Captain Planet flies Uche to the altar
I love weddings and I have been to many in my time and seen the different shapes, forms and shades of weddings. Perhaps the reason I love weddings has to do with the fact that it signifies the beginning (or as the cynic would put it, the beginning of the end) of a beautiful relationship.
Advertisement
However, in all these wedding attendances, I had never been to a private wedding. Well, not until last Friday when I got an invitation to attend one and boy, was it worth the time spent to attend!
Although I don’t usually do wedding reviews permit me this once as it was one amazing wedding I attended and I intend to share with you.
From where we sit as media people, there are usually some “filla” that filter through to us quickly than to the average person.
Thus when the rumour started in very hush hush tones that popular hiplife artiste and member of 4x4, Jeff Sylvanus Dodji, better known as Captain Planet and Vodafone former CMO Uche Ofodile, had something going on we decided to do the wait and see, because it wasn’t our business anyway!
Eventually the rumour blossomed into fact when the rapper mentioned it in a radio interview that yes they were going out and that he loved her so much and then he designed a whole 16 bar rap in a song on their last album to eulogise her after which he proposed to the teary-eyed corporate executive.
There was no turning back from there. Although people said many things both positive and negative about the relationship, the two people involved knew what they had seen in each other and were determined to continue to the very end. The end wasn’t last Friday if anything, it was beginning.
I was not only happy when I had the invitation to attend the wedding being held somewhere in the Ringway Estates at Osu but also privileged to be among the very few people selected to be part of this wonderful event.
I said to myself that Uche was the woman who has overseen the making of some of the biggest events in this country including 020 Live and the revamped Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (with the magnificent Red Room) hence her own event must be good. It was better!!
She chose her wedding planning agency very well. I had heard that Gloria Buckman Yankson’s and her PlanIt Events have been doing some great works and I can testify, based on what I saw and experienced at the wedding of Uche and Jeff that the hype is real.
Entering the venue, I was met with this magnificently decorated walkway with red carpet and a wonderfully made canopy from white lace. There were white flowers made from some beautiful material placed on long vases from the entrance to the living room which served as venue for the official ceremony.
The chic that the living room had been turned to was beyond description. White lace curtains hanged from the three doors and all the chairs in the room had white covers to match. The podium on which the minister would perform his ceremony was white and so were the many decorative thingamajigs including candle stands and the like. Very beautiful and well scented atmosphere it was.
In all, the guests who were seated and waiting for the bride and groom to appear from the room where they were preparing were not up to 30. All properly dressed and well in the mood for a Friday evening private wedding.
When finally Ruddy Kwakye, who was emcee for the ceremony got us underway, it did not take more than 20 minutes for the entire ceremony officiated by Rev. Dr. Bart Plange of the Apostolic Church to take place. It was short, crisp, and straight to the point.
Captain Planet and his bride Uche said their vows under the instruction of the reverent minister and then they signed the marriage certificate and the rapper kissed his bride. The first kiss, hopefully. But not before Uche would shed a few tears – welled up tears of joy they seem to be – before she would complete her marriage vows.
When I saw advertising and event mogul, Gaddy Laryea, seated while we entered, I mistook him to be just another guest at this splendid private wedding.
It turned out to be that he was the man who would give Uche’s hand in marriage and he did it gracefully in a manner only the man who brought us Miss Ghana would do.
There was a photo shoot and it was the shortest photo shoot you ever did see. I had emceed a wedding two weeks earlier and it took almost an hour to go through photo shoot and so you need to understand where I am coming from.
Then it was the time for the reception which took place at the poolside and garden behind the house where the event took place. Magnificent décor once again and the chair reserved for the bride and groom was the most beautiful you can imagine.
The cake which Kofi Okyere Darko aided Uche and Captain Planet to cut was a splendid one and so were all other things on offer at the reception grounds.
For example, there was the roast lamb sitting and waiting to be chopped and munched and no one at the party ate more of the lamb than Coded of 4x4 fame.
There were a variety of foods and small chops and then there were different kinds of drinks as well. Oh and there was champagne to be popped by some of the people present including Benny Blanco, Coded and Fresh Prince.
I did not know who the DJ was at the time and yet, all of us seated together especially Benny Blanco, Sandra Ankobiah and KOD agreed that he was good.
His selections were as relevant to every aspect of the ceremony as there can be. I would later get to know he is YFM’s Vision DJ and my respect for him soared.
I could go on and on and tell you about this wonderful private wedding but I have to end somewhere. Surprisingly and by my standard, I detected no flaws apart from the fact that the absence of a pianist at the official ceremony was the only missing piece from the ensemble. Sans that, every other thing was just je!
Now that I have a private wedding to add to my collection of wedding experiences the bride and groom can go and enjoy their marriage and live happy ever after… Congratulations!
HAS LEXIS BILL GOT DRIVE TIME?
The news about Bola Ray’s exit from Joy FM at the end of this month is a dead one now and even so is the news about who to take over from him. Kwame Sakyiamah or Lexis Bill (just like I won’t stop calling George Quaye “Aboagye”, I will also not stop calling him Lexis Bill) has been the man in the seat for a while now.
Sakyiamah did well on the morning show at Hitz FM before he was moved to the late evening show on Joy FM and he was very good on that show with his music selections and attempt to be a relationship adviser of a sort.
Over time, he has been the bona fide stand-in whenever Bola Ray was not available and sources close to the station say they believe he is the right person for the job.
As to whether this is what would pertain for long or it’s just an interim measure to find another replacement would be known with time.
Bola Ray has given his blessing to Sakyiamah and gone on to see that he sees greatness in him, but as to whether that is enough to keep the former programmes director at Kumasi’s Radio Xtacy (previously known as Kessewaa) on the show will once again be known with time.
Lexis knows his music and he interacts well, but he is no Bola Ray and thankfully he has not modelled his presentation on a Bola Ray template and therefore has the room to generate his own style and personality. Whether the audience and advertisers will buy into that is yet to be known.
Meanwhile, Bola Ray and his team are putting things together to begin work at the new place he is going to head. I hope to bring you some “filla” on the development in that regard when I have the embargo lifted.
Twitter: @TheGHMediaGuru
