I am off to a Javanese wedding tomorrow. And it is scaring the hell out of me.
I was never the girly girl (and still not one), so I was feeling a little overwhelmed with all the things I have to prepare and do for before I can attend this wedding. Honestly, never in my life have I gone to such lengths to get all dolled up for a wedding – not even in my own wedding!
Javanese women take wedding preparations very seriously, especially their own. They spare no expense to make everything perfect for their big day. They even go as far as making sure guests dress the part as, uhm, guests. And being not from Indonesia, I was careful not to disrespect their ways and traditions, which was how I got swept along in this crazy girly girl adventure.
Dress. Maybe their intensity in planning a wedding is rubbing off on me, because instead of getting a simple dress, I decided to go all out and dress in a traditional Javanese kebaya. My friend Sammy, served as my personal fabric shopping consultant, as we navigated our way through different colored fabrics, sparkles, and designs. For someone who rarely wears color, it was such a giant step for me to get a lush green silk fabric with silver flowers for details. Afterwards, we were off to the seamstress to get me fitted. Given my non-Asian size, I elicited a lot of ooohs, ahhhs, and laughter everytime the seamstress comes back with one of my measurements. It was really interesting.
I returned after two days to pick my dress up and the results were just beyond my expectations. There was so much workmanship that went into making the dress. Flowers were embroidered in the length of the fabric, satin buttons were added, it was so detailed. The kebaya fit me nicely, however, sitting and breathing is another issue. The price of beauty.
Footwear. Getting shoes was probably the thing I hated most about this whole wedding preparation. My large, puffy feet just doesn’t play well with tiny, petite shoe sizes. I was specifically instructed to get silver sandals for this wedding, which after dying twice over, I was able to find one that fits. It has bling too. Awesome.
Accessories. Another specific instruction was to get a brooch to go with my dress. I was about to complain when I saw the Heni’s (the bride) headdress. Needless to say, getting the brooch was a very easy decision.
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