Mauritania wedding a western first for Cara

Cara Manning believes she can stake that claim after she was told she was the first Westerner in living memory to wed in a traditional ceremony in Mauritania, north-west Africa.

The 26-year-old, who is originally from Barnton, wed Moussa Diabira - from Mauritania - in a civil partnership at Dryburgh Abbey Hotel near Melrose last month, with the couple marrying again in Nouadhibou, Mauritania, three days later.

The newlyweds met through mutual friends in Portugal, where they have both lived for several years.

Cara, who moved to Lisbon to teach English, said: "Mauritanians have moved abroad and married either in Europe or America, but until now nobody has brought their spouse back to Mauritania to marry there.

"I had the honour of being the first Westerner in living memory to get married in Mauritania. I was stunned to have that privilege and honour.

"Moussa is from an esteemed family with connections around the whole country.

"There were troubadours at the wedding in Mauritania whose work is to follow family history and recount that history at important events, such as marriages and funerals. They also said I was a first."

She added: "Our wedding at Dryburgh Abbey Hotel was also unique as Moussa was the first African to marry there and among our 65 guests, 15 nationalities were represented.

"We invited a lot of friends from Portugal, France, Germany and Brazil."

Moussa, 34, wore a kilt at the wedding in Scotland, while his wife - a former Broughton High School pupil - donned five traditional outfits for the celebration in Mauritania, each one representing a different ethnicity of her husband's family.

Cara said: "We both realised it was an ideal opportunity to experience something of each other's culture.

"A wedding is something that is so influenced by the culture in which it happens and the cultural traditions in each country.

"We really wanted to experience that and Moussa was the first one to say he wanted to wear a kilt!"

She added: "The marriage in Mauritania was through Islamic law and that was how we were able to have two separate marriages, because one was a civil ceremony (Scotland) and the other a religious marriage."

The couple met in February last year and got engaged 13 months later, with Cara admitting it was "love at first sight".

Moussa moved to Lisbon in 2007 to take up a position as manager at Foot Locker, after previously living in Porto with his Portuguese godparents for a number of years.

He changed jobs in February this year, becoming a customer support technician for Fujitsu in Lisbon. The couple both plan to change their surnames to Manning-Diabira.

Cara's father Stephen conducted the civil partnership outside the Dryburgh Abbey Hotel, in front of the River Tweed, and to make the day even more special, her younger sister Sian, 23 - who lives in Barnton - got engaged after the ceremony.

The celebration in Mauritania took place at the family home.

Cara, who teaches English at a language institute in Lisbon, said: "Outside there was a big tent with about 100 women inside, while the men were inside the house.

"Moussa and I were separated for most of the day - it was completely different from the wedding in Scotland."