Most brides worry about their father walking them down the aisle, not who’ll stand in when he can’t.
But when health kept Bozoma Saint John-Watson‘s dad from travelling to Ghana for her wedding, she didn’t scramble for a backup plan.
She called in a friend, the former President of Ghana.
Their love story, as Bozoma tells it, actually started in Ghana. She and Keely were introduced through his nephew, and after just two dates, their third coincided with a monthlong trip she already had planned to Accra.
She half-jokingly invited him along, not expecting him to take her up on it, but he booked the flight and showed up.
READ MORE: 10 Photos from Bozoma Saint John-Watson’s wedding that prove Ghana knows how to throw a party
That single decision became the foundation of their relationship, and about a year later, before he’d even proposed, Keely became a Ghanaian citizen. The couple is now dual citizens, and from the start, they knew they wanted two ceremonies: one in the U.S. and one in Ghana, done fully in the Akan tradition, with no Western elements mixed in.
That commitment to tradition is exactly why Akufo-Addo ended up hosting. Speaking to Us Weekly, Bozoma explained that her father’s health prevented him from travelling to Ghana, and since Akan wedding ceremonies depend heavily on the bride’s family, with her father traditionally hosting the event, the former president, a close friend of about a decade, stepped in to fill that role. The ceremony, the dinner and the reception all took place at his residence.
She’s described the whole experience as “actually outrageous,” still processing that it really happened.
Even guests unfamiliar with Akan tradition, including several of her American friends, could feel the weight of the moment as she was finally called in to accept the union.
It’s a reminder that even with a guest list stacked with Real Housewives cast members and A-listers flying in from the U.S. and U.K., the wedding stayed rooted in tradition first. The spectacle came after.
Credit: Focus And Blur/@focusandblur
