All about the Benjamins

. . . as SA’s nouveau riche grace Chiyangwa’s daughter’s wedding

Ruth Butaumocho Acting Arts Editor—

There is something intrinsically captivating, wowing and otherworldly about a wedding, no matter from which side of the city, the nuptials are taking place.It even becomes more than a wedding, when glitz, glamour and a huge bill becomes the talking point with guests savouring in the decor, splendour and silently estimating the wedding bill, instead of giving due attention to the bride and groom.

The wedding of Stephanie Chiyangwa — daughter of flamboyant businessman, Dr Phillip Chiyangwa and Milroy Sawyer that was held in Sandton, South Africa recently was one such grand affair, where 250 invited guests, where literally drowned in splendour as the two walked down the aisle in style!

With a A-guest list made up of a slew of celebrities and a coterie of wedding planners, who made sure that comfort and luxury was guaranteed in equal measure, the wedding that took place at both Montecasino Ballroom, Montecasino Blvd, Sandton and five-star Palazzo Hotel, was much more than exchanging of vows!

It was a grandeur affair, which also doubled as a business and networking platform for the cross-cutting coterie of celebs.

Some of the celebrities who attended included South African businessman and socialite Kenny Kunene, Frank Buyanga, Mr and Mrs Savanhu and Chamu Chiwanza.

If any of the guests that were invited to attend the wedding, expected this one to be nothing of out of the ordinary, they must have been shocked at the finesse and elegance displayed on the night of December 4, in Sandton.

It was sheer bliss and grandeur as guests partook in glasses of Chateau Margaux and plates of caviar while waltzing to classic jazz and strings of operas from a live band.

The R160 000 wedding venue, which costs R70 000 to decorate ensured all the comfort that the A-guests needed, as they listened to the exchanging of vows for the two.

In addition, Stephanie’s 25kg wedding dress, which was custom-made by Indonesian Mr Yogie Pratam, one of the best designers in the world, added finesse to the whole event.

Although Stephanie could not be drawn into revealing the cost of the wedding dress, a quick glean on the net revealed that the starting price of a couture wedding from the same designer is around $8 000.

Having flown Prophet Uebert Angel all the way from the UK to conduct the wedding ceremony, Stephanie and Milroy could not leave anything to chance.

It had to be a picture-square event, with everything in place.

In an interview from South Africa, where she is supporting her father’s bid for the Cosafa presidency, Stephanie said the wedding went well, although South African customs initially confiscated her wedding dress, suspecting that it was made up of real diamonds.

“My best friend Hazel Bvuma and I had to sleep at the DHL premises on Friday night saying they had been ordered by South African customs not to release the dress.

“They (South African customs) said they needed to send someone who would come and inspect the dress because it weighed 25kg, so they thought it was made of real diamonds that had not been declared,” she said.

Stephanie’s dress was made up of Eli Saab material — the same material that was used to make the wedding dress of the wife for the son of Russian billionaire, Sargis Karapetyan — deemed to be the most expensive wedding this year, which costs US$2million.

Despite the minor glitch, moments of pure elation were written all over the two, as friends, family and business colleagues took turns to congratulate them for the wedding.

“My husband and I really worked hard to plan and put the resources together to make it a perfect wedding.

“It had to be perfect,” said Stephanie, who is the only child of Felistas Nyamayaro and Dr Chiyangwa, while Milroy is the son of the late Flora and Henry Sawyer.

The two lover birds met in 2001 through a mutual friend and their relationship blossomed resulting in Milroy proposing to Stephanie last year in Rome at the Vatican City on her birthday.

Stephanie and Milroy are domiciled in the United Kingdom, where the former is in the ministry and a preacher.

It appears that Dr Chiyangwa’s daughters’ who have taken after their father, do not believe that weddings’ should just be about exchanging vows in simplistic manner, but they always want to add a touch of glamour to it.

Last year, Ellen Vanessa Chiyangwa had a lavish wedding celebration in Seychelles after she tied the knot with Tanaka Chironga.

She later went to Bali, for her honeymoon, and had friends and colleagues green with envy as she continuously posted photos of the couple enjoying themselves at the beach.

Bali is one of the most famous of Indonesia’s 17 000 islands and has been a tourist favourite for decades; popular for its virgin beaches and green landscapes.