Cashmeer Sayyid’s highly anticipated wedding turns out to be launch of personal project
Social media personality Cashmeer Sayyid’s much-publicised wedding, which had been billed as one of the most glamorous celebrity events of the year, took an unexpected turn on the night of Saturday, August 9, 2025, when it was revealed that there was no wedding at all.
Instead, the evening ended with the launch of a new school, a project she said was born from the scars of her troubled childhood.
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The lavish indoor venue, with its grand chandeliers, velvet drapes, polished marble floors and lush floral arrangements, had set the perfect stage for what guests believed would be the wedding of the year.
Kenya’s A-list celebrities arrived in some of their most remarkable outfits of the year, ready to witness what many thought would be Cashmeer’s marriage to a Congolese man, as she had publicly announced in the lead-up to the event.
Actress Trisha Khalid turned heads in a striking black dress, while actress Dorea Chege’s figure-hugging gown drew comparisons to high-profile Met Gala styles.
Prity Vishy, just a day out from undergoing a Brazilian Butt Lift surgery, made a bold statement in a sheer white-veiled dress, attracting attention both for her outfit and her candidness.
Akothee’s sister Cebbie Koks and cosmetician Ntazola Gloria, who had purchased jewellery worth over Ksh150,000 for the night, added to the star power.
However, as anticipation built for the ceremony, Cashmeer revealed that there was no wedding, explaining that she had deliberately allowed the wedding narrative to spread in order to draw attention to her new project and to tell her story of survival.
She recounted a painful past in which she narrowly escaped being married off to an older man while still underage, endured being pulled out of school due to family debt, and faced the threat of being sent back to Ethiopia to be married against her will.
“I remember when I was young; I was almost married off to an old man. I had not been told clearly what was happening, but I later came to learn that the man had specifically said he wanted an underage girl like me. After that, I was taken to a certain high school. I used to read so much, and people thought I was trying to show off, but in truth, I was simply trying to take advantage of an opportunity. I wanted to prove to them that I was going to succeed,” she narrated.
She told the crowd that a neighbour who had also been married young had inspired her to try to make her own living rather than accept that fate, but the neighbour disappeared before they could start.
During that time, someone warned her mother that the man set to marry her was a violent older army officer with a wife.
Her education was further disrupted, and when she finally returned to school, she was sent back to form one. The second term, she narrated, brought another blow with the death of her father, and plans were made to return to Ethiopia, which she feared would seal her fate.
“Around that time, someone tipped off my mother that the man she wanted to marry me off to was an old army officer who already had a wife he used to beat. The person did not understand why my mother still wanted me to marry him. As a result, I missed two terms of school. When I was finally taken back, the principal said I had to start again from form one. In the second term, my father passed away, and there were plans for us to return to Ethiopia,” she added.
Determined to escape, she raised Ksh500 and fled to Nairobi to live with a man, but the relationship soured and she faced ridicule for being a school dropout.
Today, she is a software engineer, but she said that the trauma of those years was the driving force behind her decision to open a school.
“What happened to me in childhood is why I have launched this school. That trauma we have now monetised it. I was so scared of people knowing I was a dropout, but now I am a software engineer,” she said.
She added that her claim of marrying a Congolese man was also meant to kill two birds with one stone by sparking public conversation about injustices happening in Congo while also revisiting the fact that as a child, she had been destined to become a second wife without choice.
Author
Steve Ireri
Steve is a senior writer with over four years of experience in digital journalism. His focus is on the showbiz and human interest stories. Emails: [email protected] , [email protected]
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