Dry season (typically Nov-June) is Cambodian wedding season. Somehow we’ve avoided going to weddings the past two years, but in the past month we’ve been to three, one Jarai Christian wedding, one Khmer wedding, and one Jarai  village wedding.

The first wedding we were invited to was a bit sad for us. We’ve known the bride for a year through a mutual friend and have heard about her struggle with being content in her singleness. There were several unbelieving men who wanted to marry her, and for over a year friends talked with her constantly about the importance of marrying a believer. One Sunday afternoon she showed up at our house and invited us to her wedding the next morning. The man she chose to marry once claimed to be a believer but had stopped believing. He said he was interested in believing again but has made no commitment to follow Christ. Though it was a Christian wedding, it was sad to see her choose this path. The wedding was a very long church service, followed by a meal. We wore normal church clothes.

A few weeks ago we were invited to our neighbors’ daughter’s wedding who lives two houses down from us. This turned out to be a very different experience. Typical Khmer weddings consist of a morning ceremony and then a big meal in the evenings. When you’re invited to the wedding you are invited to the evening meal. Our neighbors put up a huge tent in the road outside their house (the street was blocked off for the day) and set up a stage for the entertainment. The wedding meal started at 5…but things didn’t really start happening until around 7. Thankfully we could just watch from our porch to know when to arrive. (The lady in the blue dress is our landlady. She’s a year younger than me.)

I didn’t want to go by myself, so I took Becca – she was delighted. We got all dressed up and went on our way. It was nice to have an excuse to get dressed up. We went from being dirty, sweaty, etc to feeling like we were princesses. Thankfully our landlord and her sisters arrived at the same time as we did and we were able to sit with them. I didn’t know proper wedding procedure, so I was grateful I could follow these ladies’ example. The entertainment was so loud I had to shout whenever I spoke to Becca. The dancers that came along with show were ummmm….not something I would normally watch. The music was so loud it shook our house and went until almost midnight.

Becca and I got away with eating only a little wedding food. Khmer wedding food has a reputation for gifting it’s eaters with giardia. We drank lots of soda and I was the only adult who didn’t drink beer. After about an hour the ladies at our table got up and said it was time to go. We followed them to a table outside the front door where everyone was paying their dues. Instead of giving gifts, people who attend the wedding meal are required to pay for the meal. The money is recorded in a book and then when you reciprocate a wedding invitation to the family, they look up to see how much money you gave and give a wee bit more at your wedding meal. Thankfully I don’t have to worry about that and had brought my money in the envelope included with the invitation, so I didn’t have to shout out my name and hand the money over. I was thankful to go home and thankfully we all were able to fall asleep while the loud party music and dancing went on strong. (The girl in the red dress is a 16 year old neighbor who lives next door to us.)

Last week after Josh finished teaching some Jarai men, we was invited to attend a village afternoon wedding meal. He ended up being surrounded by some very drunk people. One kept kept hugging him and thanking him for coming to the wedding. (Notice the size of the speakers for this wedding.)

Not sure if our wedding adventures are over for the season….only time tell.