Indonesian Wedding Dinner

I was indeed looking forward to the dinner after a rather fun & hectic day. At first thought, I would be dressed casual, but as later I had to accompany the bride & bridegroom, hence, I continued wearing the suite for the night as well... that means no dressing down.

At around 5 plus, we were in the ballroom, and there were the last minute preparations. The hotel staff and the events company crew could be seen doing the final touches to make this night the memorable night for the newly wed couple & their families.


Staffs getting the fruits ready


All kinds of fruits were brought in - local & imported

Loads of trays of food were brought in - from hot cooked food, to cold dishes like salads.


Trays & trays of food

There was 2 food stations - one in the ballroom & one more in the gardens of the hotel, which is just beside.


The tent during the early evening


The food nicely put under the tent

Truly, this is going to be a grand affair. Even the red carpets were rolled out, with decorations on its sides. This shows that when it comes to doing things, the Indonesians really know what they want & they do it in style!


Simply grand heh, red carpet & all

But the red carpet is not the highlight, but in fact it is the stage. Just look at the stage which has chairs for the couple, and both parents from each side.


Does the stage looks a lil familiar - reminds me of Datuk Siti's wedding

And of course, the not to be missed, wedding cake.


This wedding cake was designed by the bride's mum, who then had the cake company to do it up

*Hint: Don't try cutting the cake as apparently, the cake is all cardboard. The real cakes were already done up and presented in boxes for the family members to bring home & savour.

And besides the cake, the familiar champagne glasses were all stacked up.


The couple opened & poured 2 champagne bottles to fill the glasses.

And of course, with all decorations in place, the most important is the food. But before that, there is one more important thing - the Live music. And I mean, live.


A 3 member group plus a professional emcee were to entertain guests during dinner.

With such great lengths of preparations, the food must be something grand as well. And it sure was.

The ballroom was converted to a mini buffet style with stalls around the corners serving different cuisines.


The array of keropok & kerepek, plus its many sauces to go with.


There was the kambing guling (mutton). This best-seller was one of the firsts to be finished.


The peking duck was quite a hit!


Another food which drew the crowd - this interesting salmon wrap.

And finally, the desserts were again a splendour.


Big bowls of icr cream toppings!

I had to miss this as I was just too full. The ice creams actually went hand in hand with the waffles, which were cooked on the spot.


One of the many cakes.

And finally, remember the hotel staffs trying to arrange & prepare the fruits? Well, this is their hardwork:


Seriously, even the fruits come in proper & grand arrangements.

The whole night was really a wonderful night. The couples & family members must have been tired though as while the guests were eating, they had to shake all the guests hands for a good 2 hours or so... all this while doing it standing.

And that was not all, as thereafter, there was the photo sessions with different parties of groups, which again took quite a bit of time (maybe 45 minutes to an hour) - yes, that many groups of people.

Finally, it all ended with me doing a video interview with the couple on their relationship (before, present & future). This is for the video crew to document & I guess present to the couple & their families the DVD/ VCD.

I thought this could be rare especially with such scale, but apparently just like the many other Chinese Indonesians weddings.

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In all, I learnt a lot from this wedding alone. I now understand how the Indonesians work & how grand they do things, which truly is far bigger than what I've experience back home. And if I thought the mainland Chinese place high importance on 'face', the Indonesians do just as much.

In this age where over back home, weddings seem to be simpler & simpler, the Indonesians show how important these cultural traditions must be upkept, and in all grandour. And truly, I notice that this not only applies in weddings, but in everything else that they do.

Truly, this is quite a grand country :)

More of that to come!