the salt express: traditional muslim wedding

on sunday we were invited to nanda's wedding. she and her husband are both muslim and were having a traditional wedding in her parents' village at nine IN THE MORNING. crazy. since the village was two hours away, we all got up and left around seven. the ceremony didn't start until maybe ten or something.

when we got there, because we are foreigners, they made us sit at the front VIP section (where usually the parents of the betrothed in a modern wedding would sit) in leather couches that they moved outside which was a little strange because we don't know nanda that well.

when the wedding starts, there are friends and family members that walk down the aisle carrying loads of gifts that are supposed to represent presents that the groom is going to give to the bride (i think this is what is happening from hilda's explanation). they place it all on the stage, then the bride and groom sit in their thrones and the parents of the bride and groom sit in their thrones. soon after, women in traditional costumes do a dance with the bride and then a circle is formed with a bunch of men to do prayers for the couple. after that there appeared to be some very long speeches then the bride and groom shook hands with all the men in the prayer circle and sat back down. afterwards, everyone enjoyed the buffet, took pictures and went home.

it's strange though, no one really pays attention to anything going on in the wedding. everyone in the audience just hangs out and talks to each other, smokes cigarettes, gets up and comes back with an ice cream bar to eat. the parents of the groom were up on stage falling asleep and playing on their phones, the groom looked like he had better things to do and even the bride was playing on her phone during all of this. strange. but it was a great experience and the village people and houses were so beautiful. sorry for all the text. here are some pictures:

the blue kitchen in nanda's parents' house

all the muslim women sat on the bride's side

nanda and her husband in their amazing traditional costumes

the dancers

here are the gifts that the groom is supposed to give to the bride

all laid out on the stage (parents of the groom seated in the back)

the couple seated on their thrones

the dance

it was probably just her turn on words with friends

about three hours into the wedding

beef rending, fish, rice, veggies, chicken. delicious.

okay so now this next picture is with the bride and groom.

the gentleman taking pictures told me he would take a picture

with my camera. i said okay. this is what he gave back to me:

yeah, that's me behind the pole. hilarious.

i gave it to someone else to try. much better. (left to right: unknown man, wulan (steve's wife) with little adinda, hilda, kurt, annie, groom, nanda, me, steve, serena, nick, regina, gandi, unknown man)

oh and another thing, they don't seem to believe it garbage cans so by the end of it, the ground was literally covered in water bottles and ice cream bar wrappers. everywhere! there was a kid who couldn't finish the food in her hand so her mother just told her to throw it on the ground.