During our undergraduate years at Vanderbilt, we had the pleasure of getting to know many different people. One of our good friends from college is Hafiz. We spent many hours with Hafiz studying, working on homework and just hanging out. Senior year, we took a trip with Hafiz to West Virginia to go snowboarding. With the nickname Malaysian Ice, Hafiz was convinced that Malaysia needed its own indoor snowboard park (think Dubai)! We had many great times with Hafiz, even tried eating some home-made Malaysian food, and always joked that he had to invite us to his wedding. Well, Hafiz got married earlier this year and we found out after it happened. Needless to say, we were disappointed that we did not get an invitation. Fortunately, this was just another example of cultural ignorance (something we have learned a lot about in the last couple of years).
It turns out there are a couple different parts of Malaysian weddings. The first part was the "solemnization" ceremony, what we would consider the exchanging of the vows. This is typically held by the brides family and is just for both families and friends of the bride. The reception is a completely different ceremony/party held a different day, often times months later. This is put on by the groom's family and all of his friends are invited. Hafiz did invite us to attend the reception. Due to a number of other ministry activities, we were going to be in southeast Asia around the time of the reception. So we decided to head down to Malaysia for a few days and attend his wedding reception.
It turns out there are a couple different parts of Malaysian weddings. The first part was the "solemnization" ceremony, what we would consider the exchanging of the vows. This is typically held by the brides family and is just for both families and friends of the bride. The reception is a completely different ceremony/party held a different day, often times months later. This is put on by the groom's family and all of his friends are invited. Hafiz did invite us to attend the reception. Due to a number of other ministry activities, we were going to be in southeast Asia around the time of the reception. So we decided to head down to Malaysia for a few days and attend his wedding reception.
Hafiz & his bride, Raihan, entering the reception
The happy couple
We were thrilled to be able to celebrate with our good friend from Vandy. The wedding reception was lots of fun and was located at a beautiful country club on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. The day after the wedding we were able to spend a few hours with Hafiz and his new bride, Raihan. We really enjoyed getting to know her and find out some more about their life in Malaysia. It turns out that she is studying architecture at an international university in Kuala Lumpur, so she gave us some great insights to the building designs as we toured around the city. But she is also starting a business on the side; it is called Cookies & Milk. She makes delicious little cookies (think Famous Amos, but much, much better) and is starting out marketing them as wedding favors. Not sure if she will ship them to the US, but they would be worth buying!
Nicole & Aminah, another friend from Vandy
Above is a photo of Aminah and Nicole, another friend from Vanderbilt. Nicole had the pleasure of living across the hall from Aminah their freshman year and then living next to her during junior year. It was great to catch up with her and pick her brain about the in's and out's of Malaysian weddings.
We are so grateful for the opportunity to celebrate with Hafiz on this special day. It was also a great break and time of rest away from the stress of daily life in Ethiopia. Blessings to Hafiz & Raihan, we look forward to seeing you again, maybe back in the US!
