This Day .. Seven Years Ago

Printed on our wedding invitation: Khalil Gibran's "Terpujilah cinta yang mampu mengisi kesepian manusia, dan mengakrabkan hatinya dengan hati manusia lain."

The invitation was printed only on one sheet of paper. A touch of pink font on pale-yellow paper, the same shade of the colour of my wedding gown. You wouldn't find any symbols of gift, flower and money on the invitation. Sorry, this was not a multiple-choice test and we didn't want to rob our guests.

We spread out 150 invitations, for 300 guests minimum. (You know, our culture could allow a guest that came with a partner, four children and four babysitters. Or he/she could bring the whole family along without any invitation at all). These 150 were divided into 50 names for groom's relatives, 50 names for bride's relatives, 25 names for groom's friends, 25 names for bride's friends. And since the bride and groom had the same friends, mostly, we could give spare invitations for our relatives. O we were so generous.

I printed our matrimonial program books and souvenir cards by myself. Talking about stealing working hours and abusing office facilities.

Our souvenirs were toothpick holders, two kinds. We'd like to encourage our guests to always prepare for toothpicks and have a clean teeth after meals. Probably on our 50th anniversary (amen to that), our souvenirs will be dental floss holder.

Because my parents' house was so full with people, there was not enough room to sleep. So I spent my last night of being single, sleeping together with my older sister, in my new house, one block away. The house that would soon be my staying place as a married woman.

At 8 a.m. in my house, D-Day morning, my brother was busy looking for his pants, my mother got panicked because my brother couldn't find his pants .. and I, I was having my breakfast, still wearing my pajamas, had no comment on any missing pants or whatsoever.

My wedding gown was an off-shoulder, strapless, pale yellow (some said it's creme, some said it's white, I didn't care who's colour blind). A simple empire cut, full of lace and crystal beads, with a detachable train. When my mom's helping me to wear it, she couldn't zip it. Then she got panicked again, "We're dead, it's too tight. What are we gonna do?". Then I said "Relax, it will fit. Zip it slowly." I loved my gown, and apparently the gown loved me too. It fit. See, I told ya, Ma. I preferred it to be tight rather than having a wardrobe malfunction later on.

My hand bouquet was a bunch of purple calla lilies. Long stems, tied up with white ribbon.

I borrowed my wedding shoes from my younger sister.

My dad got trouble breathing. Another panic attack? No. His heart chose a very good timing to act-up. My father-in-law also got sick, he was vomiting since early morning. Seems like he stayed up until very late the night before, because he had to entertain many relatives and guests that came to congratulate him and his son for the upcoming wedding. Too excited, too anxious .. or simply I put the blame on the relatives who're too stupid to understand that sleep was i-m-p-o-r-t-a-n-t before the big day. So, both of our dads were admitted to the hospital's emergency room. On our wedding day.

Our wedding car was a mercedes. The driver was a friend of my groom. My instruction to him: "Could we reach Kelapa Gading in 45 minutes?" And he drove us from Lippo Karawaci to Kelapa Gading exactly in 40 minutes. It was a fun ride.

My groom had his mobile phone, and he kept calling his home while we're on the road, checking on his dad's condition. Me, I left mine at home. Not only because I didn't have pockets, I didn't bring any purse, I also didn't think anyone would dare calling me on my wedding day. Nor that I would answer it anyway. (good thing is, blackberry wasn't available yet back then).

There was quite a chaotic situation at the bridal. Everything was late. My older sister had already sat on the edge of her seat, kept pushing her dresser to her nerves. She had to be at the church early cause I assigned her to sing for my entrance. Later I learned that our priest had threatened to go home after one hour waiting for me to arrive at the church. Hey, do not blame the bride. You should always excuse a bride for being late. She's the queen of the day, wasn't she?? Well, worse come to worst, we could skip the holy matrimony and went straight to the wedding reception instead. But that would be a sin.

St. Bonaventura Pulomas was the church. Lucky it was only around 15 minutes from the bridal.

Jim Brickman's "Glory" was my groom's entrance song (later at the reception, it was also the song for our wedding toast). The pianist, was one of the most talented young man I've ever met. I only provided him with a cassette, and he learned to play the song only by hearing.

Once I arrived at the church, I heard someone said that my dad was not there yet. I assumed he was still in the hospital. So I was ready to grab anyone's arms or even ready to walk down the aisle all by myself. An incorrect intel. Turned out my dad was there! He managed to be okay in time. Love you, Pa .. muach, muach.

My sister sang Jim Brickman's "Your Love" while I was walking down the aisle, holding on to my dad's arms. Heading towards my groom who waited in front of the altar together with our priest and witnesses. It was such a perfect song, for such a perfect moment. (FYI, she learned the song from cassette too).

The vocal group, VOTINS, was assigned to sing all my favourite songs, both for the church and for the reception. I gave them around 30-40 song list. If they couldn't sing it (or if they didn't know the song), they had to learn it. Emphasize on "had to".

The holy matrimonial had a short program. Exactly what we planned it to be. It took only about less than an hour. Even felt shorter cause I loved the songs beautifully sung in the church.

Song list for the church: "Glory" and "Your Love" for the entrance, "Cintailah Sesamamu" for the reading, "Thanks to You" for the parents blessings, "Panis Angelicus" for the communion, "All I Ask of You" was supposed to be sung for the sacrament signing but it couldn't catch the time, "The Prayer" for Mother Mary's blessing, and "Wherever You Go" for the closing.

Missing person in the church: The Father of the Groom (still sick, couldn't attend at all), The Mother and Younger Sister of the Bride (these two managed to show up right before the parents blessing session. My sister had to drive the car, speeding at 150km/hour).

We bought our wedding rings from Felice. It's a pair of simple white gold band, with a tiny round cut diamond in the center. It didn't take us a long time to find it and surprisingly it didn't cost us a fortune. It's love at first sight.

Our wedding reception was held at Hotel Dusit Mangga Dua, by the swimming pool. The poolside was lit by candles.

The tea ceremony and civil registration were held in one of the hotel's meeting room. My father-in-law managed to be there finally.

Right before heading towards the reception hall, my brother stick a black-and-white butterfly tattoo on my back shoulder.

"I Finally Found Someone" was our wedding song. It escorted us to the hall. We chose this song because it was our story. We started over coffee, we started out as friends. It's funny how from simple things, the best things begin.

Looking around when we stopped at the entrance, I saw them .. standing in the very front of line .. our family, and 5 of my good friends from the moviegroup. Such a warm and lovely sight.

The wedding bell didn't work. No matter how hard we pulled the string, the confetties just got stuck inside. (I knew it, I should had provided each guests with tiny bells, so they could ring it for us instead). Well, happy that we could humour the guests though.

There was no wedding cake. I always felt cynical whenever I saw a "wedding cake show". It was a media to show off some kissing and feeding scenes, with the MC as a director. Sheesh! If I felt like kissing my groom in front of all our guests, there would be no directing and no cake necessary.

We had a toast fountain though. We poured over 6 bottles of sparkling white grape juice. No champagne, sorry, didn't want to be one of those drunken brides.

No q to congratulate the bridegroom. We made it easy for our guests. They had congratulated us already by their presence, they could just proceed with their 2nd mission: FOOD. So after the toast, we immediately left the hall .. right to the outdoor pool, looking for some fresh air.

Through the evening, we roamed around our guests. Chatting, taking pics, hearing their comments on us, receiving their handshakes, stealing grapes from their plates .. no pressure at all.

Poco-Poco Dance was still in. Female relatives and friends, including mothers of the bridegroom were dancing. I took off my shoes .. you heard me .. took off my shoes and joined into the group barefooted.

My groom's cousin caught my 2nd hand-bouquet (it's not the calla lilies, but the roses one I got from the bridal). Whoa, the race was a riot, I tell ya. The bouquet was simply damaged to the last petal. We gave him a gift .. a bracelet from Perlini's Silver. We did hope he could give it to his girlfriend.

The reception finished in 2 hours, but the chat with my friends lasted until the next one hour. One of my friends suggested me to go to the cinema with them, watching K-19: The Widowmaker. Wuasai! What a title!

We spent our first night together in the hotel suite room, counting the envelopes. The smallest amount was Rp 1,000,- and the biggest amount was USD 300,-.

The gifts we received: jeweleries, a bedding set, a tea set, a dinner set, an oil-burner, a hand-made DVD glass rack and my very first DVD Region 1 The Emperor's New Groove - The Ultimate Groove (2-Disc Collector's Edition). (And we didn't even have any DVD player at that time). This llama was truly a pioneer in my DVD-collection history. A very hilarious movie, always makes my day.

Our souvenir to the bridesmaid and bestman (my groom's sister and her boyfriend), were a pair of Aigner perfume.

Our wedding day took 3 rolls of black and white film and 4 rolls of color film. All taken candidly by 2 photographers, friends of my sister. They trailed us everywhere since we're in the church until end of the reception. We love the photos, they're beautiful.

There were another photographer and cameraman that captured our day. It took 2 pieces of VCD and god-knows-how-many-rolls of colour film.

I hate our wedding video. Could never stand watching it full in one-sitting. I intend to edit it and make it my own wedding clip. Someday.

Our honeymoon was a gift from my younger sister and her husband. Four of us went to Yogyakarta the following day of my wedding. It was the last evening flight, and we almost missed it. "Please, sir, it's our honeymoon." And the ground crew had to make a call, "Hold the gate! Hold the gate! We've got 4 passengers checking in right now!". Wohooo! Sounded like we're in a movie or something.

I remember my MC called me at the night before our wedding day. He said, "The most important thing of a wedding, is the two of you - the bridegroom. That's what we all want to see .. if you look beautiful and fresh, if you look happy and smiling on your day. Others go second. Should there be any mishappening on the wedding plan, it will only be minor things. Nothing can be really perfect. So get rest, sleep well, do not worry too much. Let us take care the rest". And that's what happened. Even though both of our dads almost couldn't attend our one-day-in-a-lifetime, though the holy matrimonial was late, the reception hall's decoration and setting were not exactly as we planned it to be, and for all other things that didn't go well outside our knowledge .. we wouldn't say our wedding day wasn't perfect.

It's perfect with its flaws. It's perfect because we felt it that way for the whole day. It's perfect because of the people who helped us making it come true. It's perfect, because until today, it can still bring a smile to our face.

"The Colour of My Love" was my promise to my groom. What has started seven years ago .. may it last forever.

Note: please click on the hyperlink for songs and other reference.