Khmer Wedding: The Sequel

Invitation

One of the Khmer actors

Not really the sequel but the engagement that I wrote about a month ago was very elaborate and wedding like with the tent in the street and all the loud music, but the wedding was this last weekend and I was there.  The invitation was really a little booklet with pages in Khmer and English in silver and pink.  They set up the tents on Thursday night and Friday morning the music started at 5:30am.  I had to go to work but by 7am a crowd had gathered and Pov and her man were dressed in gold.  When I came back at 3pm they were in silver and on Saturday morning in pink or salmon.  Then Saturday night, gold again and then later in white.  The invitation was for the dinner at a reception hall and all of us who live in the apartment house went.  My neighbors Ai and Rith and Claude all sat together at a table with a bunch of Khmer guys and had a nice time.  The food was a little difficult for me but the spectacle was nice to be a part of.  Rith, who is Cambodian, explained a lot of it to us.  First of all weddings used to take a week  and each day there was a different ceremony and the bride and groom wore different colors.  Then the war came and that all ended.  Now it is coming back but not over 7 day but two or three.  I really enjoyed Friday night.  I went out to the AK for my usual wine tasting and when I got back the activities here were just getting underway.  There was a stage set up and flat screen TVs in the tents and music and actors.  Pov and groom and wedding party sat up on stage and there were five actors who put on  this great performance.  I was just standing there watching it all start and then got invited to sit at a table with all these young Khmer guys.  None spoke English and my Khmer has progress from one word, akoun (thank you)  to maybe five phrase so and I can count up to six as in bprahm moouy Becks.  Well no Becks but Heineken.  Me and the Heineken boys did a lot of toasting and laughing.  One guy was tailor and I am sure he would like to make me a shirt, at least I hope that's what he was trying to say.  Well Khmer style after a toast you drained your glass, I decided to remain a little more barrong (western) and just take a sip.  All during this the actors on stage are putting on this performance that could be understood in all languages.  Two beautiful women and two clown like men and then an old man.  They sang and danced and argued and joked.  Maybe mimicking married life.  Reminded me of Everyone Loves Raymond. The two clowns wore makeup that made them look like Charlie Chaplin.  They would ask member of the wedding party to join them center stage and some really racy stuff would ensue and all of us would laugh.  Cambodians are really very modest but this seemed to be a place and time to talk and point to naughty parts and the guest just laughed and laughed and so did I.  The Heineken boys all stood up and toasted.  The bottom line was that I drank too much beer and think I thanked mom and dad (akoun and lia haeay) and the next thing I remember the music started up at 5:30am Saturday morning (WTF).  Not exactly sure when Pov got married and I missed the 7 am procession but they were in salmon costumes when I got there around 9am.  I had a lot of school work so I went into school to finish my comments and grades in a place where I could hear myself think and by the time I got home everything was moving from the street to the reception hall.  Pov the wedding party were all in bicyele powered tukutks and set off to the dinner in a procession.  We (Ai, Rith, Claude and I) arrived later and greeted the bride, groom, moms and dads, wedding party.  Lots of pictures taken.  Claude wanted to kiss the bride but everyone said NO!  Pov had so much makeup on and diamonds glued to her face that I am sure that Claude would have come away with part of it if he kissed her, but aside from that, you don't kiss the bride in Cambodia.

Ai and Rith

Too sexy for my shirt?

 My shirt.  When Chris was here he and Claude and I walked up to the Central Market.  He wanted to do some shopping for home and I needed a shirt for the wedding.  The Central Market is really beautiful.  Unlike the other markets that are just put together with tin roofs and are dark and crowded, the Central Market was build in an art deco theme and is large airy building and painted yellow.  Like the other markets though it is fun to browse and bargain.  The rule for me seems to be if I slow down I usually buy.  The young sales girls are really very charming and the less you want something the lower the price gets.  Well there is this one sales girl who totally has my number and I have bought clothes there before.  So I tell her about the wedding and that I want to buy a wedding shirt.  Claude adds that he want to look sexy.  Well she is really good and says I look sexy already.  So anyway we are all kind of joking and then she get this green shirt, no collar and funny buttons.  I've seen it at wedding so I buy it.  Just for fun I ask her if she would like to come with me, "no I'm busy that day", but I didn't tell you which day it was, "I'm busy a lot" was her reply.  Well Chris and Claude are cracking up at my foolishness and her agile replies.  But I did have the shirt and put it on to go to the dinner.  When we met up with Rith, who is dressed like all Cambodian men, dark slacks and a collared long sleeve shirt, he says "Nice shirt".  I got a lot of stares at the reception and began to notice that the only ones wearing a shirt like this was the wait staff and bus boys.  Theirs were red and my green.  
      No one seemed interested in staying late for the dancing except for me and I was afraid that if I stayed around that they would ask me to bus the tables so we said our goodbyes.  I have another chance to stay late at a wedding because I got invited to Aka's wedding next weekend.  She is one of the young girls who works at the AK and there will be lots of barrongs their so someone will stay late I am sure.  I am going to where dark slacks and a long sleeved collared shirt and if there is a story that comes from it I will title it Khmer Wedding: The Sequel II.