Rain rain go away

It's been raining almost incessantly for days now. Luckiily it wasn't a deluge but a gentle drizzle.Who are we to complain though  when other countries, especially our near neighbors have had it so badly. The Phillippines for example had a typhoon flatten parts of their country and killed hundreds if not almost a thousand people and many are still unaccounted for. And China too have had some really serious flooding that destroyed so much and killed somany. In Indonesia too,two volcanoes in separate parts of the country erupted, forcing people to evacuate. So I shouldn't complain when all we've been having is a little rain!  It's not that I am being ungrateful but sometimes I do wish we have just a bit more sun.

Today's news hasn't been good either- 5 states have people being evacuated, with Pahang leading at more that 30,000 evacuees. Luckily the exams are over by now so students are not stranded. I pray the rains and floods stop in the East coast. It seems Kemaman is completely surrounded by water, virtually cut off on all sides by the floods. Two deaths have already been recorded- a father and son who fell off their boat and feared drowned. 

A water logged road

A car stalled in the middle of the road in a flooded town 

Sarah's wedding reception

The wedding starts with the solemnisation ceremony where Neville promises to take her as his wife and protect her through sickness and in health....

the dais on which they will sit after the solemnisation ceremony 

Neville handing over the dowry to Sarah

The dais at the Hilton Crystal Ballroom 

Preparing the hall. 

Neville and Sarah walking down the aisle to the dais

The couple walked towards the dais or pelamin accompanied by the song "Beautiful in White" and also "I want to marry you"

The welcome symbol at the entrance to the hall 

The wording for the background with Neville's name written as Michael!

Sarah, getting ready

Sarah getting ready by the makeup artist. 

A radiant bride

Almost ready

Sarah's nikah ceremony

One day before the solemnisation ceremony, Sarah went to do her mehendi or colouring and traditional painting of her hands done.

Sarah's mehendi coloured hands

The Dais

One week before the solemnisation ceremony my sister Laila, who is a wedding planner, came to design and create the wedding dais, or pelamin for Sarah's wedding. This is where the bride and groom will sit after the ceremony.

The bride getting ready for the ceremony

Sarah putting on Neville's ring for him

Neville handing over the dowry to Sarah 

 In Islam there is something which for easy interpretation we call the dowry, which the bridegroom gives to the bride. This is different from the dowry in India which the bride brings with her to the groom's house. In Islam the groom gives her a sum of money or something equivalent for her to use in her marriage. She keeps this money for herself. In Sarah's case Neville gave her 10 thousand ringgit (10K) which she put into her bank account for use later. I found lout later that she used it to pay for their honeymoon in Bali and kept the rest for a rainy day.