Zambia Part 8 // Our First Zambian Wedding

Zambia Wedding Photographers

We attended this wedding last weekend as guests, but of course we snapped some photos while we were there! I was so anxious to see any similarities and differences with American weddings and Zambian weddings. Many aspects were very similar - attire for bride, groom & bridal party, ceremony layout, reception decor... but some things were very unique as well! At the start of the reception, a comedian was there keeping everyone occupied until the bridal party arrived. When they did show up, they all came in dancing a choreographed dance for about 10 minutes and it was so entertaining! I loved the music and their dance moves and really wanted to jump out there and dance too. Then they all went away, had a wardrobe change, and then made a dancing entry AGAIN. This time, just in pairs of two instead of the group choreography. Other than that, everything was very similar to what we're used to! Except the ceremony was supposed to start at 10am and the bride didn't come until 12pm. Also, the reception was supposed to start at 6pm, and the bridal party didn't show up until 8pm and we ate dinner at 9:30! :) The 2 hours late thing was a little different than what we're used to because most of the weddings we're at are only off by 30 minutes at most. The reception was at the Raddison Blu Hotel here in Lusaka, and the reception looked amazing!

The bride & groom were announced and everyone walked out to the song "A Whole New World" on repeat and here you can see the bridesmaids singing along :)

We love weddings! Please contact us for more info and availability.

Lusaka Zambia Wedding Photography

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Zambia Part 7 // More projects at Capital Christian & Lifenet

Lifenet Lusaka Zambia Photographers

As we blogged about earlier, we spent a whole day working on photography with the media teams, and then Tavis also spent a half day later last week working with them on lighting and video tips!

We wanted to bring a gift to the boys at LifeNet, so we went to the mall. We got some of the photos printed that we took there earlier that week and we also went shopping at "GAME" which is basically a Wal-mart. Look at me and my pink shirt and sunglasses mathing the cart!!

When we arrived at Lifenet, we told the guys that we care about them, we value them, and that God loves them too.... so we wanted to do something nice for them. When we handed the photos out, they actually responded better than I expected. Being guys, I didn't think they would care toooo much about photos, but they actually got really excited about them! We printed some 8x12s to put up on the wall, and then a 6x8 of each individual photo of themselves for each of them to keep. 

Last time we were there, they were playing soccer with a basketball, so we wanted to buy them a new soccer ball and they loved it! They started playing right away and when we were leaving they didn't even break away to say goodbye because they were too distracted. Tavis even played with them for a while :)

LifeNet Lusaka Zambia Photography

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Zambia Part 6 // Soccer Practice

Lusaka Photographers

While doing our photo tour last week we decided to pull over so Tavis could go interact with these boys playing soccer. It was immediately obvious that they were not shy and were excited to get their photos taken. The coach ran over to us and was flattered that "a pastor and a missionary" would come to see the boys play soccer. Tavis said he wanted to take photos of them, so the coach threw the ball in the air and told the boys to get after it. After capturing great photos of these kids, (most of them barefoot by the way) the coach called them over and they immediately posed for a group photo. After taking the group photo, they had a chant that they all said and the boys got up and came over and everyone wanted to shake Tavis' hand and say hi. As we were leaving the coach indicated how big of a blessing it was for us to come there because that place is in need of God, and he needs people like us to come visit more often. So we invited the coach to church and he took us up on the invitation! We saw him at church today! We thanked him for visiting and for mentoring those kids through soccer. He said that they practice/play for two hours Monday-Friday because that keeps them out of trouble. Praise God for opportunities like this to share Christ and invite people to church~

Lusaka Photography

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Zambia Part 5 // Tour of Lusaka

Lusaka, Zambia Africa 

As visitors to this city, we were glad we had the opportunity to tour the city and see the different areas of town. Our tour guides were two pastors from the church, and we learned a lot about the city and its history. Here's a blurb from wiki which tells you more: "Lusaka is the capital and largest city of Zambia. One of the fastest-developing cities in Southern Africa,  the city's population is about 1.7 million. English is the official language of the city, but Nyanja, and Bemba are also common."

We spent about 4 hours driving around and exploring. Their biggest building here at the highest point in Lusaka is actually the American Embassy, but there were signs everywhere that said no photos, and lots of security so we didn't mess with taking photos of that. :) We used this opportunity kind of like a scouting trip for the church. We were able to photograph many areas of Lusaka that they might be able to use for their website. 

Touring around parts of Lusaka where lower income housing and operations were evident really put things into perspective how some of the basic needs are not being meet. We hear that a lot of the city was unplanned - people just settled near the farms so there aren't proper sewer systems in place in some areas. When we drove by some small children digging through garbage it really made me sad. No child in any country should be looking for items they could reuse in garbage. 

Overall, the country of Zambia is absolutely beautiful. Everywhere you look there is green - with beautiful plants, grass, and unique trees. People here work so hard for their families and do whatever it takes to make a living. I was very encouraged at how many small business owners we saw all over the country. There are not enough opportunities for employment so people just start their own business doing what they are gifted at. 

Can you spot the Chicken?

Most houses here have what's called "war walls." The idea to create them started back in the 60's when at the time they were needed. Although this is now a very peaceful country, people still build them when they build their houses. Some of the walls have electric fences at the top or barbed wire, this one has glass shard

 Everywhere we go people are selling all sorts of things at stop lights and where traffic is slow. I saw fruit, "talk time," garden tools, news papers, cell phone accessories, dishes, coal and whatever you can imagine. It was quite the art to not run them over while driving.

this image breaks my heart :(

We have passed many kids who just love playing with old tires (tyres is how it's spelled here.)

Not your average mountain goat.

This is their daily market. Lots of watermelons and coal to buy here.

A lot of the kids we see around here don't have shoes. We saw lots of people selling old shoes. (here is a young boy looking for shoes that would fit him we think)

:(

Lusaka, Zambia

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