a Minangkabau wedding

I haven't written about the wedding, although Dale has done a good job. So I'll just supplement what he said here.

Nana's family comes from the Minangkabau tribe in Sumatra so the wedding followed the Minangkabau tradition. First there were the vows, which followed Muslim tradition. That was the more important part of the ceremony. Only family and close friends were invited. Nana, her mom, sister, and sister-in-law sat in chairs near the rest of us. Nana was in all white with diamonds and all were beautifully dressed. At a table in the middle, Eko made his vows to Nana's dad, with two witnesses and two other men (I'm not completely sure about their roles). Then Nana came up and there was talk, advice, and the ring. The ceremony was quite short and Nana and Eko were married.

Then we had a break with some food while Nana changed into her Minangkabau outfit. It was quite spectacular, especially the sunting, which is put together piece by piece to make a large, heavy (about 10 pound), very impressive headdress. Nana had to wear that for about 3 hours while greeting the guests. Because of its weight she can't move her head and needed help walking up to the stage. It can also cause a headache and is quite uncomfortable. As Iin said, “beauty is pain.”

After everything was in place and it was time for the reception we all lined up for a procession into the big room. Dale, Daniel, and I were placed at the end of Nana's family but before Eko's family. (Daniel, in case we haven't mentioned it, is a Portuguese friend who Nana met while studying in Japan and who now works for Google in Ireland.) We all followed the bride and groom into the reception room and they went up with their parents on the stage while the rest of us peeled off for the reception. Then there were a couple of dances performed by Minangkabau dancers, and the party began.

People streamed in and went on stage to greet and have their pictures taken with the bride, groom, and parents. This went on for close to 3 hours. About 700 people were expected but, since it was a rainy day and many of the guests only rode motorbikes, fewer people showed up. But it was quite an impressive turnout to us.

Nana's proud parents.