"Dan kahwinkanlah orang bujang (lelaki dan perempuan) dari kalangan kamu, dan orang yang salih dari hamba-hamba kamu, lelaki dan perempuan. Jika mereka miskin, Allah akan memberikan kekayaan kepada mereka dari limpah kurnia-Nya, kerana Allah Maha Luas (rahmat-Nya dan limpah kurnia-Nya), lagi Maha Mengetahui" An-Nur Ayat 32.
My two weekends were really hectic but nonetheless exciting. In fact, the busy schedule started on Friday 20 July for on that day there were two akad-nikah ceremonies for which my family and I had to attend. The two akad-nikah were for close relatives. One, is the son of my eldest brother and the other one is the daughter of my first cousin.
The first question that one would ask is why two akad nikah on the same day ? well, the answer is all about the number 20-07-2007 itself. I guess, the chosen date is obviously easy to remember and it also fell on Friday. Nonetheless, as a compromise and also to let relatives to attend both ceremonies, the first akad-nikah was conducted on Friday after the Asar Prayer and the other one was after the Isyak Prayer. Syukur, Alhamdullillah. Both ceremonies went well.
My nephew whom I always refer to as Abangah, is now married to Azren from Ulu Bernam near Tg Malim. Abangah was born when I was still in secondary school. How fast time flies ! I can still vividly recall on how he as a baby, liked to cry so much. However, as he grew older, he became a quieter person and did not talk that much unless being asked to. As for my niece Dazy, she was born when I was still in primary school. Her mom was very close with my late parents as she used to stay with us for a short while when she was studying in KL some years ago, when I was about 4-5 yeas old!
For Abangah, I was asked by his mom to help in taking the photos of his akad-nikah and wedding as they did not engage any professional photographer. I accepted this request with glad as this would give me the opportunity to help out with the events and the same time practice my skill. For the ceremonies, I chose my Tamron 17-50mm and Tamron 28-70 as the main lens as I wanted to travel as light as possible. Of course, the Canon Speedlite 580EX would be the main source of light as the ceremonies (akad nikah and bersanding) will be done in doors.
I was thinking that if they were still alive, both of my parents would be very happy to see the wedding of their second grandchild. Normally, my late mom was a very spirited and organised person when it comes to kenduri or wedding events. My late father was also a very noble person as he liked very much to organise kenduri and to invite neighbours and relatives to come. Sometimes I just felt my father just needed an excuse to organise a kenduri. We used to have 3-4 kenduri a year when both my parents were still alive. That's the time when the whole family and relatives would come together to help in the cooking and also in other things. I guessed being an ex-cop, my dad like the idea of people getting together and help each other in a noble cause. In addition, I think that's probably another way for him to get closer to our distant relatives.
However nowadays, the spirit of gotong-royong is slowly diminishing in our culture. Most people will tend to engage a caterer to organise events be it small or big. Yes to some extend engaging a caterer simplifies many things from setting-up tents to serving the food to the guests, it will actually result in less collaboration among neighbours and also relatives. When I was a kid, I still can remember how we prepared the wedding of our close relatives. We sometimes spend 2-3 nights at the relatives homes just to help out in many things. We sometimes event slept almost everywhere possible as the house will be so crowded with people. But one thing for sure, event like weddings or kenduri will make us closer to each other. As for my brother, he also engaged a caterer for Abangah's wedding. Yes, the caterer was actually very good as they brought at least 15-member team to prepare food, serve the guest and also cleaned up after reception was over. However, I did not feel the same feeling and camaraderie of a real kampung wedding as before. Well, I guess this is the price of development and progress that we have to pay. The most important about wedding is not about how big and fun was the wedding ceremony and reception but how can we ensure the marriage will last forever and bless by Allah. Marriage is about responsibility when a man and a woman surrender thier freedom to become a husband and a wife. May Allah bless the newly wed Abangah and Dazy !!!
