In which we attend a Lao Wedding (Reception)

A Lao wedding is full of traditions, from the traditional "baci" ceremony to a blessing of the marriage bed. What I know of Lao weddings is mostly what I (a) read in my "Guide to Living in Laos" books, and (b) from what our office admin told us about her sister's wedding, which took place this past Saturday.

I wasn't able to be a part of the actual wedding ceremony, but we (work people) got to attend the wedding reception, which was both awesome and HUGE (I suppose it has to be, if you're able to invite twenty of your sister's work colleagues)

Apparently it's common to have a wedding "color", which guests wear along with the wedding party. The color for the wedding we attended was pink, although many people also wore red, so I'm wondering if there was a color for guests of the bride (pink) and guests of the groom (red). But it was kind of cool to see guests mostly wearing one or two colors. 

Note the drink choice: water, Pepsi and Johnnie Walker. That's it- three drinks that seem to be the standard for any successful Lao wedding. Food was Lao buffet style and I really liked it! Delicious fried rice.  

There were a couple professional photographers floating around the ceremony, but I wanted to (subtle-y) document the wedding myself, so I creepily snuck a couple pictures myself. Like a creeper.

One of my favorite things about the wedding were the "bridesmaids"- this seems to be way different that what it means in the States. They weren't a huge part of the wedding party, which was made up of mostly aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents, etc., of the couple. But they all had dresses made from the same fabric- having clothes tailor made here is SO much cheaper than in the States. So while they all wore a color selected by the bride, they wore all different styles.

(Another creeper photo by yours truly)

Also, a requirement for any awesome wedding: there was dancing. 

Lots of different styles, too:

 The first dances were traditional Lao dances, which I tried (unsuccessfully) to do. Mostly slow walking in a circle, and holding your hands and fingers out in front of your elbows, and slowly turning your hands in a circular motion. I'm sure there's more meaning to it than that, but the elderly couple who took me under their non-English-speaking-wings seemed to be satisfied with my attempts by the end of the dances.

After that there were "Lao line dances" (no idea what it's called in Lao, but it was definitely a line dance). A much simpler dance than what I'm used to (I lived in Louisiana for a year and a half and they were all about the line dancing) but still took me a minute to catch on. Also, it was HILARIOUS to see all the "falang" (white people) in our group because we were all towering about the Lao people. Usually I lose people in a line dance but that wasn't really an issue when it's a mix of Lao people and a group of guys mostly above 6 foot. 

And then they had a DJ come on who played Top 40. Most of the elder people had left by this point (11PM) but the younger people were all taking shots of Johnnie Walker and dancing. I even convinced Nick to do some swing moves, because swing moves are awesome. 

Surprise photo taken by the talented Miss Marissa :) 

Our work group at the wedding :) 

Also note:
Apparently wedding gifts aren't a thing. We were advised that we should use the invitation envelopes (addressed to us), take the invitation out, and put a minimum of 200,000kip ($26) in it. Genius- not only do they get a ton of cash, but they know exactly who gave what amount. Sneaky geniuses.