Decided to go for this as i will not be able to make it for the celebrations in Singapore come end of March. So Ed, Has' bro Sab and I took the late Friday night bus and headed to Shah Alam. The only thing i knew about Shah Alam prior to this trip was the Stadium that looked like Huddersfield Football Club's stadium. I also knew that Shah Alam has the biggest mosque in Malaysia and a velodrome.
So after close to 8 hours on the bus, including 2hours at Tuas checkpoint thanks to tri_mas, we finally reached Shah Alam bus terminal at Section 17. Took a cab to Quality Hotel and rested until lunch with Stan.
Fast forward to evening. I contributed my 2 cents worth of thinking into the planning for this wedding, all because i don't like the idea of travelling all the way there just to be a free-riding guest. Therefore, my job was to remind Has and Sab, all the small little things about the ceremony, things that people tends to forget; like arrangement of transport, copies of prayers etc.
We left the hotel just after 7 and headed to a surau near the bride's place. After Maghrib, we slowly walked to the house, with gifts in hand. The kadi arrived soon after and relatives were all excited. A microphone was placed where Has was supposed to be seated. Don't remember that being around for me. Anyhow, everything went well, groom looked calm and oath was clear.
Everything else was just like any other typical Malay wedding. A little variation from the ones in Singapore here and there but everything else was similar.
Next day, Sunday, was the "sanding" day. This is where the groom appears at the bride's place to take her back to his. I checked to ensure that Sab had the toll money (commonly used to gain passage to the stage, where the bride normally wait at). No toll was present however, probably because the bride waited and joined the groom outside the ceremony, another variation from that in Singapore. As the ceremony went into full flow, Ed and i sat around watching, making funny faces at Has everytime he looked at our direction.
Good experience this trip. The thing that impressed me most about the event, was the camaraderie of the neighbours. The bride's place was a semi-detached house, and the recemony area was on the road in front of the house. This meant that the road needed to be closed. Stations for other essentials like drinks counter, dishes washing area, music booth were also set up in the neighbours' varandah. Honestly, no way will you get that in Singapore, no way at all.
Ed and i took the late night bus back to Singapore, as neither of us took leave from work on Monday.
Congrats to Has and Yati!!
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