Our Civil Service

Church weddings in Mozambique are not recognized by the government so we had to schedule a civil wedding with a judge. Many people do both their civil wedding and church wedding/reception on the same day. But we knew the wedding day was going to be really full so we decided to have our civil service a few days before the actual wedding.

Guess this means we have 2 wedding anniversaries to celebrate each year....July 16 we were married in the eyes of Mozambique and July 21 we were married in the eyes of God!

The civil ceremony was held in a government building. It was all very formal. We had to enter with our godparents, Luis and Lurdes.

The judge read the Mozambican laws about marriage.

After exchanging our rings, we had to sign the official wedding registry with our godparents also signing as witnesses.

Then the judge signed making it all official!

And in the eyes of Mozambique......we were married!!!

Wedding Preparations

A wedding in Africa requires an early start. We had 60 chickens, 2 goats, and a rabbit to kill. Not to mention the garlic to peel and crush, peanuts to grind, and vegetables to buy. The feast was organized by the wonderful Mama Julia, our Masana cook with lots of helping hands. Aside from the food, there were decorations to make and boys to get outfitted with cute clothes.

Enjoy the preparations:

The amazing Mama Julia!

Athens Link sent over a suitcase full of clothes for the boys to wear to the wedding. We had a fun day of letting them each pick out their outfit.

One of 2 goats given to us for the wedding feast.

Luis, our godfather and dear friend, preparing to kill the goat.

Lots of helping hands for the chicken killing day

This is a special chicken that was given to Roberto and I for the wedding day feast.

I was not exempt from helping with the chicken kill!

Mama Julia chopping over 80 lbs of beef

We had to peel and crush TONS of garlic

mom, deanna, and the boys making heart decorations

All of this work to produce this:

And one happy couple:

First Wedding Celebration

On June 30, the wedding celebrations began with a 4 hour drive up north to the home of Roberto's grandmother, aunts, uncles, and many cousins. We were greeted by women and children singing and dancing.....well i think this part of our wedding celebration is best told in pictures:

Aunts, cousins, neighbors....all singing and dancing as we arrived. This culture is full of singing and dancing!

Mom and dad with the rabbit and chicken we were given....they were later killed and prepared for Roberto and I to eat in our new home.

Roberto with the goat we were given as a gift. (It was later killed and prepared for the wedding day feast)

The women prepared a wonderful feast for us.

Such beautiful women working so hard!

Roberto and I were given a capalana, a traditional wrap that serves as a skirt, baby sling, cloth to sit on, blanket.....countless uses!

My mom and Roberto's mom.

The family members formed small groups and presented us with gifts. Each group sang and danced and they approached us. This group of women presented us with sugar cane and lots of oranges

A few of the gifts we were given. The wooden cups were hand made and painted by one of Roberto's uncles.

The women heard we wanted some cashews to take back to Maputo with us so they picked and roasted them for us

Roberto and I choosing the "special parts" of the goat we wanted to eat....the tongue, stomach, intestines.

Packing up all of our gifts in the car as the women sang and danced some more

My new family :-)