Wedding: In a Nutshell part 3

this is very loooong overdue. but as it is, things have been a little busy (and okay i admit, i was lazy). i promised myself that i had to make myself write this post because i know i'll regret it later.

part 3 is day of bersanding, 24 April 2011. but briefly, may i just touch on the night before, 23rd April 2011, the night where i had my henna done on my feet and hands. it was not a pleasant experience because:

a) it was cold. and i couldnt  exactly cover my poor cold feet with a blanket lest i damage the pacar on it.
b) my nose was itchy throughout the night. and again, i couldnt scratch my noses unless i wanted to rock a rudolph look the next day.
c) the pacar on my feet was less than perfect. it pained me to see that it wasnt properly done and that i couldnt do anything about it.
d) i could not sleep at all.

so it the end, after determining that my feet and fingers were red/orange enough, i took them off (slowly because the pengangun was sleeping next to me), rinsed the residue under the tap and up i went to my bedroom to get a good night's sleep.

(mind you, i only slept properly at 2am.and the next morning, i think the pengangun was upset that i went off huhu)

so th next day, i was uber cranky because of the unpleasant experience. add to that the fact that my pengangun insisted i do a bertangas and mandi bunga, which i think is ridiculously unnecessary (and i am supported here by both my mother and grandmother) but we went ahead with it anyway because it was 'tradition'. however, managed to make the whole experience less painful as my grandmother told my pengangun (who is my nini tua, btw) that i can only do the bertangas for a few seconds cause we were running late to leave for polo club.

we were all suppose to leave at 8.30am, but due to the bride being cranky, the whole party left the hse at abt 9am, where the bride left on an empty stomach. talk abt antagonising the bride huh?

as soon as we arrived in polo, i was told that my veil wasnt allowed to drag on the floor because 'inda kuasa'. fudge me but i planned for the whole thing, for my goddamn veil to be cathedral length! so a very very pissed off me conceded to having the veil folded so that it only reached the floor. retrospectively, i shouldn't have been so difficult but that was my biggest day and it was very dissapointing to have your plans dashed just because someone says its 'inda kuasa'.

good thing abt polo was that food was served in the bride's changing room, so i got to eat before getting ready. after that, the whole shebang started taking place; i changed into my blouse (and a slip) while my face was made up. at this point friends and family were coming up to see me, which was fun! after my face was done (and all friends were told to go back to their seats), my bridesmaids pulled me to the bathroom to put on my skirt, which was to be worn as a sarong.

that experience in the bathroom was the defining moment of the relationship between  bride and bridemaids. there i was, in my underwear and corset and having three ladies pin and pull the kain tenunan on me. aslo worth mentioning that one particular bridesmaid pinned me twice.

once i was zipped up into the pink bersanding dress, it was time to wear the tudong and tiara. once i was fitted in the full regalia, it was picture taking! then there was more waiting, because the groom was late by almost 20 minutes. i was brought up to the pelamin by both parents walking beside me, 3 flower girls leading the procession and my 3 bridesmaids bringing up the rear. the walk down the aisle was just a lot of flashes, glimpses of faces and a few 'hey rabz'. my dutiful bridesmaids promptly fixed my skirt and veil as i sat on the dais and i was telling myself to not look around so that my mata doesnt look 'liar'.

finally, the groom arrived and i could slowly lift my eyes up. the usual doa and bertapak went on, then it was berbasuh kaki!

berbasuh kaki was planned as a short one; my parents didn't want to fill the water vase fully so that people would get the hint. however more and more people came up to basuh kaki, up to the point that my nini idah has to refill the vase with mineral water from thrice. it was a great experience, albeit a cold one. altho i remember thinking at that time that i wanted to take pictures with friends and a few were already catching my eye and signaling their departure to me during the berbasuh kaki. (note: husband mentioned after the honeymoon that during the berbasuh kaki was the one and only time he has seen me so 'teranah').

after that was done, the usual pictures on the dais with friends who waited, and family. and then, the fun part, the picture taking between me and groom only! we went from the dais to the windows to the stairs to the surau to the bench outside and finally actually lying down on the grass.

admittedly we got great pictures out of it but i was quite hungry by that point. in the end, both bride, groom and one of my brothers left polo at aroun 4pm feeling very tired and hungry. we made a pitstop at kfc for food but we (bride & groom) stayed in teh car whilst my brother got the food. We got some funny looks from other cars since we were decked out in pengantin gear but driving the car was the groom himself. hehe.

by the time we reached home, took off all the make up, hung up our clothes and showered, it was already time to get ready for the berambil-ambilan! we were planning on getting a power nap squeezed in before the night's event but alas, our obligations as pengantin weren't over yet.

but that night's event will be for another post.

i'd like to end this post by saying thank to to everyone who came and made the event a success =D

much love,
be'ah xoxo