Tuesday 30 August 2011

THE WEDDING DAY ARRIVES




Monday 27 June
It's the morning of the wedding and I wake bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to typically beautiful sunny Bali morning .................. REWIND
Woke feeling just a tad seedy, surely I didn't drink that much last night??? Oh, that's right, I think I did, oops!!
Was that rain I heard earlier?? Is that wind I can hear? Why is it not bright and sunny outside? Oh dear, the clouds are still hanging around and the wind is still blowing. Not quite what what the bride had ordered for the beautiful Bali beach wedding!!!! Never experienced wind like this in Bali. There should be no chance of rain, wet season's over and after all, someone told me that the Bukit peninsula is the driest part of Bali!!! No time to sit and dwell on the weather, time to meet for breakfast.
The bride and her maids arrive and  meet us for breakfast with the bride's uncle holding court over a bevvy of young beauties. Funny the girls seem very bright and chirpy - that's right is was only us 'oldies' (some of whom did not surface until much later!) who seemed to be drinking. Novotel buffet breakfast is fantastic but strangely there wasn't much that took my fancy!
After breakfasting with the bride it was time for us all to start preparations. The hair and makeup was beginning at 10.30. First thing to do, send the father of the bride off to run some errands. Easy. Change some money, buy drinks for the band. Now the father of the bride never handles the money but knows how it's done when it comes to changing money, he'd seen the process many times and heard the pitfalls and how to avoid it and he always listens to me.
Hair's Done


Why was it then that when I went back to check on how he'd gotten on, things didn't look quite right??? He put the money on the bed and I counted it. Hang on a minute, it's Rp600,000 short!! "Couldn't be, he counted it out and then let me count it and it was right when he took it back to count it again" What???? Changing money 101 - always be the last one to handle the money!!!! Father of the bride didn't want to do anything - he'd spent some of the money already, it was his fault for not checking the money properly etc.......... Well the mother of the bride was having none of this, bad enough someone dared rip us off but on our daughter's wedding day. Eventually father of the bride relented and off we went to find the rogue money changer. Lots of ranting on my part, things like "you have ruined our daughter's wedding day" etc etc, finger pointing - I was just a tad angry. Of course the money changer was demanding to see the money - what difference that would make and of course some had been spent. After a while the money changer slipped up and said "it was only Rp500,000" - got him!!! Wasn't going to argue the point. I demanded it back and he gave it to me!! Apparently the owner had been standing there and apologised profusely (sorry, but he was probably the one who showed the guy how to do this) to which I replied that it's situations like this that tarnish the reputation of Bali as a great holiday destination and he should be ashamed that this ever happened and it was lucky that I had not had to involve the tourist police. Surprisingly, father of the bride said he was proud of me, I don't think either of us believed that we would get the money back.
That done and feeling better, we headed back to enjoy the rest of the preparations and pray to the weather gods that the threatening rain would blow away.

Nails to be done




The Bridal Suite


The Bridal Suite


The Girls Chillin' in the villa


Plenty of room to relax


Time for the Bride's hair


So much of it


The time had come for the bride to make a decision - should the wedding be moved??? The sky was still threatening and the wind still blowing!! All the way to Bali for the long dreamed of beautiful beach wedding, who would have believed this :-0.  The Balinese were all saying that the wind would blow the rain away and all would be good. Ok, this reasoning is as good as any. Decision made. The wedding stays put!!

I have my speech written (the Father of the Bride speech has become Parents of the Bride speech - F.O.B would do anything to get out of it). Nothing like leaving things to the last minute!

Time to eat - thank goodness for room service! Trying to get some food into a group of nervous, excited, half ready girls, including myself. It had to be done!! Just in time before the photographers arrive. Ok, it's serious now, this really is about to happen. Things are buzzing now and the wedding planner arrives to take control at the perfect moment :-). Of course, even whilst not there she was organising and in total control ;-)

The Boys arriving


The guests arriving


The Groom ready for his Bride


All set for the wedding


Is that a tear from the Mother of the Bride?


Here comes the Bride









All eyes on the Bride and Groom


The Bride's parents - is that a sigh of relief ;-)


Onto the beach for photos




Time to relax and enjoy
... or perhaps go shopping!!


Great setting for the family photos


So happy

With the ceremony over, it's time for the guests to relax, enjoy themselves and be entertained. It's not too long before the Bride and Groom can join us. The evening starts with cocktails, nibbles and entertainment by the pool bar. So easy to relax and enjoy in such a great setting.

Dancing to the bongo beat


Playing with fire


Entertainment just for us!!


Cocktails, entertainment, can it get better than this? Yes - it's over to the beachfront villa. Let the night begin :-)

Daisy's everywhere



Cute little beach chair place settings


Tables were set beautifully
villa pool in the background







The bridal party welcomed to the beat of the bongos




Yet more entertainment before a few short but meaningful and oh so funny speeches.












The food was totally amazing. I have never seen so much that looked and tasted so good!!

A small sample of what was available!







The band played and the Bride and Groom and all the guests ate, drank and danced the night away.

The band was fabulous





Even a song for the happy couple
from the beautiful voice of the Bride's sister

And of course there was the cutting of the cake. What a fantastic cake it was!!

The top tier of the cake
Note the Groom's fishing rod!



Each individual cake had a different
seaside theme.


And so a great time was had by all. Most importantly, the Bride and Groom had a day to remember forever but each and every family member and guest had a fantastic time. Everyone will have fond memories that they will keep forever. 
A Bali wedding - a wonderful idea - not only was the wedding day amazing, the wedding party and guests were able to meet up, get to know each other, cement friendships before and after the big day. A holiday, a wedding and lots of fun times all rolled into one :-)




































No comments:

Post a Comment