Big brother was nervous all day. He smiled throughout the day as everyone prodded him about. Ma said I could bring a couple of friends so I dragged Rinny, Nanas and Zuzu along. From my house, the procession of relatives and friends of the groom drove off to the bride’s house. We were welcomed into a house filled overflowing with human beings. I steeled myself and shot them. Nanas, Rinny and I got to sit somewhere to my brother’s right so we could get good profile photos of him. It was my second time being at an akad nikah. And heck, I was anxious on behalf of the brother. I mean, it sounds utterly simple. The father of the bride was to address the son-in-law and in turn the son-in-law is to answer and accept the daughter as his wife. But all in one breath – so that it could be misinterpreted in any way. Should either of the two men stutter or pause, the process would have to be repeated. Until they get it right.
The father-in-law messed up the first time, accidentally calling my brother “Naqiuddin binti Tajuddin”. (“Bin,” big brother corrected him.”) The crowd just burst out laughing good-naturedly and the mood lightened up. On the second try, praise to Allah, the marriage solemnisation went well. Big brother said his lines easily, and it is no mean feat when his then wife-to-be’s name was Sharifah Mardhiyyah binti Syed Ariffin. I officially have a big sister! I think I will give my future daughters totally fancy long names just to give their future husbands hell. Yes, that is what I call thinking ahead … by thirty years or so. Anyway, the newlyweds spent the rest of the weekend grinning.

A brief moment of humour.

“I’ma man!” “He’s a man!”

The immediate family. Photo by Rinny.

Overly happy friends.
Today, we went for the bride’s wedding reception at a hall filled with blue people in Shah Alam. That is, the theme of the day for Mardhiyyah’s family was turquoise/ cerulean. My family dressed in silver – or as my brother prefers to call it – gunmetal, for the occasion. A makeup artist came over for big sister and I. She used Make Up Forever makeup. As she applied makeup, she would explain what the products would do and promptly inform us of the price. (“This makeup brush is RM 180, this powder is RM 100 – both of them, three hundred ringgit!”) At first, I was bloody shocked to look at myself with flawless skin in place of my stressed Engineering student skin. After ten minutes, I was happily camwhoring.

Tried to MMS this to Hun, but failed.
We reached the hall after some time and there was a mini procession leading up to the stage. Big brother and big sister sat on the stage for a bit and then lunch was served. My parents, my uncles and my aunts got the VIP table, sitting alongside the newlywed couple. My cousins and I were deposited at a table. Not such a bad thing, really. The food was good and they gave out teabags as souvenirs. After a couple of photo sessions, my family headed home first. Big brother and big sister stayed back to mingle with what must have been a thousand people.

Turquoise!
Sometime after I reached home I invited Hun and Rinny over for tea. Really, I just wanted to show off my makeup to them. Hun met Ma, big brother, big sister, my aunt also known as Cu (who launched into a tale about a once shy girl named Qistina). Best of all – the boyfriend got to sit down with the father to talk serious business. We were just there, sipping blackcurrant tea (from the wedding earlier), when Fa dropped himself into a chair and started communicating with Hun. Rinny and I went to the kitchen (to laugh to our hearts’ content) and observed the two engineers from afar. I felt bad after a while so I dragged Rinny back onto the terrace so we could like, make Hun’s experience less worse. I sent my spouses home with kuih and glued myself to the laptop for the rest of the night. Ah well, it was a good two days despite all the hullaballoo.