Our Engagement Day

I know this post is a bit overdue, but since I just received all pictures from my super talented photographer/blogger friend – Dixie Thamrin, I think it’s just the perfect time to share the story of our engagement day in this blog. Bear with me it’ll be a long post, but I hope you’ll enjoy it! (P.S Dixie has also written about this on her photography blog.. do check it out!)

7:00 AM

My house was full that day, as my aunt and cousin were staying over to help with preparation. It was hectic, but also fun at the same time because I rarely see them as they are not living in Jakarta and they came specifically for the event. As I was doing last minute prep, I realised that I haven’t finished with the playlist! Uh-oh… I asked for my cousin for help and I ended up spending 2 hours just for collecting the songs.

9:00 AM

Finally done with the playlist and it was time for me to get ready. I quickly took a shower, did last minute check with the preparations, and starting to feel anxious. Hahahaha. I know I am a planner but I did not realise that I could not keep my cool when it comes to my own event. I was nervous all the time and kept telling my family to hurry up (ooopsss…). My mum laughed at me, told me to chill and relax as she got everything covered.

10:00 AM

We left the house to Cipete area, where the salon and the restaurant are located. We stopped by a fruit shop on our way to buy fruits as one of the hampers for R.

11:30 AM

We finally made it to the salon! I have booked an appointment for myself, my mum, aunt, and cousin. The makeup and hair do process was done smoothly, and even though I was afraid we would be behind schedule, we finished getting dolled up on time (See – my nervousness was unnecessary! :p).

14:30 PM

We arrived at Twin House – a homey restaurant which was the venue for the event. Dixie was already there, taking picture of the preparations. My side of the family started to come and helped with the preparations as well – finalising the thank you hampers for R, decorations, and everything else. Me? I was told to just sit down but I could not keep cool! Hahahahaha. So typical of me. I wanted to get my hands on the preparations as well but I knew I could not do it as I was part of the “stars of the day”, right? :))))))

Twin House

Twin House

15:30 PM

The preparations were done! Yay! Everything was all set, so we were waiting for R’s family as they were scheduled to arrive at 4 PM. But first, my family and I gathered to celebrate my mum’s birthday (yes – it was her birthday that day!) and pray before the big event started.

My Mum, Brother, and Me ❤

Just a couple of minutes before 4 I was told to “hide”. This is an Indonesian thing – ah, wait. Before I continue to tell you our story, let me explain how engagement day is normally done in Indonesian culture.

In hiding 🙂

Typically the engagement ceremony is held in the bride’s house. There she would gather with her family and close friends. Then she will be put in hiding while waiting for the groom to come with his family. When they arrive, the bride’s family will greet them and ask for the purpose of the visit. (That’s just for formality, of course, in reality, everybody knows what is going on! lol). A member of the groom’s family then asks for the bride’s hand in marriage. After the bride’s family’s agreement, the bride will be called out to give approval. Basically to give confirmation what have just happened :). So, after she said yes – there would normally be a ring-exchange ceremony to make it official, but since it’s not a wedding yet, the rings would be inserted to the bride by the groom’s mum… and vice versa. Basically to symbolize that this couple is now engaged 🙂

Okay, I hope my non-Indonesian readers can get a better understanding 🙂 Now let’s continue to the story of our engagement day…

16:00 PM

R and his family arrived at the restaurant, greeted by my aunts and uncle from both of my mum and dad’s side. Then there the engagement tradition happened like I explained earlier. We exchanged rings, we took lots of pictures with our families, we ate together, and then R’s family came home. Not long after my family also left, leaving us to wait for our close friends to come.

R’s family have just arrived

The event

my VIPs ❤

Yes, we decided to invite our friends later at night to have a small celebration and to introduce each other to our friends. Believe or not it was the first time R met some of my best friends! 🙂

18:00 PM

After our families have left, our friends started to arrive. I was happy to meet my friends and introduce R to them, and also to meet his friends for the first time. Almost everybody that I invited was able to make it, so it was almost a full house. Yay!

However, at some time close to 7, it started to rain so heavily. Everybody quickly went inside the restaurant. Instead of a garden party, we had to squeeze inside the restaurant. Not very ideal, I know, but at least I’m so thankful that everything went by so smoothly :).

Raining

Me and some of my friends 🙂

20:00 PM

It finally stopped raining and our friends started to go home as well. As the rain stopped, I just realised something. Because of the rain, we could not hear anything from my playlist! :(((( That’s just too bad since R and I carefully chose the playlist together as we wanted to have a groovy night. Ah well, that’s definitely a thing to remember. Now since I could not play the songs that time, let me put the playlist here so you can have an idea.. We both love to dance and love soul/black/disco music so we think these songs best speak the mood! Hahaha yes, we have everything from Zayn to Andy Gibb… but all these songs are meant to make you dance hehehe. Enjoy 🙂

So that’s about it! The story of how our engagement day went. I’ll have a separate post on our lovely support system a.k.a vendors who helped to make the day beautiful, so stay tuned!

Thanks for reading, have a nice day xx

It’s official!