A Malay Wedding in Melbourne (Updated)

I had a love-hate relationship with weddings. At one juncture, aku tumpang seronok & gembira kalau ada saudara mara kahwin, tapi pada masa yg sama I usually don't enjoy most of them. Especially kalau dah tersangkut dgn kerja2 kahwin. Masalahnya, in the beginning I would always feel awkward nak tolong kerja 2 kahwin ni, tp bila dah start mmg lah aku buat sungguh2. Last2nya tau2 je kenduri kahwin pun dah habis. Alamak, kat manalah enjoymentnya, penat lagi ada. Not only that, weddings are stressful events. Ada jer benda yg tak terfikir, tertinggal or terlupa dan macam2 insiden lglah. Normal la tu kalau buat kerja kahwin ni. No wonder people pay hundreds or even thousands hiring wedding planner. Pastu kalau dah sibuk tu mesti selalunya terlepas most of the Kodak moments. Selalunya gambar2 aku mesti tgh pakai T-shirt ngan kain batik jer...@ takde gambar langsung ;-(. Alahai sedihnya... Tapi bak kata Kak Dayah, perhaps it has something to do with my age, then. Maybe as I get older, I won't mind all those...well, maybe.

Anyway, lepas Maghrib aku temankan Kak Dayah ke rumah kenduri anak perempuan Kak Salmah (Kak Sal adalah org Kluang, Johor yg sudah lama menetap di Melbourne, selepas berkahwin dgn seorg warga Oz of Greek descendant) di Fawkner. All the nostalgic memories of weddings washed over me. 'Framework' kendurinya sebijik cam kenduri kahwin kat kampung2 Malaysia. Not only that, kat belakang rumah Kak Salmah pulak she build another small house yg rupa bentuknya cam rumah2 kampung Melayu kat Malaysia, siap ngan serambi & tangga kayu.

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Amazingly, kenduri ini adalah collaboration & contribution drpd hampir semua warga2 Melayu Melbourne dr Malaysia dan Singapura dr kerja2 masak-memasak dr lauk sampailah ke kuih muih. Semuanya secara sukarela dan kosnya disumbang oleh mereka yang volunteer tersebut. Jemputan pulak mencecah seribu org, termasuk ahli keluarga pengantin perempuan yang datang dr Johor dan ahli keluarga pengantin lelaki yg berasal dr Indonesia. I can't imagine the headache for family Kak Sal. But with the assistance that they had from a majority of the Malay community in Melbourne, Alhamdulillah they managed to pull through.

Updates:

Gambar2 sekitar the wedding today.

Kedua-dua mempelai bersama ayah bonda masing-masing...

The food was excellent & the whole event in my opinion went very well indeed, eventhough jemputannya ramai sekali. Seronok tengok, meriah sungguh, siap ngan kompang! Kudos to everyone who was involved in lending a hand or two. Kak Salmah herself was very moved in her speech. Who would have thought than thousands of miles away from home, she could still have a wedding for her daughter of such proportion. Tahniah sekali lagi.