Traditional Weddings & The Forgotten Media Guys

Camera mani! Camera mani! Tunakusubiri!…

Love is a beautiful thing, they say! Oh! Yeah! It is indeed a beautiful thing. The journey of planning a wedding is a jovial one yet filled with stresses and in most times, heavy financial burdens. The journey is interesting so let’s focus on one of the stages, the major pit-stop(wale wa Formula One(F1) mko wapi? In Kenya, traditional marriages have different names that vary depending on the community. The most popular one is the ruracio, mainly associated with the Bantus, especially the Kikuyu community. Others include the Koito(for the Kalenjin community) and nyombo (for the Luos), just to mention a few. Kama, I haven’t mentioned your community; please don’t dislike me or give up on reading this post.

Families, committees and couples usually come up with budgets for these traditional weddings…as is the norm. A quick breakdown of the items on the budget in order of priority includes; tent & decor, food, food, food, cake, transport, attire, PA system plus the DJ and miscellaneous expenses. Have I forgotten anything important? I don’t think so. A day or two to the event is when one of the aunties remembers that they haven’t contracted any media personnel or mtu wa picha as is commonly known on the ground. Remember, the budget had already been set and some of the deposits were paid. You as the media personnel won’t interfere with the cake budget at all, cake wa matron atakumaliza. 

The couple opts to look for photographers based in Kenya(we fall under this category) without a budget in mind. That’s how most clients start complaining that the quote you send them is expensive. So they just come up with a rough figure of Ksh. 6,000 stating that kazi yake ni kufinya tu camera, nothing much. My friend, you are based in Nairobi and you get contracted by the couple to offer your services in Embu at the earlier mentioned budget. Let’s start with, utatoa nguvu ya kuchukua hio kazi wapi? 

Depending on the equipment that you have, this is not a sponsored blog but allow me to quickly mention where we get our equipment from, check this link out Photobooth Kenya, you may be required to use private means which we highly recommend to the venue. Travelling to Embu from Nairobi using private means will mean all the amount payable will be directed to transport. In the event you opt to use public means, 50% of the amount will be allocated to travelling.

Shifting gears, let’s assume that you are based at the event’s location, it’s still low to accept that project. Imagine committing to a full day’s work for that amount, mind you, you will still incur logistical expenses plus remember that you will edit the photos. There will be no rest for you. Woe unto you if you accept the offer. On that day, there will always be that uncle who wants a passport-size photo of him taken., there will be that auntie who would want her spoilt Nairobi kids to be photographed as they play with the chicken(Btw why don’t we  call them hens? Like, can we have hen for dinner? I wonder!)

In my opinion(always been fascinated with this statement)Legally no one can sue you if you use those words. Do you want to sue/arrest me for my way of thinking? Spare me! As I was saying, sips coffee, media coverage for an event should be one of the most important tasks. 3 years down the line, the event memories start to slowly fade away. You will not remember how the food tasted, or how the MC with his/her dry sense of humour amused the attendees (pun intended).

Photography coverage ensures that memories are frozen to be consumed in years to come. Videography does the same as well as capturing those emotions from your exes at the event. Before I forget, cease asking videographers to send you the entire event video. Let them just give you the highlight video. Something like 15 minutes max! You don’t have the 4 hours to waste rewatching the entire video with your guests. Maximize that time to help the president recover the Kenyan economy. Dear couples, when setting up budgets, kindly don’t sideline the media allocation. After the event, utabaki na mtu wako plus the media materials be it photos/videos. We know where the food goes, the tent itakujiwa na mtu wa decor. 

If you are looking for photography, videography and livestreaming services in Kenya, don’t hesitate to contact us, at LCM Media Solutions. We are a Kenyan-based media house and super ready to travel countrywide. Support us by having our passports stamped if your event isn’t in Kenya.