Sometimes we agree to do things without really thinking it through. Often said thing we've agreed to turns out to be an overwhelming burden that days are spent trying to wriggle out of. And then sometimes said thing is hysterically awesome. Fortunately, when I agreed to be in a woman I have never met’s royal Bugis wedding a month ago, and then promptly forgot about it, then promptly remembered again the week the wedding was upon me, things veered toward the hysterically awesome.
After fighting my way through a monsoon I finally washed up on the front steps of Lydia, the bride’s, family home. I entered to find Lydia swimming in yards of jewel encrusted fabric while solemnly sitting in a bedazzled box as the Koran was read in front of her. I consider myself something of an Indonesian wedding expert, considering I went to two wedding parties in one night about a month ago. Due to my copious knowledge, I figured the rest of ceremony part1 would be just a solemn. Indonesians aren’t really itching to break into the electric slide and lets face it, their weddings are boozeless.
Anyways, one can imagine my surprise when I stepped back into the house to find Lydia posing for wedding photos on her white satin flower wreathed bed. This was almost too much hilarity to handle, as the photographer crawled around the bed with her to find the right poses. Continue to imagine my surprise as Lydia invited me, and the 6 other foreigners invited, to pose with her…on her bed. So onto the white satin we piled. Yet never fear, as Lydia slyly joked that mattress could handle our weight because “ it was new for the wedding night”. I almost peed on the spot.
Wedding ceremony part 2 the following day proved to be just as fruitful. Day 2 is when the groom arrives, has to step on a series of symbolic objects, reads from the Koran and then touches his bride for the first time. Because this was a “royal” wedding the groom arrived with an entourage Sean P.Dizzle Combs would have envied. Complete with slaves, symbolic slaves, but slaves nonetheless. Since Lydia had yet to lay eyes on her new groom, she asked up to text her “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” when we got a peek. Day 2 part 2 , “ the party” went off without a hitch. Like I mentioned earlier, Indonesian wedding parties aren’t exactly raucous, but much delicious food was eaten, a little karaoke was sung and many many pictures were taken.
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