Picture Tales: Weddings - Image 02
Bali is unique - it's as simple as that. Some travellers claim that the character of the island, indeed its soul, has been trampled by hoards of tourists arriving by jumbo jet. That is not true. Those who say such things surely cannot have explored the island, seen the temple ceremonies, a village wedding, or a weary duck-shepherd escorting his slow-moving flock along the evening skyline. That is the real Bali.
I enquire locally where I might attend a tooth-filing ceremony, but for some time can obtain no information. Ceremonies of this nature are not easy to find, since they are held on auspicious dates determined at short notice by village elders. But my luck changes and I am advised to go to a small village near Tampaksiring at first light. I set off in good time, but soon become lost in a tangle of narrow lanes. Directions are obtained from a succession of local people and, via a tortuous route, eventually lead to a traditional Balinese home where I am welcomed as an invited guest.
The tooth-filing ceremony, for which I arrive too late, is the prelude to a three-day wedding ceremony. Inside the home, which consists of several separate buildings enclosed within a walled family compound, a chance encounter with the official wedding photographer leads me to the bride's mother. My photographic interest in her daughter's wedding provokes family discussion and eventually leads to an unique invitation to witness a private ceremony held in the family temple. Only family members normally attend such ceremonies. As a non-Balinese stranger to both families, armed with a camera, I am privileged to be positioned between the bride and the altar - an ideal vantage point to which access is rarely granted.
The bride is certainly attractive in her mauve kain and skin-coloured lace kebaya, under which she wears an obtrusive white bra. In the not-too-distant past she would have been naked to the waist, but fear that the western world would associate bare-breasted women with a primitive people resulted in an order to wear blouses. Adopted standards of dress have nevertheless done nothing for traditional feminine beauty here. I refrain from using flash out of respect for the family, but manage a sequence of hand-held shots with a 135mm f/2 DC autofocus Nikkor. Wide apertures can sometimes save the day! However, it is the circumstances that make the picture unusual and extremely difficult to repeat.
Neither the bride nor the groom smiles throughout the ten solemn minutes of the ceremony. The blessings completed, they rise to their feet and are carried shoulder-high to a waiting car. The bride is in tears as she departs. She is leaving home for the last time and will soon be living with the family of her new husband.