage," Julius said.
Kennedy’s mother said, thanks to technology, they were able to follow everything on Facebook.
"I'm happy with the technology. We were able to follow all that was happening and we felt as if we were part of the congregation. I pray God to bless them,” Margaret said.
The invited guest also praised the technology for enabling them to watch the wedding even though it was held many kilometres away in Thika town.
No kisses, just face masks
When Kennedy and Pauline started making plans for the wedding, they had envisioned a magnificent ceremony attended by hundreds of their kin and friends.
They had prearranged to be ferried to the church in a motorcade of luxury cars.
But came in Covid-19, a virus that has disrupted life and probably set to change daily life as we know it.
The young couple, however, knows one of the key unstated rules of life, that we must adapt to change.
And so the wedding had to go on. Contrary to their earlier plans, the wedding took place at ACK St. Andrews Church in Thika, Kiambu County.
It was attended by less than 15 people and it took less than 30 minutes to exchange their vows.
Empty sits across all rows in the entire church painted a picture of none-attendance despite the mega church having the capacity of accommodating more than 1,000 worshippers.
Among those present were four members of the clergy (two male and two females), both parents of the bride and representative parents of the groom, a handful of other family members and friends who were ferried in five low-end vehicles.
Even the present attendees were put under strict guidelines and were required to obey social distancing rules.
Donning face masks, the bride and her groom interestingly sat a considerable distance from each other.
The event that started at around 9:30 am had been completed by 10:00am with the couple having signed all the requisite certificates, taken the marriage vows and preaching done.
The two, unfortunately, did not kiss as expected by the attendees.
