Wedding Bells

Wedding bells are in the air in Tarakan.  This beautiful invitation was delivered yesterday.

Here's what was inside:

Isn't that the most unique wedding invitation??!!  Beautiful, and practical - in the equatorial heat, you always need a good fan, especially at an event like a wedding reception. The wedding is for Meily,  the daughter of our beloved office manager, Pak Simeon, who passed away in June 2009.  I don't know if you can make it out on the invitation, but David is listed as one of Meily's "pihak" or supporters.  We were humbled and honored by Simeon's family listing David on the invitation.

This is the first time David's been listed on a wedding invitation (other than his own, of course), and the crazy thing is the day before Meily's wedding, our beloved Orpa is getting married, and he's also listed on hers!

Ah, my Orpa is getting married, and I don't know if I'm ready for this.  Orpa has lived with us for the past eight and a half years, and has been such an important part of my life.  It's been such a joy to watch her develop spiritually, to grow as a young woman of great faith.  She has such a joyful and giving spirit, and I have learned much from her over the years.  

Orpa wearing traditional Torajanese dress

A few weeks ago she and I headed off on the motorbike to look at wedding dresses.  She directed me to a little nondescript, out-of-the-way house that apparently is Wedding Central for the neighborhood.  A few guys wearing shorts and smoking cigarettes sat with us, looking more like they should be discussing their next expedition on the Jolly Roger than wedding dresses, colors, and flowers.  But these were the Wedding Guys and they knew their stuff.  

The first dress Orpa tried on had layers of white, fluffly satin.  Orpa's future mother-in-law clucked her approval, but Orpa shot me a look that said, "This isn't the one - help!"

The next dress was bone-colored and not at all to the liking of the mother-in-law, but Orpa was glowing.  

"You are gorgeous!"  I told her.  And she was.  Never the mind the cracked concrete floor she was standing on, the layer of cigarette haze hovering around her head, the rooster crowing his lungs out at the window - in that dress Orpa rose above time and place and was what little girls everywhere dream of becoming - a beautiful bride.

In about an hour, Orpa had decided on colors for the bridal party platform, outfits for the mothers (I am one of them!) and outfits for the greeters, her dress for the ceremony and her dress for the reception (typically, brides change dresses at least once), flowers, etc.  She hadn't pored over any websites of Martha Stewart wedding magazines.  They haggled for a while then decided on a price, and it was done.  I couldn't believe it.

Hopefully my next post will have wedding pictures!