More wedding preparations...

Today Samina and I made a mini-assembly line in her kitchen and garden, to put together and spray-paint some cardboard boxes.  I folded and taped the boxes together; she had the far more unpleasant job of using the spray paint. At least it was a dry day, so that the disturbing fumes could blow away.  This paint is stuff that I would normally avoid like the plague, for a mix of environmental and health reasons.
Anyway - we got it done. Later in the week we'll pack suits of new clothes into the boxes, and finish them off with some gold fabric and some ribbon. This is all for the exchange of gifts between families, next week.
Samina is a ferociously committed Mum, and is pushing herself to do all  the work that might normally be shared with a range of extended family members.  Her circumstances make that impossible. Fortunately various friends are pitching in too. Meanwhile, Mariyah is going to her university lectures each day, as well as doing her part-time job at a local shop. It's full-on for them both.
I'm hoping to put together a sequence of images, leading up to the wedding and during the celebrations, that will form a photobook for Samina and Mariyah. I'd really like to record and celebrate their close relationship, as they prepare for Mariyah to move out and join her fiance's family.
As we folded and taped and sprayed, we also chatted about all the horror in the news.