MY INDO HOLIDAY - DAY 9

WEDDING TIME!

Today we had a full day of wedding parties, in the morning we went to the ceremony and in the evening we went to a very elaborate and beautiful reception. It was a traditional Javanese wedding for a uni friend of my boyfriends. She looked absolutely stunning but I didn't recognise her initially with all the makeup and jewellery that they have to wear.

My dress for the morning ceremony

Charming as always :P

Us with the bride and groom :) 

(Sorry for the dark photos, I will fix them up when I get home.) The morning ceremony was a bit confusing and hard to see from outside where the guests had to sit, but they had TV's set up so we could watch what was happening. Its seemed very complicated and I don't even think the bride and groom knew what they were doing most of the time, a lot of it was very symbolic, such as feeding each other to represent becoming the bread winner etc.

The beautiful bride and groom inside during the ceremony! She looked so beautiful!

After the morning ceremony we came back to our hotel and just chilled for a bit. Ma'arif went out and bought us some chicken and rice for lunch...it cost him 5000 rupiah for 2 meals!! that's 50 CENTS!!! Yogya is ridiculously cheap!! And the food tasted great too. :D 

These next photos are of the evening reception and me in a Kebaya :D A Kebaya is a traditional formal dress for Indonesian women, it usually consists of a long skirt with Batik designs, a corset and a beautifully beaded blouse over the top. I was going to buy my own but I was told it would be too expensive so Ma'arif's sister offered me hers to borrow and by some miracle it fit me so perfectly!! So this is that Kebaya:

Me in my Kebaya waiting for the taxi. 

Us at the venue :)

The bride and groom with the procession of family and friends walking to the stage. The outfits were very extravagant, every inch of them sparkled with gold!

All the family and friends walking behind the couple.

This is the group of friends of my partners from uni that I have come to be friends with as well, they are a great group of people!!

The huge open venue, looking towards the stage where the bride and groom would stand all night.

The bride and groom standing up on stage waiting to be congratulated by everybody.

 After the wedding we wanted to take a tour around Yogya at night on a Becak, so we did!! Kebaya and all!! 

Me + Kebaya + Becak = a lot of stares!!

 This was a huge circular park that at night you can hire all kinds of bikes and pedal cars that are lit up with florescent animal and character designs (pics above). It was called the Kraton Yogyakarta. One of the palaces of the King.

And then we went back to our hotel because I think our driver was getting sleepy :)

Sorry for the late blog I've been busy doing lots of stuff and haven't got around to blogging. I'm going out shopping now, so I will post the rest when I get back.

Em