… that someone just got married?
Well, if you heard a lot of people got married in the last month or so, one of them is ME!
HAH!
Yeah, the groom did show up and I didn’t run away from the church — so … THERE WAS A WEDDING! XD
To be very honest, I never thought I’d ever be married. Especially not to the person I actually want to marry (considering my mom’s long streak of trying to fix me up with guys who are sons of her friends and blah blah, since I was – like … 19).
That day – the 28th of April 2012 – was DEFINITELY the longest and most tiring 12 hours of our lives. Yes, you read that right — TWELVE hours. Could be more but definitely not less.
I woke up a bit after 3 am because I need to have my make up done before 7 am. The guy that did my make up showed up sometime around 4.30 am (THANKS FOR THAT. Not.), after my mom freaked out a few times about me going to be late ( he promised to be at my house at 3.30 am).
The process started with the groom’s family “picking me up” to go the church. Pete’s suppose to come with them, from their house, but he didn’t really feel comfortable about staying the night there, the night before the wedding. So he stayed at my place, and snook out from the back door when the Harianjas are nearby and then made it seem like he came with them, instead. Good thinking, right?
XD
That, started at around 7 – 7.30 am.
And hour or so of this and that (no, I’m not going to bother you with the details because — I CAN’T REALLY REMEMBER THEM! HAHA!) then we’re off to the church!
*Me, Pete, and Dwi went in to the wedding car*
*a police car, that was parked in front of it, turned on its sirens and started moving*
*the wedding car followed*
Pete: Is … that … police … car … for us?
Me: HAHAHA. I guess so.
Pete: OH. WOW.
So yeah, now we could tell people how it feels to be escorted by a police car on your wedding day and say,”SUCK IT!” to traffic.
We got to the church at around 9-ish and Mel (my maid of honor) was there – she got lost on her way to my house so I told her to just meet us up at the church – with her mom. She looked beautiful. And my wedding was actually her first event with a kebaya.
:’)
Bryan, Pete, Me (d'uh), Mel. (She looked pretty, yes?) 
I was also really happy that I finally got to meet Bryan in person, Mel’s boyfriend for the last, umm … 2-3 years? He seems like a really nice bloke, and he’s been making my friend happy, therefore, I like him. And it was very sweet of him to come all the way from Oz with Mel for the wedding.
:’)
Anyway.
We had to deal with the registry papers first.
I got my brother to be my witness and Dwi as Pete’s.
Which also made Dwi (and Ajeng) part of our lives’ history. Something, I never thought would happen. Dwi and Ajeng, they’re one of my most favorite couples in this world.
I met Ajeng online (yeah, I don’t really have a real life. LOL!) years ago and became good friends in no became best friends. Now, they’re family to us. Just like Rini.
And while we’re doing that, two of the most important people in my life showed up; Batman and Lisa.
NO. Me and Batman are still NOT sure why we were looking up instead of at the camera in front of us. XD
These two … they’re … two of the 5 people (here) who’s been with me through it all. Who were happy when I first “met” Pete, who were by my side when we stopped talking, who picked me up, who listened to every boring, repeated stories about him when I was missing him (WHICH WAS EVERYDAY! XD), who stayed by my side through all the mistakes I did in those two years, who were truly happy for me when he proposed and who I’ll missing like crazy once I move away.
Bitches, I love you.
:’)
And then, the wedding (ceremony) began.
I walked down the aisle with my mom next to me, instead of my dad. I was trying really hard not to cry and just to smile instead. And I think I did a pretty good job at that, if I say so myself. I just kept thinking about the man that is waiting for me down the aisle. The man that – according to my good friend, Fata – looked really happy while waiting for me down the aisle. He even took a photo as evidence! XD
In my defense, he looked happy because he still doesn't know what he's getting himself into. MUAHAHAHAHA! XD
So it began.
So I said a vow I thought would never come out from my mouth.
So we made a promise to each other.
So we tried not to shed a tear while saying it.
So we put rings on each other’s finger.
THANK YOU, FATA, FOR THIS PHOTO! I absolutely love it. :')
So … we’re married.
( The man with the glasses, with the biggest smile on his face, that’s my brother :’) … )
Theeeen …
we left the church and went to the convention hall where we (me, Pete and hundreds of other people that were invited) had lunch and where we did the whole adat (tradition) this and that. Yay, fun!
Not.
My favorite part from the convention hall was simply seeing familiar faces. And by familiar faces, I meant my friends.
Tim and Anjii – Pete’s best friends – who came all the way from the UK for the wedding finally showed up. They went to Bukit Lawang the day before the wedding. It was suppose to be a one day trip but it rained the night before the wedding and the road – that they need to go through to get back – were flooded. They couldn’t make it in time for the church but they made it to the convention hall, safe and sound. YAY!
Top left: I was literally asked to not be in the same frame as these bitches took a photo with MY husband. *slaps* LOL!
I saw Rini at the convention hall. She skipped the church because — well, she’s not really fond of churches. Such a perfect Christian. LOL.
I’m not a fan too, don’t get me wrong, but I need to get in one to get married. SO.
And even my wedding wasn’t enough to get Rini in to a church.
XD
<3 <3 <3
The highlight of the day was probably when I was walking out of the toilet (to steal a smoke) and saw Batman talking to the band saying that some people are going to SING. And when I heard that, I was like, “OI! DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!”. Because, being friends with them for almost (or over?) 5 years now, has given me this alarm system every time something bad is going to happen. The alarm beeped when I heard her talking to the band. She replied,”OH! BRIDE’S HERE! WE’RE GOING TO SING NOW!”. Then she grabbed my hand and walked to the – so called – stage. And before I knew it, the rest of them joined. And I was like,”WHAT THE ….?! NOOOOOOO!”.
Lisa literally pushed a microphone to my face. LOL!
We sang TWO songs (oh those poor other guests …),”Quando, Quando” and “L.O.V.E”. They even managed to drag Pete to sing with us on the second song. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I could see the look on my aunts and uncles’ faces when we were singing AND dancing around. It felt like we were in a rave party or something.
They were all like,”Who … are … these … crazy … out of control … women?!” LOLFUCKITITWASMYWEDDINGLOLOL!
I wasn’t really sure about doing that when it happened, but now, I’m glad they made me do it. That was probably funnest bit of the wedding. No. Correction. That was the funnest bit of the wedding.
So thank you, ladies.
After that, we were called to next room to do the adat (we used two rooms at the hall; one for friends and the other for close families and the whole adat thing). It started from (around) 3.30 pm until almost 7 pm. Most of that were us receiving ulos from SO. SO. SO. OH. SO. MANY. PEOPLE!
(According to my mom, we received over 300 ulos. No joke!)
The positive way to look at that is that there were a lot of people who gave us the best of wishes (represented by each ulos given). They also said a lot of nice things, showed support, wanted us to have a happy marriage and for us to grow old together.
So, as annoying as those hours were, we thank them for every wish.
I was feeling really hungry at around 4.30 pm and that is NOT a good sign. Trust me, you don’t even want to look at me wrong when I’m hungry. I could abuse puppies when I’m hungry. Go ask Pete. I could almost see fear on his face every time I say,”I’m hungry …” LOL!
So he asked Tim to find something for me to eat. Tim brought me an orange (I think). LOL. Thank you, Tim. You really didn’t have to do that, I was planning to just punch someone in the face if I couldn’t control myself any longer, but — the orange saved quite a lot of people. So, again, thank you.
Like I said, it ended around 6.50 – 7.00 pm.
“Oh, so then you could go home and rest?”, you asked.
NO.
We still need to go back to my “parents-in-law”‘s (the Harianjas) house first. That’s the last adat that I need to do. That is to show that I am now officially their daughter in law, so to speak. And there’s should be another long, exhausting ceremony to show that they’re welcoming me in to the family.
BUT, we’re lucky that they could see how freakin’ tired we were and just did a quick ceremony that lasted for only 30 minutes-ish (it could/should be around 2 hours-ish).
HALLELUJAH! THERE IS A GOD!
X’)))
Soooo we went to our hotel (because there’s NO WAY we’d be able to get a proper sleep at my house because all of my relatives are there) at around 8.30 – ish. We made a quick stop at KFC’s drive-thru first though. BECAUSE I WAS STARVING OMG! XD
(We didn’t really eat anything during the whole thing. We had a bit of rice in the morning and fruits after the church, but that’s it.)
When we got to the suite, all I wanted was to take a hot shower. My head were itching like you would not believe. I can’t wait to clean ALL the make-up from my face. After the shower, the front desk called and said that there’s “a Melissa waiting at the lobby” and if I want her to come up or not. I was surprised and said that she should just come up. So she did. She came with Bryan with our wedding gift. It was … :’)
The first thing she said when she entered the room was,
“WHAT KIND OF COUPLE EATS KFC AT THEIR WEDDING NIGHT?!”
LOL!
The cool kind, Mel. The cool kind.
XD
And not long after that, I got a call from Rini saying that they were at the lobby. And by “they”, I meant her, Ajeng and Dwi. I told them to come up. I was in the bedroom, looking at the wonderful polaroid photos Dita was taking during the wedding (THANK YOU, DITA ILOVEYOU!), when they came in. Rini came in to the room and put down a big black plastic bag that turned out to be (cold) BEERS!
LOLOLOLOL!
I FUCKING LOVE MY FRIENDS!
We (me, Ajeng and Rini) ended up talking, smoking cigs and drinking beers at the balcony while Pete spent time with Dwi inside, at the living room (Pete has “I-don’t-like-really-tall-buildings” issues. XD). It was then that I realized how long the wedding was. Ajeng said she was surprised when I replied to her text and said that we’re on our way to our hotel at around 8-ish. They knew it was going to be a long one, but they didn’t think it was going to be THAT long. Neither did we, guys. Neither did we.
I was so exhausted, but I was really happy that they came by with the beers. Because, we promised all of the people under the “awesome friends” category that we’re going to take them out for beers after the wedding.
Little did we know that, after the wedding, every inch of our body were actually in constant pain. Especially my feet. Oh, the torture of wearing high heels more than 5 minutes. So instead of bringing the beers to them, they brought the beers to us.
Geniuses.
X))
Ajeng and Dwi also gave us a wedding gift.
Don’t argue with me when I say it’s THE MOST AWESOME WEDDING GIFT EVER!
Dwi drew this himself. :')
At least to us, it was.
It really was.
Thank you, guys.
:’)
(TODAY IS ACTUALLY DWI’S BIRTHDAY SO HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DWI! …)
They went back to their hotel at around midnight.
After that, all we wanted to do was just to lie down in bed and watch tv. Which we did.
Pete massaged my feet (AW YES HE’S SWEET, ISN’T HE? LOL!) and I massaged his (yeah, I’m not one of those selfish wives. At least not yet. XD). We watched tv for a while and talked about how we couldn’t believe that it’s over.
And that we’re … married now.
It was … surreal.
:’)
Those long and exhausting hours, at the end of the day, finally felt worth it. The wedding wasn’t really the kind that we wanted – we wanted a small, simple and less tiring kind – but … if that’s what it takes for us be married, that’s what we’re going to do. And, to my family, it’s a celebration for them.
To my mom and brother especially, it’s their way of telling people how happy they are about having another person in to our small family.
Another son for my mom and a younger brother for my brother (they refuse to use the words “in-law” when they talk about Pete).
So everything was done out love and joy.
So. There you go.
My wedding (day) LONG story.
We went to Jakarta and Bandung afterwards.
But I’ll save that for another post – hopefully published soon.
XD
OH OH! I also made a video from/for it. Click here … if … well, you guys aren’t following me on Twitter, not my “friends” on Facebook and interested (to watch it).
PS:
Thank you for all the wishes, guys. Text messages, Direct Messages and tweets, wall posts, everything. And all the “good luck with the visa” wishes as well. Because we need as many of that as we can get. Pete flew back to the UK, exactly, last week. As awful as it is to have your boy/girl-friend living halfway around the world from you, it’s worse when it’s your wife/husband.
:’(
Thank you for all who came to the wedding. Thank you for, Fata, who took GREAT photos of the wedding, Dwi that took videos, Rini who had a lot of twitpics (LOL).
Thank you for Feby, Lalla, Farah, Dini who didn’t make it to the wedding but got us a wedding gift; a batik Manchester United shirt for Pete, the MU hater (LOLOLOLOL) and three beautiful batik scarfs for me.
Thank you Dita, Iren, Fata, Awan, Arif, Wahyu, who bought Pete a wonderful batik shirt (yeah, he got 2 batik shirts in less than 2 weeks. XD). That was really sweet of you guys. Really.
And of course, Tim and Anjii who made the time to come and spend time with us.
THANK YOU ALL OF YOU!
We’re blessed to have such wonderful friends.
It’s true what they say, “Friends are the family that we chose for ourselves“.
We chose you and thank you for choosing us (at least we hope you did. Haha!).
I’ll correct myself then.
We’re blessed to have such wonderful families.
:’)
Y
