What a Bush Wedding Actually Is
A ceremony, a celebration, and a safari — for the people who matter most.
A bush wedding is not a wedding in a resort ballroom with a savanna backdrop. It is a ceremony in a clearing you have chosen for what it looks like at the hour you will be standing in it, with the people who matter most, a Maasai elder, a chef who has prepared a meal you will remember for the rest of your marriage, and the sounds of the African night beginning around you. It is a wedding that could not have happened anywhere else.
Most bush weddings are structured as a multi-day affair. Guests arrive at a single camp or a small group of camps. There is a welcome dinner. There is the safari — game drives, sundowners, the Migration if you have chosen the right season. There is the ceremony, often at golden hour on day three or four. There is the celebration after, often a bush dinner with a band and dancing under the stars. And there is the wedding night — a private suite at camp, often with a plunge pool and a view no one else can see.
Bobby Safaris has been designing bush weddings since 1978. Don Kassim's mother taught him to treat each wedding as if it were his own daughter's. The wedding you have is the one they would have wanted to give you.
The Venues
Four sites that earn the ceremony.
A private conservancy in the northern Serengeti
The most-requested bush wedding venue. A community-leased conservancy north of the Mara River, the only vehicles at the ceremony are the ones you have arranged, the Migration visible in the distance during the dry season. The ceremony is set up at a clearing, a kopje, or a deck; the dinner and dancing under the stars; the wedding night in a private tented suite with a plunge pool. Twelve to thirty guests is the right size for this shape.
A lodge on the Ngorongoro Crater rim
A ceremony on the Crater rim with views across to the plains below. Cool highland air, the smallest and quietest lodges in the country, an evening fire and a celebration that runs late. The Crater floor is a one-hour descent for the morning after — the guests wake to lions, black rhinos, and the soda lake. Best for ceremonies with a more intimate guest count.
A baobab clearing in Tarangire
The baobab-studded landscape of Tarangire is the most photographed in East Africa. The ceremony is set up in a clearing beneath the ancient trees, the elephant herds passing at a distance, the light filtering through the branches at golden hour. A smaller, more private shape — best for couples who want the bush to feel close around the ceremony rather than vast.
A private beach on Zanzibar
For couples who want the bush and the beach in the same celebration. Three or four nights on safari, then the flight to Zanzibar for the ceremony on a private beach — white sand, the Indian Ocean, the sunset over the water. Most Zanzibar bush weddings are smaller (twelve to twenty guests) and combine with a honeymoon extension on the island.
The Maasai Blessing
The element most couples ask for.
A Maasai elder joins the ceremony after the vows and offers a traditional blessing for the marriage — a sequence of prayers, songs, and a blessing with milk and honey. The elder has worked with Bobby Safaris for two decades; the blessing is delivered in Maa and translated by your guide. The couple and guests receive a small woven cord to wear for the day.
The blessing is a genuine Maasai tradition, not a tourist performance. The elder travels from his community to your camp or your ceremony site, and the blessing is conducted in the same form it has been conducted for the community for generations. Many couples say it is the most meaningful part of the day.
Bobby Safaris pays the elder directly and at a rate the family and the community have agreed reflects the significance of the work. The blessing is included in every bush wedding Don designs.
What It Costs
Honest pricing, itemised in your proposal.
A bush wedding in the ultra-luxury tier typically starts from $1,800 per person per day for the couple and guests, all-inclusive of accommodation, meals, drinks, the ceremony arrangement, and game drives. A 7-night bush wedding — three nights for guests at a single camp, the ceremony at a private venue on day four, then a honeymoon extension for the couple — generally totals between $80,000 and $250,000 depending on the guest count, the venue, and the extras.
What is included: every night in camp for the couple and guests, all meals and drinks, the ceremony arrangement and the Maasai blessing, all game drives during the safari leg, all internal charter flights, and gratuities for camp staff. What is not included: international flights to Kilimanjaro, flowers, photography and videography, hair and makeup, the wedding dress and rings, premium champagne and wines beyond the house selection, the band or DJ if you have asked for one, and gratuities for the wedding coordinator.
Don Kassim itemises every bush wedding proposal so the couple and the family can see exactly what drives the cost. There is no standardised package.
Begin the Conversation
Tell us when you are thinking of marrying.
That is enough to begin. Don Kassim reads every bush wedding enquiry personally and replies within 24 hours with a starting shape — venue, season, guest count, and an itemised cost band. From there the proposal is built from the conversation that follows.