LULU'S POV

"Are you ready?"Isaac whispered as we stood outside the church doors my right hand holding onto him tightly as I held my bouquet of heathers flowers and baby's breath in my left hand.

"Yes, definitely yes."I mumbled very sure of myself but still unable to take a step forward.

Isaac didn't rush me, just squeezed my fingers comfortingly and gave me the time I needed to compose myself. I had asked Isaac to walk me down the aisle and give me away since my dad wasn't there to do it himself and Isaac was the new head male of our family. He had been really happy when I asked him and in my eyes no one was more worthy for the task.

I didn't really think of my parents much but it was hard not to on my wedding day. They were supposed to be there to give me away but sadly enough God had decided to take them from us too early. I'd already adapted to their death thanks to Marini but it would have been nice to have them around on my big day.

"Do you think he's nervous?"I asked Isaac and he knew who I was talking.

"I was on my wedding day waiting for your sister up there but it was the good kind of nervous. I'm sure James is too because this is a huge step you're both taking and if neither of you is feeling nervous about it then you're in it for the wrong reasons.I've seen how James looks at you and how you look at him. You're in it for the right reason."Isaac answered making me smile.

"Okay, that's all I needed to hear. I'm ready now."I affirmed fixing and imaginary wrinkle on my dress and gripping my bouquet tighter.

"Good because we've been out here for ten minutes and that's the fourth time they are playing the bridal chorus. James must be freaking out up there."Isaac pointed out and I just laughed.

"A bride is never early to the wedding, I have to keep him on his toes from day one."I teased making Isaac laugh too.

"You make a beautiful bride indeed, now let's get you hitched Lue."He chided earning a playful glare from me.

I took a deep breath, relaxed and followed Isaac's cue to step away from behind the door to reveal myself to the whole church. The whole bridal party was inside, just waiting upon me to walk in. Immediately Isaac and I revealed ourselves the bridal chorus started again and people started taking photos and clapping excitedly. The church that had been renovated and expanded was filled to maximum capacity since everyone wanted to part of our big day. It was an open invite wedding to all residents of Ndoto as I was their queen mother so everyone was welcome.

Our theme colors were white and red that's why the church was decorated in beautiful red roses. My bridesmaids were dressed in beautiful maxi white gowns with a red shuka design at the front accessorized with Samburu traditional jewelry.

The grooms men were in dark trousers and red Shuka print shirts to match those of the bridesmaids with male jewelry too especially on their arms.

My eyes finally met that of James and he was looking at me in awe just as I was at him. He looked so handsome in his dark grey pants, white shirt with a red shuka print at the front and on the sleeves. His dreads were tied back in a neat pony tail and he had the biggest smile on his lips. I didn't know if he could see me because my face was hidden behind a veil but I was smiling too. I was finally getting married to the man of my dreams.

I saw James' eyes run up and down and he gave me a subtle approving nod. Instead of going for a traditional white gown, I'd added a twist to my dress. It was a white bridal strapless jumpsuit with a lace bodice and flowing bottom. The part I loved best was the red train made of red shukas matching the white red bottoms I was wearing. My overgrown hair was in a fancy updo to hold up my crown and veil and my make up was simple and elegant.

Isaac and I took our time walking down the aisle and finally made it to the altar. When the Reverend asked who was giving me away, Isaac stepped forward while James stepped down. He took my hand and put in James' hand. I resisted the urge to squeeze James' fingers since it would be inappropriate at that moment.

"You better take care of her or else I have a special bullet with your name on it."Isaac threatened making me smile.

"You have my word, I'll take care of her."James assured him.

They shook hands, Isaac kissed the back of my hand before taking his place next to the groomsmen.

"You look absolutely breathtaking."James whispered as he took my hand leading me up the few steps to the altar.

"You look very dashing too."I replied squeezing his arm.

Ruth helped me with with the train of my dress as James and I stood facing the Pastor. Pastor Like prayed to officially start the ceremony before he asked James to take off my veil so that he could confirm that it was me under the veil. James smiled victoriously when our eyes met for the first time. I smiled back resisting the urge to kiss him.

"Now that you've confirmed that she really is your bride, let's continue from there."Pastor Luke said motioning for us to face him.

Ruth fixed the train of my dress once more as we faced the pastor to start our wedding and it was all a huge blur from there. I was there present in the moment but I was still anxious and excited for what awaited James and I after we said our vows. I couldn't wait to spend the rest of my life with the man next to me.

We had already been together long enough, loved each other to our core, had been through literal death together and survived and to me that was the testimony of how real our love was.

James and I kept sneaking glances at each other which was kind of cute until the Pastor called us out on it and demanded that we pay attention. The whole church laughed at how cute we were but we promised to behave until after the ceremony which was thankfully short and sweet just as we had requested it.

We went with the traditional vows because well old is gold and all that. Finally the best part of the ceremony came and I couldn't keep the smile off my face. James and I were asked to face each other so we could get on with our vows.

"James Lankenua Koinet, do you take this woman to be your wife, to live together in holy matrimony, to love her, to honor her, to comfort her, and to keep her in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?"Pastor Luke asked him.

James looked at me with so much love and adoration that there was no doubt in my heart that I was marrying the man for me.

He grinned before confidently replying "I do."

Pastor Luke then turned to me,"Lulu Kawira Kiarie, do you take this man to be your husband, to live together in holy matrimony, to love him, to honor him, to comfort him, and to keep him in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?"

I wanted to shout yes because of how happy and excited I was but I held myself back. There was no need to be too dramatic.

"I do."I affirmed making James smile.

Pastor Luke then continued addressing James first "Repeat after me."

"I, James Lankenua Koinet, take you Lulu Kawira Kiarie , to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part."

James said the words with so much love and conviction that I felt his promise to the depths of my soul. I had to hold in the tears because it was my turn and I'd promised myself not be one of those brides who cried during their wedding.

"I, Lulu Kawira Kiarie, take you James Lankenua Koinet, to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part."I promised.

Pastor Luke then requested for the rings that Mark as the best man provided promptly. The pastor prayed for them before handing James mine and asked him to place it on my ring finger and repeat after him.

"I give you this ring as a token and pledge of our constant faith and abiding love."He vowed slipping the rung into my hand.

It was a simple white gold ring that matched my engagement ring and I was immediately in love with it. James ring was the same, just wider and without all the diamonds.

I took James ring and repeated the same thing James had sliding the ring into his finger sealing our fates together for life.

The pastor then asked us to join hands as he declared, "By virtue of the authority vested in me I now pronounce you husband and wife."

Pastor Like then turned to James and said"You may kiss the bride."

James didn't even give me a moment to prepare as he pulled me into his arms and kissed the breath out of me. I could vaguely hear the whole church cheering for us as I held onto James arms. I squealed and laughed when he dipped me dramatically the tip of his dreads brushing over my bare neck and chest.

"You're officially Mrs Lankenua."James declared pulling me up so we were nose to nose.

"Yes I am."I concurred unable to hide the smile from my face.

Pastor Luke didn't release us immediately since James and I together with Mark and Ruth needed to sign the marriage certificate. Afterwards the Pastor prayed the final prayers and all guests were free to leave for the reception while the bridal party was left behind for the after service photos.

James and I held hands the whole time, unable to be apart for even a moment. We had been planning our wedding for six months and finally we were wed, officially husband and wife.

"Congratulations Lue, you're no longer a Kiarie but Mrs Lankenua, how does it feel?"Marini asked as she stood next to me for a photo.

"Happy, elated, excited, scared but the good kind of scared. Honestly I'm over the moon Mar."I gushed.

"As you should be, you deserve all the happiness siz."Amani added and they pulled me into a group hug forcing me to let go of James hand.

I pouted but let him go nonetheless since we had the rest of our lives together.

"Welcome to the family James."Marini said hugging my husband.

It felt good saying that. Husband. James was my husband. Husband of mine. Lulu's husband. Oh yeah definitely had a nice ring to it.

"And welcome to mine."James replied with a winning smile.

James' whole family, they were my family now but still that would take some time to get used to, joined us for the photo session outside the church. An hour later we were done and finally able to leave the church so we could head over to the resort for the reception.

James was driving us to the resort, he'd insisted on it so it was just two of us in his truck. One of his hands was on the wheel and the other one was linked with mine his left hand rubbing over my knuckles.

"You know we can just skip the reception and go straight to the honeymoon, it is after all our wedding, we do what we want."James suggested making me laugh.

"What about all the food, the presents and our guests? It would be rude to leave them hanging."I reasoned.

"They can deal with it, come on wife, just say yes and the helicopter will take us directly to the airport."James begged.

I smiled to myself when he called me wife. It sounded so sexy when he said it.

"Our flight isn't until tomorrow babe, I'm sorry, let's do the reception and from tomorrow you can have me all to to yourself."I bargained.

He pouted but nonetheless nodded like a disgruntled teenager. There were multiple vehicles in front and behind us so we were causing quite the scene but it was our big day and we deserved it.. Finally we arrived at the resort where we were greeted with a lot of songs and dances. James and I didn't hold back in joining the festivities since they were all prepared for us.

We didn't have a minute to ourselves during the whole reception. Since the church service and photoshoot had taken more time than planned we decided to serve our guests some food first. The chefs at the resort had been in charge of the obviously with Naeku's input. There was a lot of meat as was expected with different accompaniments. For dessert there was different flavored yoghurt and ice cream courtesy of my mother in law.

The cake cutting came next and the cakes were beautiful. Plural because due to a mix up we'd ended up ordering two cakes from two different bakers. We couldn't return either of them because they were beautiful so we had two cakes at our wedding. One was a three tier chocolate cake with dry chocolate icing decorated with multi colored edible beads. That had been my choice. The second one, James favorite, was three tiers too, vanilla flavored, with white dry icing and decorated in edible beads. They both represented James' vulture perfectly.

James and I had fun feeding each other the first piece before leaving the rest to Ruth and our caterers to deal with.

The speeches were last as everyone who was special to us got to say a few words. My sisters speeches were beautiful and heartfelt, I had to hold myself back from crying half the time. James' parents were very brief with their speeches but they did give some wonderful pieces of advice to us. They had after all been married for almost seventy years so they had a lot to share.

Mark and Ruth were the last to speak as our man and matron of honor. They didn't disappoint and delivered awesome speeches. After that was done there was the bouquet toss which was caught by Saldona who had been part of our wedding party since she was James' cousin and had become a very close friend of mine.

The ceremony winded off with lots of music, singing and dancing.

James and I were dancing to the last song of the night when a topic I had been avoiding for a really long time came up.

"I can't wait to get this dress off you tonight."He whispered huskily into my ear and if I wasn't mistaken I could feel the dent on his trousers showing evidence of his excitement.

"Speaking of..."I mumbled remembering the tiny detail I had failed to mention.

We were in our own bubble so no one could hear us or cut in until the song was over. I was free to tell him the big secret.

"You're not ready, it's okay, no pressure, we do have the rest of our lives."James replied when he noticed the anxiety in my voice.

I smiled at how sweet and understanding he was trying to be even though I could hear the disappointment in his voice. He had to know that we both wanted the same thing but mine came with a little hiccup, more of a barrier. Pun intended.

"That's so sweet my love but I didn't mean it that way. There's just something that you should know before we get to our bridal suite."I informed him.

Our flight to Switzerland where we would be spending the first leg of our honeymoon would be leaving the next day so we would be spending our wedding night at the resort. When James and I had first started dating, I'd promised to take him to the coldest places on earth and I was delivering on my promise.

"Okay what is it, you know you can tell me anything."James asked tipping my chin up so I could meet his eyes.

I took a deep breath preparing myself to whatever reaction he would have.

"I am a virgin."I blurted out, ripping it off like a band aid.

James eyes bugged out as he stared at me, mouth wide open.

"Say what now?!"He choked out, finding his words to form that one sentence.

I had expected his reaction so I was ready to explain myself.

"I know that's not what you expected to hear but that's how it is. It's not that I'm a prude or anything like that, it's just that I never dated anyone long enough for it to get to that stage. Marini also raised us with certain morals and values so I've never been a casual sex kind of person."I explained.

He was still silent so I decided to go on.

"I know you've been with other people before, especially during your university days and that's okay, I don't hold any of that against you. I just wanted you to know that about me before we get to our room."I finalized.

James didn't say anything after my confession and I started fearing that I had broken him. Everything I'd told him was true and I hoped that it wouldn't scare him away.

"James say something."I pleaded looking into his eyes.

Instead of replying James pulled me closer and cupped my face kissing me soundly.

"I love you and it will be an honor to be your first."He mumbled pulling away for just a second so I could hear him.

And with that he kissed me again sealing the deal and assuring me that I would be in safe hands when the time came for us to seal the deal.

For our send off the guest threw rice at us as James and I left the venue to head to the honeymoon suite at the resort. James carried me through the threshold of our room as was tradition. He was doing everything right and I loved that about him.

"Will you be disappointed if I yell you that I'm too beat to do anything tonight?"James asked as he helped me with my heels.

"Of course not, I'm tired too. We don't have to do anything tonight."I replied relived because I was tired too.

"We do have a three week honeymoon after all."James grinned getting off his knees.

"I can't wait."I replied kissing him softly before turning around so he could help me with the zipper of my gown.

James and I went through our different routines getting ready for bed and we were both too tired to take a shower so we fell asleep in our underwear wrapped in each others arms.

"Goodnight wife."James mumbled already dozing off.

"Goodnight husband."I replied back cuddling into his chest.

James and I were finally husband and wife. We would be spending the rest of our lives together and I couldn't wait to see what the future held for us.

🌀🌀🌀🌀🌀🌀🌀🌀🌀🌀🌀🌀🌀🌀

Finally they are married. We all know what that means right? It's bye bye Lulu and James. All t's have been crossed and all i's have been dotted so it's time to let them go.

I might write two more chapters or not, depends on my mood, motivation to write or if I get any requests.

Anyway that's it for now guys, I hope you enjoyed it.

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Love @Lyssah.