Being Mrs Dantata

25

The wedding plans intensified with each passing day.

The guest lists were drawn up first. They had to be continuously revised as there were way too many names and a lot of people they could do without. Thanks to Zayd's popularity, there were notable persons who promised to get back to decline or confirm their invites. Prince Halim, one of the notable persons, was over the moon and he confirmed his attendance without any hesitation.

The list of bridesmaids and groomsmen came next. Hanan easily drew up hers. The only issue she had was Asma who she met for the first time at Amal and Zayd's house. Like the others, Asma wanted to be a part of the bridesmaid and although Hanan did not want that, she had no reason to say no. She did not like to be in the same place with Asma but she could not put a finger on the exact reason. Hauwa did not like Asma too.

The names on the final list were Amal, Catherine, Hussayna, Jameelah, Hauwa, Asma, Jane and two of Hanan's friends from Ghana; Efua and Ashanti. When Hanan had reached out to them, they – Efua and Ashanti – had been over the moon. Efua threatened to kill anyone who tried to prevent her from attending the "wedding of the year".

Zayd's first list of groomsmen included Jonathan, Mas'ood, Aleem -a cousin of his, Zayyan – another cousin of his, and Jean-Daniel, his fashion designer (because Jean-Daniel was now more than just a designer. He was a nice friend). It had been unbalanced with Hanan's list; the females were more than the males. So Zayd reached out to his friends who played hard to get. They yielded when he blackmailed them with certain things they had let spill during their outings; things their wives would kill them for if they ever found out.

Salim was the first culprit. He had broken two of Hussayna's precious vases and he never told her that he replaced them with two that were not so precious. Sunday had ruined some of Catherine's clothes when he and their twins were playing house. Since she hardly wore them, she never noticed and when she asked about them once, he told her she had given them out and she never asked again.

Luqman had accidentally broken some of Jameelah's plates which she used to serve guests at special events and he never found replacements because they had been custom made for her. He just prayed each day that she never noticed. Ahmed, the jealous husband, had chased Asma's potential clients on more than one occasion because the males that accompanied the females kept checking her out and making remarks he hated. They were people that would have added extra zeros to the money she had and if she ever found out, she would have his head on the grill for dinner.

"You are a devil, Sa'ed." Luqman said when the Jean-Daniel's assistants came down to get their measurements. "Just wait until I get something to use against you."

Zayd smiled proudly, comfortably sitting as he watched everything. "You'll be searching for a long time then."

Materials and headpieces were picked out next and packaged in customized paper bags with the wedding's official hashtag '#HAYD21' which Amal had argued for until every other person gave up. The wedding invitations came out next and Hanan was blown away by the quality. If they did not print one in front of her to make her believe it was indeed quality paper, she would have continuously sworn that it was not. The card shone when light hit it and each person loved the feel it had.

Zayd, still sceptical, was shown the barcodes that blended in perfectly with the card. He relaxed when some cards were scanned and verified on the computer screens. Dissemination of everything came next. A part was taken back to Kano and another part was taken to Edo with the men of the Sufyan family who had work to do on the compound in Benin. The last part was left in Abuja and disseminated as silently as possible.

They picked vendors next and made sure they had back-up so they could avoid stories that touched on the days of the wedding. Zayd and Hanan's things were then slowly moved into the new house, people on ground to arrange everything perfectly well. As promised, Hussayna had her mother send down buckets of turaren wuta for Hanan. Hanan happily had them it burn in the house each day until everything scented. Fashion fittings were fun and each outfit turned out better than she expected which she was grateful.