the gift from my sister, because I gave her 'way' for getting married first

For most of first daughter, being "skipped" by younger one to be married first could cause a lot of problems such as broken heart, offensive, to hatred (or self-hatred). But for me, my sister's wedding was a relieve; that the burden for "one of the children must get married" is no longer upon my shoulder. I was relieved that my sister could find a man who'll take care of her and Mom could be a lot relaxed now that one of the children is married.

tools for "ribbon cutting" ceremony, as sign that older siblings give way for little sister to get married before them

The preparation for the wedding took us about 7 months, since Maruli Panggabean came to our house and proposed my sister in front of the family on Nov 1st, 2014. Since then, I worked with Kak Mona (Maruli's sister in law) and the family to prepare the party and turned out we made it! We found venue, contacted all the vendors all by ourselves and didn't hire a wedding organizer, so I think it's pretty much a great collaboration between us the in-laws on making this happened.

the second room we stayed at J.W. Marriott; we had the connected rooms

A day before the wedding, we (Mom, Bent, Clemy and I) checked in at J.W. Marriott Hotel, Mega Kuningan, because our house is far away at the suburb and we needed to be closer to Central Jakarta on the day so we booked the hotel rooms earlier. We pampered ourselves for the day, didn't have any widodaren as other bride do due to the lack of time, distance and saving some energy.

the bride's last dinner as bachelorette; it was small and simple but intimate

On Saturday, June 20th, 2015, We woke up at 4 a.m., took shower and hurried drove to the groom's house at Menteng. We all had our make-up and dress-up there for practicality reason. The bride, mothers and Kak Mona had Anindita made them look beautiful, while Rica (the maid of honor), Kezia (Kak Mona's daughter/bridesmaid) and I had Susan Parto.

the car's flower arrangement by Emerys Florist

maid of honor, bride, mother of bride and sister of bride; we drove by ourselves to the hotel!

the groom opened the bride's veil

We were finally ready at 9.30 and drove back to J.W. Marriott for the "cut the ribbon" ceremony as a symbol that older siblings are giving way for the bride to get married first, that we gave our blessings for the happiness of the bride and groom. So after the groom "asked" the bride's mother blessing, he asked older siblings for our blessings, too, then we cut the ribbon and walked before the bride & groom for our own good future.

sisters and mother in law

mothers of bride and groom

We went back to Menteng, had lunch and prepare for the holy matrimony. At 1 p.m. we were all gathered at HKBP Menteng Church, at Jl. Jambu, for family picture and civil registration. At 2 p.m., the family and church's council entered and took our place, then the bride and her mother entered the room. It was a very touching and tearful moment, with a beautiful song sung by Latinka Stephanie Sidabutar.

Mr. and Mrs. Panggabean; the Amang (father) and Inang (mother) of the groom

the bride entrance at church; mother gave her daughter to awaiting groom

vows and rings exchange

The holy matrimony was beautiful, with great song choices. I always thought Catholic's holy matrimony still has it all, with prayer to Saint Mary and more intimate moments with parents and all, but this one (in HKBP version) was very touchy and quite unforgettable. We didn't spend too much time at the church and hurried to the reception building, Sampoerna Strategic Square due to limited time.

Kak Nia, Clemency, Kak Mona and me--we're now all legally sisters!

the ballroom reception décor; it's classic elegant with touch of champagne gold

After some touch ups, dressed up and photographed, we were finally ready at 7 p.m. for the reception. When we entered the ballroom, the guests were already filled the room half-full. We had an entrance  procession of the family before finally the bride and groom, and had Bang Tigor Tanjung to say some forewords, had the groom's best friend speech, as well as the bride's best friend/maid of honor, Rica.

little bodyguards: Bennet, Bram and William, to guard the bride and groom

The wedding procession was pretty much standard, with cake cutting, cake feeding, champagne toasting and all. Then the guests started to congratulate the newlyweds and parents on stage, to eat and mingle. We had Truly Entertainment band played the songs picked by the couple (but also many weren't sung) but some special guests presented their own songs, like Angelika Samara (our cousin), Bang Partahi and Ruhut Sitompul (the groom's cousins) on stage.

Angelika singing

Sitompul Brothers singing a Batak song

me and my wedding gift for her; poem reading

so glad she liked it!

We had about 1,500 people at the party so it took a while till the line finished greeting the couple, so we had to cut them for my gift. I, too, had prepared a poem for my sister that I made just about a week before the wedding. I printed it and decorated the print in a frame with some photographs and 3D cut-outs and had it waited in the newlywed's bedroom, but I still thought that I needed to read it out loud in front of the guests, so there I went, with my trembling voice, reading a poem for my bride sister. I was glad that she (and her husband) liked it!

this wedding had made my writer aunt dressed up so pretty!

of course, my bestie since 1993: Nalya the law lecturer <3 i="">

and my lovely gank: Timen, Achel and Bobby <3 i="">

The party was said to be great, especially with the extraordinarily perfect elegant décor by Grasida, sweet 5-tier wedding cake by Gordon Blue, great food catering by Bali Indah, and photo gallery by Costes Portrait. We finished all past 11 p.m. and we were extremely exhausted--but the wedded couple were still on and they had this after party at De Burse Bar at Equity Tower. So the cousins went there with the couple's friends, too. We really finished all at 2.30 a.m. and I went to sleep at 3.30 a.m.!

my brother Benedict among the Tanjung Family; I love this pic!

It wasn't all over for me because we stayed over at our cousin's house and finally reached home at 8 p.m. the next day (it was truly really very exhausting for me but I had some massage at Cozy Spa at BSD so it was getting better) and the recovery is still going on till now, a week later (I got cough and gastric ulcer and had bed rested for 2 days yesterday) but we're all very happy to become a big family with our in-laws, and wish the very best for the newlyweds.

legally wed!