weddings...javanese style...

after relaxing time at home it was time to journey to Dian and Ingmar's Javanese wedding celebrations in bandar lampung on sumatra, indonesia, via sydney, singapore and jakarta...and what celebrations they were!

i feel very privileged to have been welcomed into these elaborate ceremonies and days with their families and community in bandar lampung...it was exhausting but fascinating all at once...the official proposal was followed by ceremonies to cleanse and purify the bride and groom, planting snippets of their hair for fertility, the offering of gifts from the groom's family to the bride, the night of the angels, or "ladies' night", official service in the church and then javanese reception - Dian washing egg from Ingmar's feet, feeding each other, serving each other tea, honouring parents, greeting all guests and taking photographs, watching wayang kulit puppet shows....all amidst a myriad of costume and make-up changes! i don't know how dian and ingmar, and their families, handled it....but it was great....was really noticing the role of the parents in all the ceremonies...which i thought was quite nice....following are some shots from different days of the ceremonies...