Photos 2 - Java, the professional pics

On Tuesday 26th October 2010 we celebrated our marriage with a big wedding reception in Klaten, Central Java, Indonesia. Some of Rachel's family and friends came from the UK and Thailand to join the celebrations. See the photos below to find out what our Javanese-English wedding reception was like.

Studio photo, before the wedding reception

Studio photo, before the wedding reception, with Rachel's mum

our traditional Javanese decorations, the jasmine flowers smelt lovely.

Some of Jarwo's family and neighbours in traditional Javanese dress

Some of Jarwo's family and neighbours, in traditional Javanese dress

Guests signing the guestbook, leaving presents and collecting a souvenir on their way in.

Guests arrive and shake hands with all of Jarwo's family

Mas Lukman (left) our English/Javanese translator and Pak Dwi (right), our MC.

The bride and groom arrive and collect the hand bouquet from Mas Surono.

The bride and groom process up the aisle, with Rachel's mum Catherine carrying the train of her daughter's dress.

Rachel's mum Catherine reads her Pasrah Tinampi speech, presenting the bride and groom, who married in the UK, to Jarwo's family.

Jarwo and Rachel process up the aisle led by Mas Surono in dance costume.

Jarwo and Rachel sit down, with young bridesmaids called patah on either side.

Jarwo's cousin, Mas Surono, dances a masked dance called Tari Klana.

The bride and groom, flanked by their parents, watch as Mas Surono dances Tari Klana.

The audience

The audience, with Jarwo's grandmother and great aunt in front.

Friends from overseas.

Catherine, Rachel's mum, reads her main speech, called Pambagya Harja, as mother of the bride.

Rachel and Jarwo cut the wedding cake, bought at Marks and Spencers and brought all the way from London by Rachel's mum (complete with white woman/Asian man cake toppers)!

The bride and groom

The bride and groom

The bride and groom, with Jarwo's parents on the left and Rachel's mother on the right.

The gamelan orchestra accompany the all-night wayang kulit performance by Mbah Parno, Jarwo's great uncle. The musicians are from Pak Wito's group, with Bu Kris, Jarwo's great aunt, playing gender.

The bride and groom, surrounded by friends who live in Solo.

The bride and groom with friends who travelled from England, Thailand and Bandung for the wedding.

The bride and groom with friends who live in Solo.

The bride and groom with friends from Japan
(in traditional Japanese kimonos) and Solo.

The bride and groom with Ki Purbo Asmoro, dhalang, and his wife.

Behind the scenes, food is being prepared.

Kitsie Emerson, a close friend of the bride and groom, provided a simultaneous translation of the wayang into English from 9pm through to 4am!

The wayang kulit (shadow puppet) performance. You can see Emily, Rachel's sister, and her boyfriend Oli, in the front row.

The general scene. You can see the wayang screen, with the translation on its right, then further right is the bride and groom's seat.

The "welcome gate".

The wayang show: Samba, Kresna's son, rides a horse into battle, with a group of soldiers.

Bu Kris, Jarwo's great aunt and a well-known gender player.

The dhalang, Mbah Parno, is Jarwo's great uncle and has welcomed Rachel into his gamelan groups for several years.

That's all the photos. We hope you've enjoyed looking at them and that you now have some idea of what our wedding reception was like...certainly a bit different to an English wedding reception! Please write us a comment below - we'd love to hear from you! Also, in the post below this one (click on "older posts" below) you can see Photos 1 - pictures from our marriage ceremony in the UK.