Wedding Bells

A few weeks ago, the secretary walked into the pod and handed me a large embossed envelope.  I opened it up and pulled out a fancy invitation to a wedding.  At first, I was quite confused... since none of my friends at SPH are getting married, but then I realized what it was.

Indonesians typically invite tons of people to their weddings.  Their friends and family.  But also any friends and family of their friends and family.  Four hundred is a small wedding.  And anyone who wants to come is welcome, whether or not you know the happy couple or not.

Well, this wedding is the wedding of the son of the people who started the school that I work at... yeah.. crazy connections, right.  All the teachers at my school were invited to the wedding, and a group of us decided to go together.  Let's face it, it's not every day that you get invited to a billionaire's wedding.

We hopped on the bus with the other teachers to go downtown and arrived at the convention center.  We were some of first of the three thousand... THREE THOUSAND people who attended the wedding... craziest thing ever.

Decorated like a garden, even the floors were covered with fake grass

 Part of the two hour wedding included watching the couple thank their parents for raising them to follow  Christ.  It was quite touching.  We also got to watch the family group photos... not as touching.

We were all invited to the immediate reception, which was full of delicious food from around the world.  Later in the evening, the special guests who have a closer connection to the family were invited to a banquet... but we only got the unlimited sushi and calamari and Peking duck and truffle-filled chicken.

Full choir... there was also a full orchestra

We signed the guestbook to get the ticket for our party favors

Indonesia does this thing where whenever they want to congratulate someone, whether for opening a store, a birthday, an anniversary, or a wedding, they send these foam signs with flowers.  This wedding had more than I could count.. that went further than I could see from where I stood... they have friends in many places

Tearing down after the ceremony

You know it's a big-time even when there are this many cops