First Khmer Wedding!

Pictures in order from top: sparklers after cake cutting, my grade 12 students looking beautiful, catching the bouquet, kids waiting for cans, food, receiving line, neighbors daughter (in the bridal party), flower girls?, wedding tent, my entourage: Host mom, me, neighbor, random yeey

Last Friday I went to my first Khmer wedding. The bride is the sister of a teacher at my school so all of the teachers and students were invited. It was so much fun! I think it was a bigger wedding than most. The colors in Khmer weddings are very bright and the women dust off their best dresses and spend hours doing their hair and make-up. It had many similarities to a western wedding. There was a cake that the bride and groom cut, there was a receiving line to say hello to guests and give them a gift, a live band, tossing the bouquet (my student caught it!), and of course...dancing!

This man that eats breakfast at the same place as me every morning (wearing silk pajamas) got up and sang (really well) with the band. That really surprised me! The other thing that I didn't expect were dozens of children that hung around the outskirts of the wedding waiting to grab any leftover cans or food. They reminded me of little (Tennis) ball boys. There was a woman dressed in pajamas with a large stick that was there to try to keep the kids and dogs out of the tent. Needless to say, she quit after the first hour.

Luckily, I just stayed long enough to eat and watch the cake being cut. My neighbor wanted to go home, (as most of the older people do) so I went with her. They leave the dancing and REALLY loud music to the young people. I am not really a good dancer but I do like trying to dance Khmer style. I will save that for the big wedding I have coming up in March. I would like to get a proper wedding outfit by then.