My Wedding - Part 2 - Mappacchi

“Ma’pacci” is a wedding ceremonial initiation, which takes place the night before the wedding in Bugis ethnic. The bride undergo an initiation which is meant as an admiration to groom and bride, as well as a prayer to God The All Mighty for better life and harmony for the couple.

Each of the ornaments used in Mappaci has its own significance or valuable meaning. It is employed as a charismatic in the ancient Bugis tradition. For instance the pillow is the place where our head rests when we go to sleep. Our head is the highest position or the most prestigious part of the body. The significant meaning is that hopefully the couple would respect each other in the future.

Photography by: Roy Kurniawan Setiono of ForEachLove Photography

The Sarong indicates diligence and patience which is associated with its weaver. Consequently, the significant meaning is that in married life we need to be diligence and patience in working for household expenses (money) as well as for clothing.

The banana leafs have the meaning as that the leafs itself has a lot of used for human being. The significant is that hopefully the couple will be useful to their society.

The jack fruit leafs is associated with its straight shape flower and in Bugis it is called “lempu” , which translate to honest. This is also wishing the couple  integrity in their life.

The Lawsonia Inermis leafs illustrates that the couple should purify their body and soul, for the man is to strengthening his love to the woman. Such also for the woman will do the same for her man. Lastly the palm sugar and coconut meat imply that the couple would be sweet and pleasant within their family, living in harmonious on the earth.

Photography by: Roy Kurniawan Setiono of ForEachLove Photography

My Wedding - Part 1 - Pengajian

Being a wedding photographer, we get to see some of the drama and stress which goes on behind the scenes at a wedding, but we only get to see only 1 day's worth. During the run up to my own wedding I get to experience the highs and lows when it comes to planning the big day.

I won't bore you with the details, I will go straight to the week before the D-day. Running up the the wedding we had several traditional family events. One was the Pengajian, followed by Mappacchi, then the wedding day itself. I will be blogging to explain the meaning of each event separately.

The Pengajian is a day of blessing for each the bride and groom, where they all gather in their respected homes to read the Quran. It gives the opportunity for the parents and the family to offer their gratitude to God and pray for the future of the newly-weds-to-be.

I sent my friend Roy to cover the event at Feby's (the bride) house. The décor for the Mappacchi event was already half up so it gave the room extra ambience, or that's what Roy thought....

Photography by: Roy Kurniawan Setiono of ForEachLove Photography

Midway through the Pengajian a power-cut happened within the local area. Roy first used the off-camera flash but it ruined the extra dramatic look and created too much attention towards him. Thanks to the goodness of Canon 50mm 1.2 he managed to capture the lighting off the candles....superb!

Photography by: Roy Kurniawan Setiono of ForEachLove Photography

Balling in Bali

Eat, Love, Pray?

For me it was Love to Eat and Pray I won't get fat!

Touchdown in Bali was a signal that the stress and drama of my wedding is finally over. Now it's time to chill and look forward to the future.

This visit made me realise why people of Jakarta come to Bali over and over and over again.... Few simple answers is to get away from the mess and the traffic where most of the city's resident tend to spend half of their lives stuck behind a long line of cars. Then to have a drink with a different view, a change from the street or tall-storey building.

So I spent a few days on the island with the new wife and a few friends, like always I tend to take a few snaps along the way:

Ubud Market

Kopi Luwak Plantation

Pura Ulun Danu Bratan

We visited Bali a week before Nyepi (Day of Silence) - there were quite a few religious ceremonies that went on throughout the day and on a few occasions we had to stop and wait until the crowd locals went past us when they were making their way to a temple.