1Malaysia Indian Wedding.

Salam,

Last night, I brought my daughters to attend an Indian Wedding reception in D'Kelana Hall. I was invited the younger sister of the bride, Shantia. She's one of my colleagues in ELS. I have never attended any Indian Wedding Reception before, so I decided that it was a good opportunity to attend and experience their wedding culture.

We (my daughters and I) arrived at the hall at the same time the bride and the bridegroom arrived. In fact, I had to give the way to the bride and bridegroom's car to enter the parking area first. We quickly made our way into the hall before they announced that the bride and bridegroom had arrived. We were seated in the second table from the stage. I could see some of ELS students were also there at the table in front of me. I reckon they wanted to experience a different culture as the students came from Saudi, Iran, China, Korea and Japan.

Few minutes after we took our seats, they announced the arrival of the bride and the bridegroom. The bridegroom wore a black suit while the bride wore beautiful Ghangra Cholis (Lehengas). They had a simple dais on the stage as there were only two chairs and the curtains behind them. When they took the seats, the emcee introduced them to the audience and shared some details about how they met until the day they got married which was the day before. Then, the younger sister, Shantia (my colleague) was invited to the stage to give a speech to the bride and bridegroom. She almost cried when she gave the speech because her eldest sister and her brother-in-law have had sacrificed a lot before they could get married.

The next event was the cake cutting ceremony. Before they proceeded with the ceremony, there was a special lion dance performed by the Muhibbah group (it's called Muhibbah bcs the members are multiracial). My daughters were excited to see the lion dance since they have never seen it live. The two lions danced from the front door to the stage and gave away a special knife (actually it was a toy sword!) to the bridegroom. They even danced around the stage before they gave away the sword. Right after the cake cutting ceremony, the bride and the bridegroom had their dinner with their parents in the middle of the hall. (there' s a special place for them). All the guests were invited to help themselves with the food too. There were food for non-vegetarian and the vegetarian. I took the vegetarian food just to be safe. I had to queue up before I could  get the food and I had to leave my daughters at the table for few minutes before I returned with the food. They served Nasi Minyak, Dalca, Beef Curry,  Stir Fried Vegetables, Dhal and Watermelon. The food was okay but not so delicious. BTW, I went there not for eating but just to experience the culture.

While we were eating, there were some Classical Indian Dances performed by a group of amatuer dancers. The dances were interrupted by the sudden power failures that made the music stopped. The dancers however, had to stand still and be like a statue before the music started again. As I was busy entertaining my daughters, I couldn't captured so many photos of the performances. By the third performances, another colleague just arrived with her brother to join me at the table. We chatted for a while before we had to make the move as the time was already 10 pm. I took some photos with my colleagues but I didn't have the opportunity to take a photo with Santhia and also with the bride and bridegroom as there were always surrounded by their relatives and friends. Anyway, we really enjoyed the special experience and it would be one of the unforgettable wedding reception for us.