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An Insight Into An Indonesian Wedding – Semarang Javanese Style

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Indonesian Wedding – I’m Invited!

Yesterday, one of the Semarang Blogging Community members, Mizan, invited me to witness an Indonesian Wedding.

He literally asked me that morning – the day of the wedding!

I was a bit shocked because a question like that is virtually non-existent in western society, and after he insisted (after talking via Adi, who I’m staying with), I thought that I don’t get invited to an Indonesian Wedding every day!

And that’s the whole point of this entire trip – seeing the real Indonesia.

Since the timing was a bit short notice, Ari, also from Loenpia, quickly brought me one of this batik shirts to wear.  This is what men traditionally wear to such weddings when invited as guests.

Anyway, this is roughly how an Indonesian Wedding works (well in this case, a traditional Javanese one).

First of all there is a ceremony.  Unfortunately, I missed this because Ari was caught in a traffic jam when he was buying me the batik shirt, so unfortunately I cannot tell you what happened in this case!

There are a number of complicated rituals that occur (about 7 steps). If you want to know more, you can translate this page from Wikipedia (in Indonesian).  But in a nutshell, there the spiritual jist is that there is a transfer of responsibility from the parents to the bride and groom.

But the reception is something else.

The bride and groom, with their respective parents and immediate family, are on a stage for photos and greetings.  They are all dressed in traditional Javanese clothing.

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Photos are taken with each and every single guest/family group. And I literally mean, every single guest.

My Indonesian Wedding Photos

Indonesian Wedding Family Shot
Javanese Wedding - Lining Up

Since I was an invited guest, the same applied to me!

The Travel Tart At An Indonesian Wedding With Traditional Batik Shirt

Instead of presents, money is donated so that the costs of the wedding and reception can be covered.

This was a relatively small wedding by Javanese standards – ‘only’ about 700 guests were present at this wedding.

Sometimes, they reach 2000-3000 guests!  I’ve been to some large Italian weddings in my time (some of which where I didn’t even know the bride or groom), but these Indonesian Weddings put these to shame!

There are no seats and tables at the reception. Everyone stands up, and goes to a number of food stalls to eat and mingle with each other.  The reception is a fairly social and informal event, and it was bustling for the entire time I was there.

This reception goes on for a large chunk of the afternoon, and guests move in and out of the venue in steady droves.

Guests At An Indonesian Wedding Reception

Like most weddings, there is music played – I heard a variety of songs both in Indonesian and English sung by the band.

Band At Indonesian Wedding

However, it’s not often that a foreigner rocks up to one of these events.

Once again, like in other places in Sumatra and Java on this trip, people wanted their photo with me.

I was almost paranoid of stealing the attention away from the bridge and groom.

Indonesian Wedding

And there’s also the wedding car!

Wedding Car At Indonesian Wedding

I very grateful to Mizan for sharing this fantastic opportunity with me – I’ll never forget it!

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And I now have a batik shirt to prove it!

To find out more about Indonesian Culture, check out Indonesia – Culture Smart!

Air Asia flies to loads of places in Indonesia from loads of other places.  Check out their website for a great airfare deal now!


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54 thoughts on “An Insight Into An Indonesian Wedding – Semarang Javanese Style”

  1. Avatar Of Ari

    next time i’ll bring you to ’emperor nasi goreng’ wedding 😀
    but you miss the story, that we must stand beside air blower..

  2. Avatar Of Mizan

    I really appreciate that you willing to came at my sister wedding, sorry for the short notice 🙂

  3. Avatar Of Neng Ocha

    anthony, i am so sure that you’ve never been in a javanese wedding before…hahaha…yeah, and know finally u could use ur own batik shirt… 😀

  4. Avatar Of Andy Mse

    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.

  5. Avatar Of Miss Pixie

    Wow nice batik shirt. Yabbie wants you to wear it home and to your wedding! I esp. love the car with the paper mache chain, maybe something we could do!!! You are so lucky to be invited hey. Well done.

  6. Avatar Of Debra: Delaware County Wedding Receptions

    What a treat. I have a good friend who was married on Bali and he once reviewed all of the components necessary in the wedding ceremony.

    I think that it must have just been really interesting to attend such an event, especially after being more familiar with western-style weddings.

  7. Avatar Of Free Wedding Information
    Free Wedding Information

    I’d love to experience different cultured when it comes to weddings. Someone who I once knew got married in China to a Chinese lady and the way he described the day was completely different to how weddings are in the UK. I guess each country has their own way of doing things.

  8. Avatar Of Fiona@A Matter Of Wedding Photography Edinburgh
    fiona@A Matter of Wedding Photography Edinburgh

    Wow – that looks great. The bride and groom look a tad strained in the photo – probably from having to have their photos taken with 700 guests!
    .-= fiona@A Matter of Wedding Photography Edinburgh´s last blog ..Real life wedding – Jane and Duncan =-.

  9. Avatar Of Photorelive

    the photos looks so cool , why they have every thing greeny , and plants every where ! 🙂

  10. Avatar Of Jane

    Nice to see you again. I wish I could travel the world, just like you. …, One day……

  11. Avatar Of Carolija@Vencanice
    carolija@vencanice

    I would like to be on one Indonesian Wedding look wery nice to me.
    .-= carolija@vencanice´s last blog ..Carolija Vencanice Novi Sad Beograd =-.

  12. Avatar Of London Wedding Photographer
    London wedding photographer

    Such lovely greens! I enjoy seeing how people celebrate marriages in different parts of the world. Thanks for sharing.
    .-= London wedding photographer´s last blog ..It’s Tubesday: Wedding Humor =-.

  13. Avatar Of Benito &Quot;Green Wedding&Quot; Vazquez
    Benito "Green Wedding" Vazquez

    What a great post, I enjoy seeing pictures of other cultures and their wedding ceremonies. Here is a website for anyone in any culture to buy or sell wedding related products or services. There was a lot of the color green in this wedding, does that have any symbolism?
    .-= Benito “Green Wedding” Vazquez´s last blog ..中国人结婚怎么选日子? =-.

  14. Avatar Of Heather

    Loved seeing the photos of this! The clothing is so colorful and it’s interesting how everyone in the family matches.

  15. Avatar Of James

    Such great photographs. I love the head pieces that the bride and groom are wearing. What an amazing experience.

  16. Avatar Of James

    One last thing. The brown and black pants that the mother and father of either the bride and groom are just wildly vivid. That’s just amazing to be visiting a country and to be invited to a wedding on the spot. I’m very jealous of your adventures and hope to have a little taste of them in the future.

  17. Avatar Of Susan

    Great dress. They look wonderful. It is another wedding dress that comes in an artistic style. Very creative.

  18. Avatar Of Detroit Wedding Photographer
    detroit wedding photographer

    I never been and attended an Indonesian wedding and wow this is nice. I like the head dress of the bride and the style of her dress. And the guest is around 2000-3000, my gosh the wedding is soo expensive 😀 How I wish I could also afford it 😀

  19. Avatar Of Rosebeth

    Best wishes to the newly weds, how I wish one of these days I can also witness such kind of wedding ceremony. Different nation, different tribe but when we say wedding it is connected in one common purpose that is to unite two individuals together forever.

  20. Avatar Of Chino@Boston Wedding Photographers
    Chino@boston wedding photographers

    The shots were great and best wishes to the couple. The outfits were really colorful, I wish I could witness a wedding like this. Love the green theme!

  21. Avatar Of Jon@ Wedding Photography Leicester
    Jon@ Wedding Photography Leicester

    Where would you get a venue to hold that many guests. How do they get to know 2000 people, why don’t they just ask for presents, it would take months to undo them. I guess that feeding 2000 people is quite expensive though. I love the image of the wedding car, that is great. This really does show that the West has lost a lot of its culture and that we have a lot to learn from other cultures such as Indonesia!

  22. Avatar Of Swinton From Wedding Photography
    Swinton from wedding photography

    The color of the dress reflects their culture. Muslims have very colorful dresses, so as their bride and groom wear colorful dress. One of the indonesian wedding concept is the more guests, the merrier. That’s why most of their wedding has most numbered of guests. It’s really great to know more about their culture. I could imagine how wonderful your experience was as you witnessed their wedding. 🙂

  23. Avatar Of Natalie@ Wedding Photography
    natalie@ wedding photography

    This is a different type of wedding. They have their own concepts and style.The bridal gown is not also typical. Do they also have bridesmaid and grooms men? You are lucky to witness such an event.

  24. Avatar Of Grant Wedding Photography
    Grant wedding photography

    Wonderful experience. Indonesian wedding is so colorful. I could imagine the number of guests they had. Are Indonesian weddings always outnumbered with guests? I wish I could witness such.

  25. Avatar Of Dlf@Boston Photographers
    dlf@boston photographers

    Asian weddings are really colorful in nature and full of rituals. It is blended with traditions and culture.

  26. Avatar Of Lari Iposhk

    One of the most important concepts at Indonesian weddings seems to be ‘the more the merrier’. Literally every relative, acquaintance, colleague or business partner could be invited to the wedding.

  27. Avatar Of Dina

    Hahaha, interesting experience! Indonesian wedding shocked my husband too (I’m Indonesian). My dad in the last minute didn’t think we invited enough people, and just spread the word from phone to phone (and his friends that got invited by phone, invited even more people by phone).

  28. Avatar Of Rich@ Wedding Photographers Kent

    Amazing how the cultures differ though. A big UK wedding is probably 400 people and that is a lot. Even if I invited everyone that I had spoken to in the last year, it probably wouldn’t reach 4000. shows that the western culture is far more polarised and impersonal imho!

  29. Avatar Of Delaware Wedding Photographer
    Delaware Wedding Photographer

    I really wanted to attend or experience a wedding from a different culture like the Indonesian or Indian wedding.

  30. Avatar Of Sophie@Weddings
    Sophie@weddings

    I think the wedding is more in traditional wedding. But that was a great wedding I like the color of their dress is green. And the reception there’s a lot of people, but they enjoying the foods they serve.

  31. Avatar Of Grace

    The wedding on Indonesian was so traditional aspect. But it’s so cool. I like the motif of there wedding neon green. The bridal car was so decorated in style. Thanks its so nice to see the photo’s

  32. Avatar Of Jean@Photographer
    Jean@photographer

    Indeed they have a very unique wedding celebration. Aside from the colorful dress and different ritual from western wedding, they also have may guests. Would there be most likely same number of guests even for the less privilege couple?

  33. Avatar Of Sandra

    Maybe something we could do!!! You are so lucky to be invited hey. Well done. Asian weddings are really colorful in nature and full of rituals. It is blended with traditions and culture.

  34. Avatar Of Ted

    Aside from the colorful dress and different ritual from western wedding, they also have may guests. Would there be most likely same number of guests even for the less privilege couple. Thank you.

  35. Avatar Of Sara

    I think that it must have just been really interesting to attend such an event, especially after being more familiar with western-style weddings. I enjoy seeing how people celebrate marriages in different parts of the world. Thanks for sharing.

  36. Avatar Of Scott

    That was fantastic. That’s just amazing to be visiting a country and to be invited to a wedding on the spot. I’m very jealous of your adventures and hope to have a little taste of them in the future. Thank you.

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