Hawa Hassan and Kwame Apraku’s Mexico City Wedding Put a Contemporary Twist on Somali and Ghanaian Traditions
James Beard–winning cookbook author and TV personality Hawa Hassan first met her future husband, engineer Kwame Apraku, close to home—but a trip across an ocean was needed for them to exchange numbers. The pair initially crossed paths in September 2018 at Dumbo House. “I was hanging out with a group of friends and Kwame was working right next to them,” shares the bride. “At some point, I was spraying her face with rose water and offered to spray Kwame’s face. We had a brief chit-chat and went on with our day. No names or contact info were exchanged.”
Their next meeting took place by chance 18 months later in Accra, Ghana. Kwame was home with his family for Christmas and Hawa was in town for the “Year of Return,” an initiative memorializing 400 years since the first slave ship left Africa. “We ran into each other at a house party at Hawa’s friend’s backyard,” says Kwame. “I walked up to Hawa and said, ‘You’re the girl from Dumbo House!’” They finally exchanged information and had their first date in January 2020 back in New York.
Kwame planned to propose to Hawa while they were on a three-week trip to Japan. However, the vacation almost fell through as Kwame’s passport renewal was running behind. “Just two days before departure, we nearly canceled the trip, but Kwame found someone on Instagram offering a same-day passport renewal appointment for $300, which saved the day,” says Hawa. “After eating our way through Tokyo and visiting friends, we headed to Kyoto for a few days of peace and quiet. It was there, in a beautiful, quaint garden, that Kwame popped the question.”
Initially, Hawa and Kwame were set on hosting their nuptials in Lisbon as it would be an easy middle ground for family and friends on multiple continents to meet. The bride even spent six weeks in Portugal while planning the event. However, due to complications, the couple shifted their wedding destination to Mexico City, a place they both love and spent time in together, just six weeks before the event. The new celebration was held on April 26, 2024, at Liverpool 76, a historic building in the Juarez neighborhood operated by Table Studio that once served as the headquarters for active members of the Mexican Revolution.
While the couple admitted the wedding planning was hectic, they took the pivot in their stride. “We approached the wedding the same way we approach most things in our lives—as teammates,” says Kwame, noting they also worked with planning team Tremenda Event Makers. “Hawa handled communication duties while I took charge of the planning. We put guardrails in place to ensure the planning process would not add an unnecessary burden to our relationship.”
While deciding upon their venue took some work, Hawa and Kwame both had a clear vision for their wedding attire. “We both knew from the start that we wanted to create custom pieces that honored our Ghanaian and Somali heritage,” says Hawa. These pieces were created to be worn during the traditional part of their celebration as they danced the Adowa. “I wore a traditional Somali outfit called a Dirac, lovingly sourced by her mother,” the bride explains. “Kwame, who was raised by the Queen Mother of Bonwire, the town in Ghana where kente cloth originated, had a custom kente cloth made to reflect that deep cultural connection.”
For his wedding and after-party looks, Kwame collaborated with his friend, designer Akief Sheriff, to create two custom Mokief suits. “The process began with ideas tossed onto a Pinterest board, which evolved into a vision for a double-breasted beige gabardine suit for the ceremony and a double-breasted black linen suit for the after-party,” he says. As for Hawa, she went deep into the design process with the help of her friend Zoya Jarrett and Chinamine to create a beautiful strapless gown with full off-the-shoulder sleeves that could be added and removed throughout the celebration to change up the look. “As expected, adjustments were made along the way, and everything came together just a week before the wedding, with final touches completed by Allen Tailoring Cleaners in the East Village,” says the bride. “In the end, everything turned out beautifully.” To accessorize, Hawa received gold jewelry from her mother and siblings—a tradition in Somali culture—and donned a diamond necklace and earrings gifted by her best friend Noelle. She also worked with her longtime makeup artist Denise Dihn and hairstylist Jessica O’Brien to complete a beauty look that made her feel like herself.
