Soporn's wedding

Soporn helps me in the house.  And, she decided that she would rather get married than to continue to help me.  Can you imagine??
Anyway, EARLY Monday morning (I am talking 6am), Rich and I hop on the motorcycle (I am riding sidesaddled since I am in a long Khmer style skirt) and take off for Soporn's wedding.
We arrived after much traffic, dirt, potholes, and one wrong turn.  This is what the front of the area looked like.  Her house is toward the other end.  When they have a wedding, they block off their neighbor's houses with a tent for the event - usually for an entire day.
Once all the family members and close friends arrive, we all line up in a processional that starts down the street, and we walk back, in pairs, to the wedding place.
This is the groom and his parents in the front .  If you spot Rich, you can see that the photographer put us just behind the groomsmen, in front of the grandmothers.  We tried to move to the back, but they wouldn't let us.
 This is Soporn in her 2nd outfit of the day (it is 8:30am at this point).  It is also her 2nd hair style.
Because of family staying at their house, she didn't get to bed until midnight.  She got up at 3am to start on her hair and makeup.  The wedding will go until 10 or 11 pm.  Yes, all day!
Weddings and special celebrations are the only time that they typically wear makeup.  Consequently, I could not even recognize her from the picture in front of the wedding tent!
During the day, she would wear 7 different colored traditional Khmer outfits like this one and then 2 or 3 white wedding style dresses.  Most of these changes come with changes of hair style, jewelry and shoes as well.  The groom and groomsmen and bridesmaids will change about 4 times.  The mothers on both sides will also change at least twice during the day.
This is a closeup of Soporn.  She is a pretty girl, but she doesn't usually look like this!

She will be moving to the countryside with her husband in the next few weeks.

Just thought you might want to see a bit of a Khmer wedding.  After we left (so Rich could teach at the school) the actual wedding started.  In the evening, there is a catered dinner and this is what all the friends are invited to.  They are actually already married, but this is a time to eat, visit, and dance.

Much love,
Ronda

Comments

Unknown said…
I hope Rich scared her several times at the wedding.
Matt
February 5, 2014 at 11:27 PM
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