Mystery of couple who parted ways days after lavish wedding
John Muchucha can tell an expensive wedding when he sees one.
Like many of his colleagues, the freelance photographer spends many Saturdays shooting wedding pictures.
Usually, the couple whose wedding he has photographed first go for their honeymoon then come back for their photographs and videos.
Sometimes, all that is handled by a wedding planner, but the product is the same — videos, photographs and a photo album.
All of these capture the wedding in sequence — from the preparations at the groom’s and the bride’s homes all the way to the cutting of the cake, the popping of the champagne and the throwing of the bouquet.
However, for the last 14 months, Mr Muchucha has been holding on to the videos, photos and photo album of a wedding he shot in November 2016.
He has kept the materials away in his office, locked in a drawer, and with them the mystery of why the couple has never bothered to come for them so long after what was clearly a joyous day for everybody involved, including high-profile guests and politicians.
HONEYMOON
In the photo album, the smiles are bright, everybody is in their best attires, and the bride smiles in every photograph. Her gown was white, her bridesmaids in cool blue and the groom and his crew of groomsmen were in grey suits.
The bride was picked up at her parents’ apartment in Westlands and the wedding and reception were held in Karen. There was a big box next to the high table at the reception into which guests dropped envelopes of cash.
“The groom spoke to me at the end of the wedding and told me they were going to Diani for the honeymoon,” said Mr Muchucha.
He did not hear from them and the wedding planner he was dealing with has also drawn a blank.
The photographer said he asked after the couple and was told the bride left the man and went abroad not long after their big day. He has been unable to find the groom either and the Sh70,000 balance the couple owes him remains as a bad debt in his books.
One question remains in his mind: Why did the couple part ways so soon after their lavish wedding?