Hong Wedding
An English teacher at my school, Teacher Hong, got married to the district governor's daughter last Thursday. He told me to invite some of the volunteers. We had a great time!
In the morning around 6:30am I headed over for the procession with my father. I think this part of the ceremony is where the groom and his family, as well as a bunch of guests walk to where the bride and her family are waiting. All of the days festivities take place in this tented area as well.
When I got to the area where the trays that we carry were held, my father dropped me like a bad disease and went to hang out with the dudes. I kind of was just walking around confused saying "Help...Where do I stand" over and over in Khmer.
My father hanging out with teachers from my school
The room full of trays of fruit, beer, candy, pig heads, etc. that the procession carries to the wedding.
After you select a tray, you are supposed to line up next your partner (of the same gender) that has the same tray as you. Then you walk in pairs to the wedding tent. This is led by the groom and his family and traditional Khmer instruments.
Someone finally took pity on my soul and paired with me.
Needless to say, I could not get anyone to help me take a picture of myself walking in the wedding procession. Here are some aerial shots I took of a wedding procession in my town last week to give you an idea of what it looked like:
Procession walking down the river to the wedding tent
The traditional Khmer instrumentalists and the groom's party lead
I always thought the trays were gifts for the bride and groom, but they are used throughout the day to feed the tables of people. I was told over 100 people were invited to this wedding and that is considered a big wedding in my village.
Bridal Party (sorry it's so fuzzy..I mean "artsy")
The other PCV's got to my site in the late morning, we went back to the wedding to eat lunch, got our hair and make up done (Khmer style!) and went to the dinner/reception portion of the wedding.
The toes and nails are hand painted for an extra dollar
Face is literally painted on. They tried to shave my eyebrows but Lauren stopped them. Fake eyelashes a must!
If you are a guest at a Cambodian wedding you get all three meals that day, along with a Khmer "open bar" dinner (beer) and fruit. You are expected to give the bride and groom around 5-10 USD according to how big the wedding was and how your status in the community. I'm not sure if they make a profit.
Party Pictures!
Prom or Khmer wedding?
Kampong Cham volunteers and students
Bride and groom (final look)
Bridal party behind giant fruit tower
1 comments:
While your face may have been literally painted on, you look pretty! No shaving of the eyebrows though... No bueno!
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