A Grand Wedding

Congratulations to Roberto and Fransisca!  This also marks Jim's first time officiating at an Indonesian wedding.  It was a long day, but Mary and Della rocked it!  It was so interesting to see this wedding from start to finish and how they incorporated Chinese, Indonesian and Western traditions. 
 The wedding ceremony was held at the church at 10:00 in the morning.  There were about 100 people in attendance.  Of course, it was a Friday, so many people had to work.  The Bride, Fransisca, wore a gorgeous custom gown and veiled her face until Roberto was told by Jim that he could "now kiss his bride!"  The flower girls had not practiced with petals the night before, but were given some for the ceremony.  Mary and Della, while being escorted by five year old David, started scattering their petals.  Quite concerned by this deviation from the plan, David yelled out, "What are you doing??"  It was sooo cute!
After the ceremony, the girls and I were whisked away to a hotel downtown, where for the next few hours all the members of the bridal party and the women of the bride's family were treated to makeovers.  In the end, I was forced into a chair and got my first pair of false eyelashes!  I do prefer the more natural me, but Jim liked the look. :)

Now it was time for the formal portraits.  All the ladies changed into beautiful evening gowns as the real celebration was just starting.
 

 They continued with the traditional Chinese Tea Ceremony.  Couples came up and sat in front of the bride and groom, and were served tea.  After the couple took a sip they gave the cup back and then stood and presented the bride and groom with a red envelope (money inside.)  This scene repeated itself until all the friends and relatives had "paid" their respects.

The reception started at 7:00 in the evening and the Bridal Party made their entrance down a very long walkway and up onto the stage.  The newlyweds and their parents stayed there as the guests filed by  to greet them.  Food stations were set up all around the ballroom and a band played, although there was no dancing.  I estimate that about 2,000 guests came for the party, which is a far cry from the amount that attended the actually ceremony.

Everything was so beautiful!  The highlight for me, was watching a movie starring Roberto and Fransisca.  It was just like a big screen movie and the footage was edited from the morning's ceremony.  I just couldn't believe how it was done in time for the reception and what a great job they did editing.  First time I ever saw anything like it and thought it was pretty special.

I promised you wedding pictures and I hope you enjoyed them!  :-)