Munya Vomo
If you have never married, or helped any- one to organise their nuptials, you ‘d be forgiven for thinking there is a such thing as a “perfect” wedding. Those in the know can attest to the fact that any wedding is like a marvellous structure built out of dominoes: it takes a lot to build and looks beautiful, but a slight mishap could destroy everything.
That’s what weddings are like. So if Our Perfect Wedding purports to bring you “perfect” weddings, then you really do have to find out what they are.
Brenda Ngxoli ( pictured), returns for the second season to take you through the couples who have decided to tie the knot in front of the camera.
Because of South Africa’s diversity, a show like this has the potential for longevity because each person featured comes from a background which has specific rules when it comes to tying the not.
It is expected that we’ll see different couples from the same background go through traditional routines, but things will get exciting when the couple is of mixed backgrounds. Say a Zulu man ties the knot with a Tshwana bride – it becomes a tug-of- war to settle on which cultural wedding practices should take precedence as the couple usually can’t do both.
In a fictitious film called Fanie Fourie’s Lobola, we met an Afrikaner who fell in love with a Sotho girl. They decided to marry and he was quickly brought up to speed regarding the traditions around black people getting married and this meant paying lobola.
As shocking as it was to him, he had to do it and she in turn also had to give in to some of the traditions he followed.
After Ed Jordan’s The Wedding Show, which aired years back, there was no local TV offering to fill the gap until Our Perfect Wedding came along. The one thing that sells it is that any class, race and religion is covered. So in one week we are in rural Venda for a traditional wedding and in the next we are in Sandton at a by-invitation-only five-star venue.
That is the story of South Africa; there are the haves and the have-nots,yet in both cases there are people who still want to wed and, regardless of their budget, they go all-out. This means unlike in Top Billing, where you see rich people’s weddings, Our Perfect Wedding is a realistic look at the social strata of South Africa.
Just as you learn about the Irish traveller heritage in Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, My Perfect Wedding offers the world an understanding of how things work in our part of the world. It is a good thing that is not a dramatisation of events but the real thing as this adds authenticity to the show.
The host, Ngxoli, is a lovely presenter who plays her role as the mushy girl next door very well. While it is not advisable to be too close to the subject, you can tell Ngxoli cannot help but become emotionally involved with every case she deals with.
The quality of the show could do with some improvement, especially when it comes to technical things like lighting and cinematography. The dialogue could be tighter, too, for a better viewing experience.
That said, Our Perfect Wedding is a way to learn about each other without having to wait for the next Heritage Day.
l Our Perfect Wedding,Wednesdays at 7pm on Mzansi Wethu (DStv channel 163).