Special Customs and Ceremonies

Adam and Natalia's reception fell on the third day we were in Jakarta. It was a full day of activity and special ceremonies. Natalia is Chinese Indonesian, which means both sides of her family are Chinese, but they live in Indonesia. They followed many Chinese customs leading up to the reception. It was fun to be a part of this!

In the morning Adam and Natalia's brother, Aldo, came over to our hotel. It is custom for the grooms family to help dress the groom before the ceremony. Mom and Dad didn't really help put on his pants and shirt :) but they did help him put on his tie and jacket for pictures.

You would not believe the camera crew that followed Adam and Aldo to the hotel. I called them the paparazzi. That is what it looked like! A videographer, 4 or 5 cameramen, and one organizer/manager. The "paparazzi" followed Adam and Natalia around the entire day. They looked like celebrities.

Next, Grace and Berthis' driver picked us up at the hotel and took us over to their house. The family formed a line to welcome us into the home. We presented Grace and Berthis with gifts....

Here are Berthis and Grace welcoming Adam into the home. Adam is bringing in Natalia's bouquet. You can see part of the family welcome line and one of the "paparazzi".

Dad and I after we were welcomed into the home.

Next, Adam and Natalia were taken into Grace and Berthis' bedroom and Mom, Dad, Lee and I were taken into Natalia's bedroom. (Natalia's bedroom represented the groom's home.) Grace and Berthis walked Adam and Natalia down the hall to Natalia's bedroom (the groom's home) as if they were handing over Natalia ... and Mom and Dad were welcoming Natalia and Adam into their "home" together.

It is custom for the bride's mother to decorate the couple's bedroom in a certain way before they get married. Here you can see the flowers Grace put in Natalia's bedroom.

Another part of Natalia's bedroom. Pictures from the wedding in Indy... and pickled eggs for good luck!

Mom and Dad welcoming Natalia into their "home".

It is custom to feed each other the pickled eggs for good luck (With chopsticks! This is not an easy thing to do.)

Adam took the entire egg into his mouth! :)

Natalia's aunts got the biggest kick out of Adam's egg eating. We were all cracking up!

Natalia pretends to eat the egg for a picture. Smart girl :)

Next we went downstairs where they had a gift ceremony for our family.

The gifts

(Each item represented something special. Pickled pigs feet and all.)

A big part of this ceremony was when cookies were described and presented to Adam and Natalia. Each cookie represented something good for their future. (Ex: Moon shaped cookie represents a beautiful life... like a beautiful full moon.) There were cookies about kids, love, wealth, success, etc.

Adam, Natalia, Mom and Dad during the gift ceremony.

Lee and I were given a gift of cookies... representing good luck in future things.

(This is a pretty serious picture of Lee and I... we really were enjoying the ceremony, but sweating half to death. It felt like it was over 90 degrees inside of their house that day!)

Dividing the gifts up... half goes to Grace and Berthis and half goes to Mom and Dad.

After the gift ceremony we started the tea ceremony.

The tea.

For this ceremony, two family members (they had to be older than Adam and Natalia) would sit on the chairs. Adam and Natalia would give them tea... the two family members would drink the tea together... then they would present a gift to Adam and Natalia. The gift is either money (in a red envelope) or jewelry. How nice is that?

Grace and Berthis drinking the tea and then giving Adam and Natalia their gifts.

Mom and Dad drinking the tea and then giving Adam and Natalia their gifts.

Lee and I got to be a part of this ceremony because we are older than Adam and Natalia.

Natalia's family watching the tea ceremony.

The family members who are younger than Adam and Natalia are actually given money by them at the end of the tea ceremony! What a custom, huh?

All of these customs and ceremonies happened before the reception that day! Just wait until you see their reception... unbelievable!