17/06/2026
One thing that caught me off guard about Kalenjin weddings… wasn’t the music, or the dancing, or even the beauty of the ceremony.
It was the giving.
During koito, I watched as gifts moved not just toward the couple but outward from them. To family. To friends. To the people who had walked with them long before this day arrived.
At first, it didn’t make sense.
Isn’t a wedding the day you receive?
Isn’t it the moment everyone pours into you?
But then it clicked.
This isn’t just a celebration of love between two people.
It’s a recognition of a journey that was never walked alone.
That purple bundle in the picture soft, carefully wrapped, inscribed with love it’s more than a gift. It’s a statement.
“We didn’t get here by ourselves.”
It’s for the mother who prayed.
The friend who stayed.
The family that carried pieces of the story when the couple couldn’t.
And suddenly, the whole ceremony feels deeper.
Because years from now, when the music fades and the photos are all that remain, these gifts will still sit somewhere in a home, on a shelf, folded carefully around grandma's waist
And every time they’re seen, they’ll say our son or our daughter gave us this
That’s what I love about documenting moments like these not just what happens, but what it means.
📸 Culture has a way of teaching you something you didn’t know you needed to learn.
If this shifted your perspective even a little, share it. Someone else needs to see this side of love too.
