An International Bridal Shower

A Nigerian woman in our church was recently married. But it didn't happen quiiiite like we're used to in America. Most notably because she wasn't present for the wedding. In her tribe the traditional wedding (as opposed to the court and church weddings... yes they get THREE weddings!) is the most significant, and for that one it is most important for the husband to be there. And her family. I don't fully understand all the details, but I do know that there was a weeklong party for her wedding in Nigeria, and she was here at medical school in Romania. And I know this was all totally normal and fine with her. So ok. 

As her church family in Romania, we thought we should do a little something to celebrate her and her big special day! She wanted to cook for the church (we eat dinner together before church), and that was all fine and dandy with us. But we also we wanted to do something FOR her. So we threw a little ladies bridal shower after church. We had some dessert, and then we played a fun little rendition of Toilet Paper Bride, where we divided up into teams to make Nomsy the PERFECT bridal gown out of TP and other crafty supplies. I was volunteered to be the model for our group, and I had quite the team of designers! We went for a classy dress, and I must say, of all the toilet paper dresses I've seen, this one is by far my favorite. I also had a lovely bouquet made of a gift bag and tissue paper. What more could a bride ask for??

Modeling the dress with my team hard at work on finishing touches

Anna and I modeling our dresses. Her dress won, I think her flower girl had something to do with it...

All the TP brides with the real bride!

With my team... plus a few extras who just couldn't stay out of our Picture of Awesomeness

We even did a bouquet toss. And I'm not even kidding, this was the most intense bouquet-catching I've ever seen. The reason the picture is blurry is because people were moving SO FAST to get those flowers that oooooh man, it was a haze of women flying through the air. Too. Funny. 

It was so great to be able to celebrate with our dear friend! I keep hoping that there will be a marriage of two people who are in our church before I leave. THAT would be so so lovely.