Keeng - Mopako Wedding

On Saturday, 28 July, Thatayaone Keeng (groom) and Bakang Refilwe Mopako (bride) were married at the Gaborone West Chapel. The wedding was scheduled to start at nine o'clock and it started at nine o'clock. It was refreshing to see a wedding start exactly on time. The family members were there early and waiting in their seats. Unfortunately, many members of the Young Single Adult Ward were late and missed most of the meeting. Thata's brother spoke mostly in Setwana so we did not understand that, and Patience Kaloobhai spoke without notes. She did a wonderful job. Bishop Matswagothata performed the ceremony and as always did a very nice job. He does the ceremony in English and gives his message in Setswana and in English. The Keengs were scheduled to be sealed in the Johannesburg Temple on Tuesday but it was closed unexpectedly for remodeling so they will be sealed as soon as it reopens.

Thata had invited us to come to the village to see the traditional part of a wedding so we followed the wedding party to Moshupa. We were glad we were following someone because Moshupa is a large village but only a few roads are paved and we would have never found where to go on the winding, narrow, dirt roads.

First the wedding party went to a picturesque site with large boulders and a brook running through it for photographs. It was a nice place for photographs. We would like to see it during the wet season when it is green with more water in the brook. Everyone had to walk down a narrow trail, between the thorny acacia bushes and cross the brook to get to where the photos were taken. They had to be careful not to get caught on the thorns or slip into the brook. The bride in her wedding dress had to have help and be particularly careful. We enjoy seeing the women in their traditional dress at weddings - shawls, blankets, and head dresses.

After pictures everyone drove to the bride's family home where a very large tent was set up. It was beautifully decorated with flowers and decorations. Tables were set up for three hundred people. It was interesting to see the huge tent set up among the village houses. The wedding party danced and sang as they slowly moved from the cars to the tent.

Once most people were in the tent the bride and groom's family were introduced and speeches made. A very nice traditional Botwanan meal was served after about an hour and a half. We really enjoyed the food. It was served at each table and people were given choices of what they wanted to eat. Several current and former young single adult ward members came to sit by us rather than sit by their friends so we would have company which was very nice of them.

At the wedding the bride and groom are expected to change clothes provided by family members (uncles, aunts, etc.) four or five times. The bride and groom left to change and then the bride, groom, bridesmaids, and groomsmen sang and danced as they slowly returned to the tent. They had a lot of fun doing this. After the first change of clothing we left because we had other obligations. We had a delightful time at the wedding.

There was a reception back in Gaborone in the evening. We tried to attend but there was some confusion about where it was and we did not make it to the reception. Sister Rands made three chocolate cakes with white frosting and coconut - two for the wedding and one for the reception. We did not see these used and wonder how they were used at the wedding with so many people there.