For years, Ghanaians asked when Sarkodie would marry Tracy. The rapper answered in July 2018, in a week that began with a private ceremony in Tema and ended with a white wedding at Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra. By the Sunday morning, photographs of the couple in kente and white were everywhere.
The traditional wedding in Tema
Sarkodie, born Michael Owusu Addo, married Tracy in a traditional ceremony in Tema in the week of 16 July 2018. Most Ghanaian outlets reported the date as Tuesday 17 July, though at least one gave Thursday 19 July. The location was kept secret and the guest list was limited to close family and friends.
The couple wore kente, and the outfits drew as much attention as the ceremony itself. Pulse Ghana wrote that Sarkodie and Tracy had taken the kente wedding “to a new fashion level”. For many couples planning weddings that year, the pictures became a reference for how to wear kente at an engagement.
The white wedding at Labadi Beach Hotel
On Saturday 21 July 2018, the couple held their white wedding at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra. Entry was strictly by invitation. Musicians, actors and other public figures attended, and the event was covered across Ghanaian and Nigerian entertainment media within hours.
Fans who were not invited followed the day through official photographs and short video clips. Graphic Showbiz summed up the mood with the headline that the rapper had “finally” tied the knot.
Sarkodie and Tracy before and after
The couple had been together for many years before the wedding and already had a daughter, Adalyn. Tracy, often called Tracy Sarkcess after Sarkodie’s label, Sarkcess Music, has since built her own public profile.
Not everyone welcomed the marriage. A week after the wedding, counsellor George Lutterodt made headlines by suggesting Tracy alone did not deserve Sarkodie, comments that were widely criticised. Sarkodie himself has spoken about marriage in measured terms, saying in one interview that marriage is not for everybody, and in another that his wife is one of his biggest fans.
Why the Sarkodie wedding still gets searched
Sarkodie is one of the most successful artists Ghana has produced, and his wedding was one of the most talked-about celebrity events of 2018. A year earlier, Stonebwoy had married Dr Louisa Ansong; the two weddings, thirteen months apart, set the standard for how Ghanaian music stars married in public.
What people remember most is the kente. The traditional ceremony in Tema was private, but the photographs were not, and couples still bring them to their seamstresses.
