{"id":47597,"date":"2023-03-30T11:19:10","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T09:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/mthathaexpress\/couple-celebrates-anniversary-in-a-different-way-20230328\/"},"modified":"2025-03-21T00:31:57","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T22:31:57","slug":"couple-celebrates-anniversary-in-a-different-way-20230328","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/mthathaexpress\/couple-celebrates-anniversary-in-a-different-way-20230328\/","title":{"rendered":"Couple celebrates anniversary in a different way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Instead of a private celebration of their 18th wedding anniversary, Nwabisa and Odwa Wopula decided to celebrate differently, hosting a mass wedding for five other couples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nwabisa, the director of BOC Events, hosted the mass wedding at Lusikisiki College Sports Ground in Lusikisiki, last weekend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe decided to do something different that will change the lives of other people. We then gave five couples who could not afford to have a wedding due to financial constraints, a free white wedding,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She wrote on her Facebook timeline, asking couples to share their love stories then they selected five couples unable to afford a white wedding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div contenteditable=\"false\" data-embed24=\"Images\" data-pos=\"middle\" id=\"embed_3a29179e\">\n<div class=\"slide\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"anniversary, celebration, mass wedding\" data-smallsrc=\"https:\/\/cdn.24.co.za\/files\/Cms\/General\/d\/8418\/034dcd6f78b04b6ea528be229f4e6136.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/mthathaexpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/34f619f67cd642dcb2d4955382fb545d.jpg\" title=\"Five couples married in one day at Lusikisiki.                          \"><p><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\">Five couples married in one day at Lusikisiki.                          <\/div>\n<div class=\"img_accreditation\"><span class=\"source\" style=\"display:none;\"><\/span><span class=\"photographer\" style=\"display:none;\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Nwabisa said they did not know that the post would have such a positive response, and they received many donations from different people, and also the Ingquza Hill Local Municipality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe did not know that people love us so much. It was amazing to see Amampondo wearing their traditional attire in this event.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She confirmed that they are planning to do it again in the future. Yolisa Khumalo, from Kwa Kanana in Lusikisiki, said she was still shocked because she never thought that her dream of wearing a white dress would come true. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe were together for nine years; then we got married in 2021. I never pictured us having a white wedding due to our financial problems. I was very emotional about this; even now I still do not believe that it has happened,\u201d said Khumalo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another bride, Nonzondelelo Matwa, said that when they wrote an email to the Wopula family, as per instruction they thought it would be something small. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe saw on their Facebook timeline that couples should write their love stories and why they are unable to have a white wedding. I was very shocked when I saw the dignity of this event. We thought it would take a long time for us to have a wedding of this kind,\u201d said Matwa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Instead of a private celebration of their 18th wedding anniversary, Nwabisa and Odwa Wopula decided to celebrate differently, hosting a mass wedding for five other 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