Last February I went back to Jakarta for my cousin’s wedding. He’s 25 and his fiancee is 24. Both of them are Indonesian-Chinese, young, comes from a good proper middle-class family and are sometimes reckless. They had an eventful pre-wedding drama, but in the end they decided to still get married, 3 days before the actual wedding.
Setting aside the drama, their wedding pictures shows a rather normal wedding in Jakarta. Hold your breath. Normal means 700 invites equals to 1500 guests. Yup we are talking about a feast here. It is pretty common to spend around 60k-100k or more over a wedding. But we are talking about the middle-to-upper class here. It is also common to hire wedding organizer to coordinate the wedding.
The stage is the center of attraction, so for most of the people the bigger the better. I recently noticed that this practice resembles Malay wedding here in Singapore, so maybe it is adapted from the Javanese practice. Last time, the couple will just stand in the stage waiting for people to shake their hands, now they interact with the guests during the reception. The whole process is rather formal and the major player of the wedding is the food. So if the food is good, the wedding is good. Who cares about good decor and programs? At least we find a common ground with Singapore wedding.
It is also proper to dress up for a wedding, including go to hair salon to get your hair done. For the close family, this includes buying new dress and full make up.
Every country has different wedding practices and while I am having a Singaporean type of wedding, I try to incorporate my hometown’s flavor into the wedding. By putting extra effort in design and decor.
So I hope my banquet guests in Singapore will also put an effort to dress up. Casual is a big no-no..
Here are the pictures:
