Abena & Ato

Abena grew up in Labadi. Ato grew up in Nungua. Both are Ga communities on the coast of Accra, separated by a few kilometres and a lifetime of friendly rivalry. Their wedding, held in a compound in Labadi that opened onto a view of the Atlantic, was a celebration of everything Ga culture does at its most joyful: colour, drumming, dance, and a community that treats a wedding as an occasion that belongs to everyone within hearing distance.

The Kpanlogo ensemble that played throughout the ceremony had been assembled specifically for the day. Kpanlogo is a social and recreational drum music tradition from Accra, developed in the 1960s as a distinctly Ga urban art form. Its rhythms are designed for dancing, and the dancing at Abena and Ato's wedding went on for six hours without pause. Even the grandmothers stayed on the dance floor longer than anyone expected.

Abena wore successive outfits in the traditional Ga manner, changing three times during the day to signal different phases of the ceremony. Her first outfit was white, for the formal ceremony. Her second was a vibrant wax print in Ga national colours. Her third, for the late evening, was a gift from Ato's mother: a fabric chosen to signal that Abena was now also her daughter.