Of weddings

.. and the consequences of losing focus.

A favourite nephew got himself hitched over the weekend... nikah on saturday with the wedding reception the following day. it was the second marriage for the family so they werent really what you would consider greenhorns. they had married off their eldest son a couple of years back.

Since the marriage ceremony spanned overnite and the bride's home being way out in kg kundang (after morib), the father of the groom provided the wedding entourage with rooms for sleeping over. he didnt want any of us to be losing our way (or to use it as an excuse for being late... or for not making it at all lol). he even made sure the whole lot of us was fed throughout the 2 days by providing a never ending supply of nasi bungkus, kueh, jajan etc.

Everything was taken into consideration... all was provided for.

But it turned out into a fiasco anyway.

Yup, its true that they say even the best laid plans can turn awry but theres still a lesson to be learned here.

- good communication is still a major factor in keeping things together.. everyone must be told about 'the plan' to make it work and not just the key players only. in a convoy, the greatest strength is the weakest link... one clueless party is enough to slow everyone down.

- having fabulous hantaran is great but delegate in advance the 'person' responsible for carrying each and every hantaran. do not assume bcos no one will actually dare take responsibility.

- synchronize the timing with the bride's arrangement as closely as possible because its just not right to upset plans already laid out by other people. we DO NOT want the juru nikah to throw out such ultimatums as 'i'm very sorry but if the groom is not here in 10 mins, i will have to leave for the next wedding"... and we also DO NOT want the groom to drive like a crazy madman to his own nikah bcos his entourage was still fumbling about.

- the focus of the whole nikah thing is the groom, not the groom's mother, sister, uncles or aunties. he should be numero uno; the one fawned over and made sure to look like a miliion bucks. not anyone else.

- never underestimate the power of bermusyawarah. dont go about it alone and assumme that a good plan can be carried out by everyone. actually they probably can.. if only they were briefed or informed about it earlier. relying on word of mouth is dangerous, you might not get the results you want.

But these are just reminders. semua dah pun selamat alhamdulillah :D

SEMOGA BAHAGIA DUNIA & AKHIRAT my darlings... mwaaah3