Above: Stage at the wedding.
Today, I experienced something different. In my half-century, I hadn’t experienced a Malay wedding. Tonight, I attended a wedding reception for Adlie and Amal. Adlie is the son of a friend and also nephew of an old school mate.
They had married on Christmas day, exchanging their vows, but today is the big dinner. It was held at the Baitulmal, which is an Islamic centre. I went with Richard and Habibah who live near me and we seated ourselves near the main entrance and the head table.
There was a bit of waiting around but we were kept entertained on the big screen with videos of the actual wedding day. They had their formal vows, change of costumes (Korean, Indian), games, Bollywood dancing and at midnight releasing sky lanterns into the night sky. As this was held in the Library, being non-religious, they were able to get away with a drag queen. I hear it was quite raunchy.
The first bit of fanfare came with the arrival of a dignitary, the second with the happy couple and the final (and grandest) was the serving of the rice. The happy couple watched a silat performance before coming in. Large bowls of rice were marched in to grand music by a parade of men in orange traditional garb.
At the centre of each table was a heavy round serving dish with several inserts of food. I had dressed up for this special occasion in a white Baju Melayu and a black/green samping. I took care not to have any curry on my brand new attire. It is rare for me to dress up and look glamorous! The dress code was formal, batik shirt or Baju Melayu. As I hadn’t brought anything suitable, I had to make a purchase anyway, so I went the whole hog with the Baju Melayu.
At the end of dinner, we stayed behind for photographs. The pelamin (stage) was beautifully set and many people took the opportunity for photos with the newlyweds. For reasons of privacy, I have opted not to post photos with people on this travel blog but keep them on my facebook page.
Note: Actually, they groom’s side (at least) are Melanau but the distinction between Malay and Melanaus who are Muslim is quite blurred nowadays.