WINE CHIC(K)
TEXT
ANNABEL ONYANGO
BOTTLE
GUZZLING
The new Wine Chic(k) in town Annabel Onyango, will never let
rivers of Prosecco get in the way of looking good.
I
t appears that this is the year
ALL my friends will be getting
hitched. Barely four months in
and I have attended no fewer
than five nuptials, with more to
come. Now let the record state that I
love weddings: I love the slow leadup (the save-the-dates, elaborately
conceived invitations, frantic email
reminders), the deciding of what
to wear )“Will the grass ruin my
heels?”), the general flurry when the
big day finally arrives…
So of course when the big day
of my buddies Richard and Christie (Kenyans of Italian decent) was
finally here, I was peachy keen.
Out-of-town in the beach setting of
Malindi, it was the perfect excuse
for a little stay-cation. It would also
be the perfect excuse to indulge my
usual obsessive-compulsive packing style: I lay everything I intend
38.
to take with me on the floor, outfit
by outfit, making sure everything is
coordinated. I try it all on, to be sure
the swimsuits still fit well and look
cute, that I have matching cover-ups,
appropriate accessories and enough
changes to cover fancy dinners or
unexpected nights on the town. Last
is to confirm what my perfect travel
ensemble will be and whether it will
go nicely with my cowskin luggage. I
leave no stone unturned!
We arrived at the hotel a few hours
before wedding time and were met
by an already-gregarious crowd
bearing down on us with glasses of
Prosecco. A promising start.
The ceremony was beautiful, of
course. The bride in her vintage
finery, the groom handsome with
a hipster mop of hair, their friends
and family a motley crew of all
castes and creeds. Upon arrival at
the venue delicious bubbly cocktails were handed out. By the time
the vows had been declared and
everyone was warming up for the
reception, additional cocktails were
adding to the already charged frisson
bubbling through the air. As we sat
down to dinner, each table loaded
with more bottles of wine, the room
was buzzing.
Now even the most infrequent of
wedding-goers knows that the best
weddings are drunken weddings. It
is after all, the climax of months of
fraught preparation and all involved
are relieved that the deed is finally
done. There’s that point at every
wedding when there’s a mild euphoria in the air – when the planners no
longer care to plan and the guests
abandon themselves to the festivities; that point when all decorum
goes out the window. That point at
this Malindi wedding arrived sooner
than I’ve seen before—when the polite sipping of Prosecco turned into
excited bottle-guzzling. Well-mannered two-stepping on the dance
floor morphed into an all-out rave.
The weaker of the guests ducked out
by 3am, while the core continued
until way after sunrise.
The Prosecco hangover is a sweet
one. You can drink copious amounts
of all that sparkle and still come up
standing. One is still able to get up
at a reasonable hour, dress up in
their Day 2 outfit, and be back at the
lounge ready for more.
“Barman, another Bellini!”
Annabel Onyango is an awardwinning Fashion Stylist in Africa.
She’s also a tv personality, social
influencer, and taste-maker. Style is
her do and end all.