How to Mix Wedding Cultures

A whole day of festivities

This isn't entirely my post to write. It's my friend Rach. She is the one who got married and the one who executed the social event of the season. But I loved it, and it was very Khmer (as is her husband) and very Aussie (as is she) at the same time and for that reason, I learned a lot.

Things I learned from this amazing experience.

1. A wedding is an all day event. Started at 7am-noon and 5:30pm-10:30pm. 
2. Allow people to go home and nap mid-day. A good wedding should have a nap.
3. Serve breakfast and lunch and dinner at your wedding.
4. Never drive a motobike in a silk skirt. It will wrinkle.
5. Borrow said skirt and matching fancy top from a work colleague. Otherwise, you can buy one at the market pre-made for $35 or get one made for around $70.
6. Have your guests wear traditional Khmer wedding attire for the morning ceremonies. 
7. A fruit parade is a fabulous thing. Line up two-by-two with matching fruit platters behind the groom and his family and parade to the bride's family to whom the fruit is presented. If they like the gift of fruit (as thankfully, was the case), the wedding may proceed. 
8. Have the parents follow a Khmer tradition of a tea ceremony, drinking tea together while surveying the fruit. Follow all this up with a Western-style ceremony.
9. Have a duel language Western-style wedding service. Everything in English, and then in Khmer, and have it be effortlessly seamless. 
10. Host a wedding in a context where all the women get their hair done professionally (and such a service costs $5) and naturally, everyone does, and that's just how it is. 
11. As a guest, make two costume changes. If part of the wedding party, make three (actually four) changes. 
12. Serve the tastiest Cambodian food of all time. 
13. Dance to Khmer live Cambodia music. For a sample of this, check here. Have all your guests from Cambodia, Australia and everywhere else dancing enthusiastically for hours despite the April heat. 
14. Include a champagne fountain.
15. Don't get stressed about it. Don't obsess about all the details. Smile and go with the flow. This is a great life lesson.