Unforgettable moment on offer in special honeymoon package
Unforgettable moment on offer in special honeymoon package
Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post/Klaten, Central Java
It was Monday afternoon at Candi Sewu, a Buddhist temple in Bener, Bugisan village, Prambanan sub-district, Klaten, Central Java, about 17 kilometers east of Yogyakarta.
The sun was about to set when honeymooning Russian couple, Finskiy Maxim and Kyyda Vladislava arrived in front of the ancient, flower-adorned temple, ready to act out a "wedding ceremony" in classical Javanese style.
Both were decked out in traditional Javanese wedding costumes, locally known as Paes Ageng (the grand style, usually reserved for princely and noble families). However, the bride had opted to forego the traditional makeup, which normally takes four to five hours to apply. Tienuk Rifki, a top Javanese wedding stylist, who was in charge of the makeup "operations", said the bride could only stand one hour for the makeup work.
"We were all prepared for the Paes Ageng makeup, actually, but she didn't want to have a cengkorong on her forehead," said Tienuk, referring to the traditional v-shaped design drawn on a Javanese bride's forehead. Tienuk did this for Princess Pembayun when she married the Yogyakarta sultan, Hamengku Buwono X.
Similarly, the parents of the newly married couple were absent from the celebration, unlike in traditional Javanese wedding ceremonies, which were originally not just hosted by the bride and groom's parents, but also by members of their extended families. In this case, the Russian couple were only accompanied during the one-hour-long ceremony by two friends.
"This is part of a honeymoon package comprising a wedding reception and leisure activities. We are trying our best to provide the best, and that's why we only hire professionals for this," Anny Yulianti, a director of Grand Java Tour and Travel, which organized the celebration, told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of the event, referring to the involvement of noted makeup artist Tienuk Rifki.
To make the celebration as authentic as possible, two pairs of actors and actress acted as the parents of the bride and groom. Stage actress Tatik Wardiyono acted as the bride's mother.
Stepping out of their car, the happy couple were escorted to the place where the "wedding celebration" was to be enacted -- a small, raised stone platform sandwiched between two Dwarapala statues, right inside the temple's main entrance gate. There, the bride and groom went through a series of rituals before being finally seated on carved wooden chairs placed on the stone floor of the platform, with their "parents" flanking them.
Among the rituals they underwent were balang-balangan gantal (throwing rolled betel leaves at each other), mijiki (the bride washes the groom's foot after he steps on an egg), kacar kucur (the groom places a mixture of coins, rice and beans on to a piece of cloth held by the bride to symbolize that he is the one who will provide for the family), and dhahar klimah (where the bribe and groom symbolically feed each other to symbolize harmony).
Javanese Enggar-enggar and Gambyong dances were also performed to entertain the couple, before they finally left the venue on a decorated, horse-drawn carriage to the place where the wedding dinner was to be served at the neighboring Prambanan Temple.
Although they looked somewhat awkward at first, the couple seemed to thoroughly enjoy the entire event, as could be seen by their smiles. The bride, Kyyda Vladislava, for example, was often seen moving her hands and shoulders during the Gambyong dance, in time with the dancers' movements.
"This is what I call creativity in promoting tourism. We are blessed with great cultural and natural riches. It's only a matter of how we package these into marketable tourist packages. For this we need creativity," said Tazbir, the Yogyakarta Provincial Tourism Agency marketing chief, who also attended the celebration.
These sort of packages, according to Tazbir, would not just benefit the hotels where the tourists stayed, but also many other components in the community, including traditional makeup artists and their assistants, gamelan players, dancers and everybody else involved.
"They are all local people," he said.
For the Grand Java tour firm itself, Monday's event was not the first such wedding celebration package it has handled. In 2001, a Dutch newlywed couple had a "wedding" celebration at the joglo (Javanese traditional house) in the Jogja Village Inn. On that occasion, the couple's parents were also present.
"Now we are in the middle of preparing a number of similar packages. Our partners in Sweden and the Netherlands have been asking for more information on wedding celebration plus leisure packages like this one," said Anny.
Anny also said that her company was planning to market the packages in Malaysia and Singapore, and expressed optimism about the business's prospects, especially given the skills and facilities available in the region, including the bridal spa services offered by a nearby five-star hotel, the Sheraton Mustika Yogyakarta Resort and Spa.
"Of course, we are more than ready to joint hands with travel agents to promote these innovative packages. To make them a success, it will require cooperation among all the stakeholders," said Sheraton Mustika general manager Rully Zulkarnaen, who also attended the Russian couple's "wedding" celebration.