Makassan Wedding

The bride-to-be enters the Mappasili, a cleansing ceremony to prepare her for entering married life.

The beautiful ornate gold table settings filled with a number of moist and sweet Makassan desserts only eaten during wedding celebrations.

The bride-to-be is blessed by a shaman who was present to ensure a smooth spiritual transition into married life.

During the Mappasili, the bride-to-be is showered with holy water by close family members, cleansing her in preparedness for this new chapter in her life.

The bride-to-be is given a small amount of the water in the palms of her hands to drink before the rest of the ladle is showered over her head. Jessica was very honored to be invited to partake in this very intimate ceremony by the family.

Blessings from big brother.

After receiving a thorough showering and being carried away by her brother, the bride returned to the ceremony area a short time later dry and wearing this lovely headscarf and dress.

During this part of the Mappasili more rituals were conducted.

Including this lovely tradition of the parents feeding their child sweets and vice versa.

Love this one of father and daughter.

Then it was time for the same exchanging of sweets to take place between her and her brothers.

Verses from the Quran were then chanted.

These pre-wedding rituals were for the bride only. The groom was simultaneously having his own pre-wedding ceremonies at another location with his family.

During the evening of the same day, another bridal pre-wedding ceremony known as the Mappacci took place. This ceremony too is also one for very close family so we were very blessed and honored to be invited. The bride-to-be emerged with this stunning outfit and this wasn't even the wedding day yet!

During the Mappacci, very close family members and special guests are invited to give blessings to the bride and place henna on her hands.

What her hands looked like after the ceremony.

Friends for 12 years. Jessica wearing the traditional “baju bodo” with the stunning bride-to-be.

After the pre-marriage rituals the day before, the day of the actual wedding ceremony (Akad Nikah) had arrived.

Guest book.

So you want to marry my daughter? Groom before the bride's father. This was the first time we had seen the groom and interestingly he gave the vows without the bride being present. She was listening to the proceedings upstairs via mobile phone in her hotel room.

Once the groom had completed his part of the ceremony and officially vowed to take the bride as his wife, he and close family went upstairs to collect the bride. They returned to the ceremony area together, the bride wearing an even more elaborate and heavy dress than the night before, weighing around 20kg!

Ornate table detail.

Hand in the krupuk jar. Like the ceremonies the day before, there was plenty of food provided for guests and the kids took free reign over the prawn crackers :)

Guests wore amazing outfits adorned with sparkly accessories befitting the special occasion.

The wedding reception was held two days later in a fabulous ballroom that had been transformed into a spectacular garden party. Flowers and trees shipped from Jakarta, wood from Sumatra and every kind of food you could possibly want. Formal wear was the dress for the occasion and, you guessed it, the couple shone with more amazing outfits. During the evening, the couple were on the stage where guests could come up and extend their congratulations.

The entertainment for the evening was Indonesian singing legend Vina Panduwinata.