Like the beauty of an assortment of flowers in a mountain, Malawi is a multi-tribal society. Each tribe having some few unique traditions yet all having many similarities as members of the Bantu species.
In matters of marriage, northern tribes pay lobola, a bride price to the fiancées parents before marriage, essentially it is simply a token of appreciation to the parents for the upbringing of now the wife-to-be. Whilst the central and southern region tribes, except the sena tribe, practice chikamwini which demands that the man builds a house at the village of his wife. Housing is not done before marriage.
One interesting difference about these two marriage arrangements is that children born under lobola system, traditionally, belong to the paternal family whilst those from chikamwini belongs to the maternal family. So the northern tribes are patrilineal whilst the central and southern tribes are matrilineal. However, inter-tribal, inter-regional marriages are very common despite the differences. So its a matter of personal choice, and its a matter of negotiating and agreeing with your partner on how to go about it.