#  >  > Travellers Tales in Thailand and Asia >  >  > Indonesia Forum >  >  Indonesian Wedding; half javanese style, half sumatran style.

## kingwilly

A couple of weeks back I went to Sumatra for a mates wedding, his bride to be is half sumatran and half javanese, so the decision was made to combine both styles. 

So it started at 8.00am, we travelled in a few cars to Grandma's house, who was hosting the wedding, right on the Trans Sumatran highway. (notice the nice newly asphalted surface, I'll tell you why later) 

The usual awning had been erected on the front of her house. 



Reception table, which was later staffed with a couple of pretty girls.



Aah, here they are, I think they were cousins or close family.



Bananas feature heavily, i'm not certain why...



Family stood in a line to meet everyone as they arrived. 



I'm not sure who this guy actually was but he seemed to be very happy to meet and greet all the guests.



Inside there was a row of ostentatious chairs set up for the bride and groom and family, who basically had to sit here the entire day meeting and greeting guests.



Random guest with his daughter.



a couple of fat bastards.



and a couple of pretty ladies.



now it's just a case of sitting around waiting.... for the couple to get dressed, as in the groom arrived but had to change into costume, the bride had arrived several hours earlier, later you'll see why.

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## kingwilly

Actually, my mate told me a story, the previous evening, they had visited grandma and there was a contingent of guys there. _Bremen,_ or local gangsters, including the local coppers, they had a 'letter' for him.

WTF? you have to pay money, 

what?

yes, 1 million rupiahs 

for what?

otherwise we cannot guarantee the safety of your wedding party? 

fuck off

you have to pay, we have a letter

no. go away

So they played the trump card. The told him that the police permit, which is required to have a party has suddenly increased in price from 75,000 rupiah to 1 million rupiah! 

He told them to get lost.

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## kingwilly

We sat around and waited while the bride and groom we being dressed and groomed. At about 9.00 or 10.00 we were invited inside to sit down in a room with many guests around a small table.

looking at her hair and make up, now I understood why it took so long for her to get ready! 



His parents were dressed up also....including the _Kris_ or ceremonial knife.



The official who married them. this ceremony took less than an hour, but was conducted entirely in Indonesian, expecting one bit where some vows were made using Arabic. The groom had memorized his bits.



the groom being handed his marriage passport



Happy family watching.



The newly married bride and groom, she is wearing a quite traditional _Keybaya



all the family, 






_

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## kingwilly

The happy couple sat for photos. this was to be their seat for the rest of the day and evening, actually they were sitting here until 1.00am!



The whole family was invited to sit down so all the guests could take turns shaking their hands.



Unfortunately, it rained, big time! when they ran out of bricks some bright spark later on found a shovel and dug up half the trans sumatran highway just outside and laid it down all over the garden, so grandma has a newly ashpalted front garden now and the main highway is in the same condition it used to be in.



Lots of sitting and eating and smoking....

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## Marmite the Dog

I guess all Asian weddings are as much a load of bollocks as each other. Thanks fek I won't be suffering one of them.

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## kingwilly

There was a flower arrangement giving ceremony that I didnt really undertsand. 





At indonesian weddings it is quite common to come and go as you like. So we did, I pissed off, leaving my mate (hahha) and had a snooze at the hotel, besides the police had not allowed alcohol at this wedding for whatever reason.  :Sad:  

A few hours later we returned and apparently had missed a change of costume, that the groom didnt know about either ! haha ! he'd earlier put his foot down about gay arab clothing.... 





We had also missed bit where he had to break a plate of eggs by walking on them, I guess symbolic that a marriage is delicate and needs to be treated carefully, and then his wife had to wash his feet clean, indicating that she has to look after her man. 

There was also some water sprinkling and other stuff, 

Then food and band played. This is a traditional band.



By this time the farang at the party were sneaking a few bottles of whiskey down with the ice tea or cola drinks....

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## kingwilly

another change of costume.



some more upbeat music, night wore on.

farangs did some awful karaoke.

these girls were dancing girls, apparently you could pay them a small amount and they would dance with you....

I thought morticia looked alright until MrsKW whacked me in the ear for staring...



the rest of the photos suffered from blurriness no doubt from the whiskey kicking in...

twas a long day, but interesting to see.

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## jizzybloke

Who won the bad shirt competition, there are a few real contenders in those pictures?

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## kingwilly

> Who won the bad shirt competition,


It's called Batik, quite traditional. 

Most politicians and business leaders will wear them routinely. Weddings they are the de rigour and quite a few workplaces have a batik shirt fridays each week. It's nice to wear a dress shirt that does not require a tie nor to be tucked in.

Having said that one needs to chose carefully, a cheap one will look cheap, and not all styles and colours will suit all people.

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## Doggsy

I think you seriously need to invest in a new camera. All your pictures seem to have those orb things on that keep obscuring parts of the picture. :mid:

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## panama hat

> .


Excellent thread, KW . . . nice to see people making an effort and not just getting pissed and starting fights over 'face'. 

(Umm, why does your wife have hairy arms?)

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## dirtydog

^KW is on the left, can tell by the shaven hands etc, wonder what he is standing on though....

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## Doggsy

is it his hands that give it away dirtydog or can you recognise him from the bit of gut hanging out the bottom of his shirt?

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## kingwilly

I knew I should have cropped that bit out.... damn, forgetful memory of mine.

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## Happyman

Why all the superimposed bits on faces ?
 We have no idea if they were enjoying themselves ! :Smile:

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## kingwilly

> Why all the superimposed bits on faces ? We have no idea if they were enjoying themselves !


you have a 17 hour party of iced tea and tell me if you'd be enjoying yourself....

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## Wayne Kerr

Looks great and I must say your mate has scored himself a sexy little number  :Smile: 



One thing I did notice was that the lovely bride had quite big hands ... is this normal for Indo girls?

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## Wayne Kerr

> (notice the nice newly asphalted surface, I'll tell you why later)


Did look a good road for that part of the world

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## terry57

> I think you seriously need to invest in a new camera. All your pictures seem to have those orb things on that keep obscuring parts of the picture.




Yes,  Why cant we see the faces of your mate,  his wife and the other punters. ?

Its not like anyone is going to hunt them down for a show down at On Nut FIGHT CLUB.    :Smile: 

Anyway,  thanks for the pics.

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## Simon43

Did I miss it?  So why was the road newly asphalted??

Simon

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## kingwilly

> Its not like anyone is going to hunt them down for a show down at On Nut FIGHT CLUB.


I havent asked for his permission to post them.




> Did I miss it? So why was the road newly asphalted??


I dunno about that, but it became newly UNashalted when they dug it up and repaved grandma's front garden because of the mud!

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## good2bhappy

nice thread KW

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## Fabian

Nice thread and congratulations, KW.

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## sunsetter

great pics kw,  more to come?

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## patsycat

Those masks are scary.

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## slapp2000

It takes all that time to get hitched, and yet the old man can divorce 'er indoors in five minutes!! what a load of b******s but that's Indonesia for you.

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## kingwilly

> It takes all that time to get hitched, and yet the old man can divorce 'er indoors in five minutes!!


yup, it was a bit of a marathon.

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