Photo Essay: STU society showcases ‘African Wedding Experience’

In partnership with the African Caribbean Society at UNB, St. Thomas University’s African Caribbean Society planned an African wedding event last Saturday, Feb. 8. The idea originated from the STU executive board that wanted to showcase African culture to the Fredericton community.

Miriam Udoh, the president of the STU African Caribbean Society, said the board wanted to do a fake African wedding event and UNB had reached out to them prior and decided to collaborate to make the event happen.

“We were thinking of trying to portray a culture,” said Udoh.

The African Wedding occurred last Saturday in the UNB Ballroom where they had multiple attendees, including the family of the fake groom and the fake bride, sponsors and executives from both UNB and STU African Caribbean societies. (Fernanda Sanchez/AQ)

Udoh said that African people often feel unseen and the event aims to make their presence known in Fredericton.

“We’re like, okay, let’s put ourselves out there. Let’s do something to make people know that ‘Oh, they do have quite a number of Africans in New Brunswick in Fredericton,” she said. “[Let’s] invite students. Invite no students. Just invite everybody from the city.”

Miriam Udoh, president of the African Caribbean Society, and Ana Laura Roman, president of the Caribbean Society, gave opening remarks before the wedding ceremony started. (Fernanda Sanchez/AQ)

The goal of the event was to invite students and the community to experience African culture, including music, food and dances.

Udoh said that considering their club has just integrated with the university, they wanted to make their club known and make connections with the community early on. She also highlighted that she felt “loved” due to all the support they had when they were in the planning stage.

“We didn’t really tell other people outside school about the event, but then as soon as the news went out to [the African community] everybody was like ‘Oh my god, let’s put our hands on deck. Let’s help them out.'”

A group of students danced to a traditional African song after the opening remarks from the presidents while wearing a traditional costume. (Fernanda Sanchez/AQ)

Each side of the ballroom symbolized the bride’s and groom’s families. Before the groom and bride entered the room, each side had to dance from one end of the room to the other. (Fernanda Sanchez/AQ)

“I hope they get to know what it feels like to be in Africa for a couple minutes, a couple hours. I want them to get a feel of our culture. See us for who we are,” said Udoh.

The mother of the groom led the group dance after the bride’s side of the family performed theirs. They danced to traditional music and the audience was eager for the parents to meet their daughter-in-law and son-in-law. (Fernanda Sanchez/AQ)

An executive from the UNB board read the proposal letter out loud to the audience to showcase the respect the groom has to show to the bride’s family. (Fernanda Sanchez/AQ)

The groom entered with his groomsmen after the reading of the proposal letter. He danced to the altar to wait for his bride. (Fernanda Sanchez/AQ)

The bride later entered the room with her bridesmaids and danced to the front of the room to be reunited with her groom at the altar. (Fernanda Sanchez/AQ)

The groom and bride reunited after their dances and concluded the ceremony after their in-laws approved of their union. (Fernanda Sanchez/AQ)