Could this be the wedding of the year? To me, it is. I don’t think I’ll be attending another bigger wedding this year. My wedding of the year, thus, is the wedding of Datuk Yusof and Norazlina Redzuan (Alin).

The Ijab was held on August 22nd 2008. The event took place in Alin’s hometown in Kangar, Perlis.

It rained almost the entire day. Thus, prompted the organizing team to prepare three sets of contigency plans. However, when the groom arrived, the rain, as if on que, stopped. The rain made the night cool and perfect for such an event.

A lot of work was put to prepare for the wedding. The left side of the driveway became the buffet serving center. The right side (lawn) was covered with wooden platforms and tables for guests. At the end of the buffet line, a cabana is decorated to house the bride during the Ijab ceremony.

Opposite the bride’s cabana is another cabana prepared to house the Qadi, father and the groom for the Ijab. The path to both cabanas are littered with white flower petals. I think they were white roses, perhaps – not too sure. Flower petals were basically everywhere.

I arrived early. Thus, I had plenty of time to take photos of the wedding grounds. It was really very lovely. Two LCD panels are placed at the dining area. Thus, guests had a clear visual of the Ijab without surrounding the cabanas.

All in all, the grounds looked pretty much like a resort in Bali. Not that I’ve never been to Bali, though. I might be wrong, it may not look like Bali, I wouldn’t really know. Ok.. Ok.. It just looks really really great. Kudos to all who worked on the grounds.

Both the bride and groom looked radiant in their white Baju Melayu and wedding gown. After a few minutes of discussion in the house, the groom appeared and took seat in the Ijab cabana. As he walked across towards the cabana, photographers rushed in to take their shots.

Pretty soon, the Ijab cabana was surrounded by photographers. Camera flashes begin to light up the cabana as the Qadi, father and groom take their seats, respectively.

Alin followed suit a few minutes later. Once again, the camera wielding photographers went rushing to shower the bride with flashes of light from their cameras. Alin blushed a little at first. She regained her composure after getting used to the showers of light from the flashes.

Once both the bride and groom were comfortably seated in their cabanas, the Qadi proceeded with the Ijab ceremony.  Datuk Redzuan is to give away Alin himself. He himself will act as the Wali in the Ijab. The Ijab ceremony went along without a hitch, except for a minor slip of tongue by the wali.

“Aku nikahkan akan dikau .. ” said the wali, Datuk Redzuan.

“Aku terima nikahnya ..” replied the groom, Datuk Yusof.

Thus, the bride and groom is now officially man and wife. No “You may kiss the bride” stuff here. Save that for later in private. Datuk Yusoff and Datin Norazlina are now legally husband and wife.

Alhamdulillah.

My heartiest congratulations to both Datuk and Datin. May you both be blessed with a happy family through out your life. Photos of the wedding events can be found at my Picasa Wedding Album at http://picasaweb.google.com/kodeexii.weddings

These photos are a collection of pictures taken by at least three photographers. The total number of photos I collected was close to 2000 shots. This is for three events. The Ijab, Reception and family dinner.

It took a while to compile the shots and select the most suitable to be posted in my Wedding Web Album in Picasa. I still have yet to complete it. I’d say the Nikah event is pretty much completed. The other two, will probably complete during the weekend.