Aceh couple finally holds tsunami-delayed wedding

Aceh couple finally holds tsunami-delayed wedding

Tomi Soetjipto, Reuters, Banda Aceh

In the first festivities in ravaged Banda Aceh since the Dec.
26 tsunami, an Acehnese couple threw a marriage reception on
Sunday, finally celebrating a wedding that was interrupted by the
killer waves.

Although subdued by local standards, the reception attracted
some 500 people -- a sign that some normalcy was coming back to
the provincial capital, where hundreds of dead bodies are thought
to lie under the debris.

Sukmadi, 35, and Lidya Nurhayati, 25, were supposed to
exchange wedding vows at the city's grand mosque on Dec. 26 when
the quake and tsunami shattered this bustling coastal city and
left nearly 300,000 dead or missing across the Indian Ocean
region.

They were making their separate ways to the grand mosque, a
favourite spot for weddings and other celebrations, when the
tsunami struck.

"I was already in my car on the way to the grand mosque.
Then ... people were screaming 'water's coming, water's coming.'
I didn't believe it at first but then we turned back our car,"
Nurhayati, dressed in an elaborate yellow blouse, said at the
colorful altar where the bridal couple sat.

Sukmadi was in another part of the city, already in his
wedding outfit, and felt the huge quake at his home before
setting out for the mosque. Locals warned him not to go because
of the coming waves.

The bride and groom took refuge separately with their families
and finally learned the whereabouts of each other hours after the
disaster. They were reunited days later.

Their houses were spared but they lost dozens of relatives.
After a month, the couple finally decided that it was time to
move on. They exchanged wedding vows on Jan. 27.

On Sunday, about 500 people turned up for the reception at the
groom's house, which was plastered with ornamental fabrics.
An assortment of dishes from red-hot beef curry to traditional
sweets were presented. Noticeably absent was fish curry, normally
a must-have for local celebrations.

"People don't want to eat fish any more because of the
tsunami," said Cut Nurhayati, 36, the groom's sister-in-law,
adding many locals still believe the fish in the ocean and local
rivers fed on corpses.

With a tiara on her head, Nurhayati arrived in a 1982 Toyota
plastered with colourful paper.

"Because of the tsunami, we need to make an adjustment, so we
can't be too happy or too outrageous. We are making this
reception a humble one," said Sukmadi, his face plastered in
sweat from the sweltering heat.

Although there was no blaring music or traditional dances, the
mood was festive with screaming children running around the house
and adults enjoying the food and lively conversation.

Many of the guests agreed the time had come to end the
mourning period in Aceh, where more than 220,000 people are dead
or missing.

"Many people are gone because of the quake and the tsunami.
This wedding needed to go on so they (the couple) can continue
our generation,' said the groom's brother, Safludin.