The big day finally arrived…

The day of the wedding.

The church ceremony was scheduled to start at 3:30pm on February 10, 2012. We had quite a leisurely morning at the hotel, my aunt, uncle and me. Despite the craziness of the wedding was just hours away. At least I got to sit outside by the hotel’s restaurant and drink my morning coffee admiring the view…the clear blue sky…clear water. It was a beautiful day to get married I was certain of that.

What I didn’t know until last moments was I too was getting my make-up and hair done at the beauty salon along with the other female members of the family.

Gasp!

That was a surprise, regardless of my status as the eldest cousin of the Groom, I wasn’t expecting that but went ahead with the plan.

I cringed when I saw the bed!  A bed to get my make-up done. The sight of that transport me back to many years ago when I was in elementary school and my late Aunt Linda got married. I was her little bride’s maid. That’s how they did my make-up back then and I feel a stab of pain in my heart.

When they were done with my make-up and hair I could hardly recognized myself! My eyebrows were huge, my face looks way too white and my hair…well for moments I felt like Beavis and Butthead! But there was no time to fix them as we were running late. (I did fix my make-up a bit at the hotel later on)

We made a mad-dash back to my uncle’s house so me and one of the Aunties can changed into our outfits. My cousin – Jerry who just arrived from Makassar was there. So all of us headed church under crazy stormy weather. The rain was unbelievable. Sure enough we got to the church about 30 minutes late. Me, one of the Aunties of the Groom and two of what they called ‘The Bride and Groom Shadow’ which are actually two kids wearing a white gown and a suit who supposed to walk in-front of the Bride & Groom.

The church was still under renovations and the heavy rain did some damaged. There were leaks in some parts of the church. There’s a puddle of water right in front of where the Bride and Groom was sitting. It was quite interesting to see one of the deacon had to mop it away repeatedly while the Pastor was talking.

The funniest part was…the look on some of the attendees seeing this one girl with a big hair, black short skirt and a blue kebaya top kneeling down on the floor to take pictures of the happy couple. Oh well, I don’t really care but yeah it was quite funny!

Really have to thank my camera because I was too busy taking pictures that when the Bride and just about all the women in that church started to cry when they exchanged vows – I didn’t shed one tear.

Weddings can be emotional.

After the church ceremony was done the congregations were told to give their congratulations to the newlywed. So people started to form a line and do the whole traditional Kupang custom. Kissing noses while shaking hands with the couple. I kid you not! I was warned about this by my aunt who jokingly said “Hey, you better be careful…your nose is not that tall so yeah…it might be problematic!”

As I was snapping pictures away my cousin Jerry called out to me “Oma wants you to sit with her!” he pointed to my grandmother sitting alone on the front bench.

So what a dutifully eldest granddaughter to do? I walked to her and sat next to her. Asking how she’s doing.

Then out of the blue, people started to made a line and stopped to congrats my Grandmother too. They kissed her nose!

Caught off guard, I did kissed nose with a few elder ladies who smells like tobacco – which they do chew on – before I sneaked and sat on the left side of my Grandma to avoid the nose kissing tradition.

You see it’s a cute tradition but the people of Kupang really have high noses, unfortunately unlike mine.

My cousin Jerry later on had a good laughed over it because he set me up!

The reception took place in the same hotel we were staying at, by their restaurant.

Many people showed up that my uncle, father of the Groom had to ordered more food because he worried it might not be enough.

On my way back to my room to put my camera’s backpack, I caught a glimpse of my young cousin, Gloria. She’s the younger sister of the Groom. Her eyes were moist that I just had to stopped and asked if she’s ok. She nodded and my heart is breaking right there and then because I knew…”You miss your Mama, don’t you?” I whispered as I pulled her to my arms and her sobbing breaks.

I guided her to my room where she sat and started crying. A few minutes behind, there was a knock by the door. It was Woro, the youngest sister escorted by one of their aunts. She too was sobbing. I sat there in the bed with them, rubbing their backs gently while trying to keep my composure as my heart is hurting for these kids who really miss their mother on such a happy day.

The day of the wedding was also the day of their father’s birthday. His first birthday without my late aunt. They had prepared a small cake him and carried it up on stage where the look on his face was just priceless. They were all up there on stage sans my beloved aunt.

It was very difficult for my young cousins and those who miss my Aunt’s presence terribly.

All in all it was a good wedding. One that I won’t forget.

To the newlywed. Congrats you guys! Happily ever after!