The wedding ceremony continued on the following day with the “kenduri kahwin” (the wedding reception). Nowadays, “akad nikah” is almost always a private ceremony attended by close family members and friends. The wedding reception is when neighbours, friends and all family members come to celebrate the holy union. The “kenduri kahwin” also serves as an announcement to everyone that the love birds are already lawfully wedded couple.
I arrived at my friends place around 11.30 am. She was already d
ressed. The “mak andams” already busy preparing her the day. I couldn’t really describe her dress because it wasn’t really a kebaya, it wasn’t exactly a dress either. But it was in a lovely yet glamorous brownish colour. The “mak andam” left around 12.15 to check on the groom. She was to help him with his traditional attire.
While waiting for the groom, friends and families came to congratulate the bride. After what seemed a short wait, the groom and his entourage arrived. The entourage brought gift or known as “hantaran”. My friends joined him at the roa
d. They were then paraded into the house, accompanied by “alunan chak lempong” (sound of “chak lempong”). “Chak Lempong” is a traditional music band. Their musical instruments are mainly made of some type of gongs of different ‘pitch’. The type of music they made is also called “Chak Lempong”. In other states, the parade is normally accompanied by “paluan kompang” (drumming of “kompang”).
The bride and groom were paraded to the house. At the entrance, the couple were 'sprinkled' with "beras kunyit" and "bunga rampai" (as a sign of good luck). Normally it is followed by “bertepung tawar” at the "pelamin". But since they were running short of time, it was replaced by a short photo shoot. Then they head to the “ba
lai” (tents set up to serve food to those who came). There were special food served for the bride and groom commonly known as “makanan pengantin”. Symbolically, this would be the first meal the two love birds have as husband and wife. It is called “makan beradat”. In the old days, people don’t date, “makan beradat” would most probably be sort of their first date. The groom entourage also get special food compared to other “kenduri” attendees.
After “makan beradat”, it was a photo session with the bride and groom families. Then the groom’s family left, leaving their "hantaran" (the trays with white and purple theme) and taking with them “hantaran” from the bride’s family (trays with red and gold theme). From then onwards the event became somewhat less ‘formal’. Bride and groom mingled with the “kenduri” attendees, meeting families and friends. I left around 4pm after congratulating the newly weds.(p.s. More photos can be found here)
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