Immediately after the Pelekani, the MC brought up a photographer and had the couple sit on a nice couch. Then the MC and DJ proceeded to start a bidding process where anyone could come up and pay the amount asked by the MC to get a professional picture with the couple. Maybe they start at 50,000 MWK and try to get as many people as possible to pay that much for a picture. Then they lower it to 40,000 MWK, then 30,000 MWK, 20,000 MWK, 15,000 MWK, etc. Over the next half hour, you get people going up at different prices to snap a picture with the bride and groom. If I remember correctly, my friend and I went up at around 15,000 MWK. It is important that you do this to show the couple that you care about them and want to support them.
After that, they are finally done with the fundraising portion and spend the last hour or so giving everyone a soda to drink, a few small snacks and a little slice of cake. The slice is not of the wedding cake, as that would be too expensive, but rather something small and cheap. Then that is sort of the end! Dancing is done really mostly during the 2 hours of Pelekani as that is the majority of the reception. It was really interesting to see a wedding that revolved more around the gift-giving and dancing than it did around the romance aspect, but here it is completely normal! In fact it's pretty smart if you ask me, as they end up a fair amount richer by the end of it.
Lastly, I want to speak to the huge importance of music and dancing to Malawian traditions and culture as a whole. Virtually every tradition involves dancing and music in some way. For example, in the Pelekani, they dance their hearts out and it is pretty cool.
