This traditional "knocking ceremony" is replete with humor and completely in the Twi language. Here's the typical flow. The groom and his family (friends included) arrive at the gate of bride's house with a large assortment of gifts. The groom knocks and asks to speak with the family. The groom's party is then escorted in, leaving the gifts behind. When the full audience is assembled, the groom announces his intentions. He says that he has seen the most beautiful flower in the family's garden. Though he was tempted to pick it without asking, he resisted. He realized that if he took the flower without her roots, she would soon wilt. So he came to ask the family if he could have the flower and her roots. At this point, the bride's family usually starts in with the mischief. They typically bring out their other daughters one by one and try to proceed with the ceremony. It generally turns into quite a show as the groom explains how he knows that it is not the right bride.

Well, this time Atta (the groom) decided that he would have the fun. He had his cousin act as groom for the first part of the ceremony. When Kafui (the bride) came out she was surprised to see the wrong man. She explained that this groom couldn't be Atta, he was too short and pudgy. So then, Atta's mother nudged me to go up and pose as groom. As I reached the front, chuckles turned into howling laughter. They knew that being in the United States had made Atta lose some of his color, but the long brown hair was a bit hard to believe.