Kate and Jola’s wedding was the reason Josiah and I went to Fiji last month. We stayed at The Westin at Denarau Islands. I initially assumed that it would be a wedding by the beach before we were informed by Kate’s parents. However, it was a traditional church wedding followed by a dinner reception.
Josiah and I wanted to wear the conventional outfit; dress for me, shirt and pants for him. The dress code for the wedding was for ladies to not wear revealing clothes and men, the usual. That morning before the wedding, Josiah and I decided to spice things up so we picked up matching outfits at the hotel’s boutique; a sarong skirt for me, a Hawaiian shirt and a sulu (a male skirt) for Josiah.
I also had a little fake orchid in my hair I bought in Hawaii during our honeymoon two years back.
While waiting for our transport, we decided to entertain all the hotel guests with our fantastic drum-breating skills.
Ooooh yeah!
Fijians are very laid back in their timing. Apparently there was no rush. It’s an island, everyone is chilled and relaxed.
The Bula Bus (shuttle bus).
Suddenly this looked like a scene from Ghost – the movie. Heaven’s shining down.
Kate from Melbourne, Australia is Josiah’s colleague at Majlis Sukan Negara (National Sports Council) in Malaysia. Kate married Jolame Veidreyaki (pronounced as Ven-dree-ya-ki), a prominent rugby player from Fiji. Together they had the very gorgeous Makai baby.
We started on our journey to the city of Luotoka, where the church is – about 45 minutes away from Denarau Islands.
Fiji is very green. Roads were quite bumpy due to the damage caused by the torrential rain earlier that month. Ironically, the company fixing their road will be Naim Holdings Sdn Bhd from Malaysia in a US$40million road rehabilitation project! Link here.
A typical house in Fiji.
More road works.
The children lining up for their bus.
The grocer’s.
A typical supermarket.
More land. Finally, we reached Luotoka at the Namoli Methodist Church.
We arrived together with Kate’s family.
It was a beautiful church. Hot weather but still bearable.
The pastor welcoming everyone.
L-R: The best man, groom and groom’s father.
You can imagine the heat.
Then the bride and bridesmaid joined the groom and bestman. Their masi wedding gown is called ‘sulu ni vakamau’. Items used to make their outfit include tapa (masi tree bark), tapioca starch (glue) and some ink. Awesome isn’t it.
There was no ‘kiss-the-bride’ session. But, there was a “Who is it who gives this daughter blablabla” and Kate’s father stands up and proclaims “I do!”. This reminded me of the time my father did the same to my sister’s church wedding. It was funny. 
Makai’s christening.
The women have the same hair!
Their outfits may not be flattering to their figure (they’re much thinner in reality) but they’re certainly interesting. I’ve never seen anything like this before. I love it!
Love their hair! How cute right?
Yes! I caught a photo of Josiah holding my purse. Look, Josiah’s in a skirt and holds a purse.
After the church wedding ceremony, we went to First Landing Beach Resort, a historical place – the first landing of Fiji.
The flower girls preparing for the dinner – they were so adorable lining up next to each other as I flashed my camera.
While waiting for the wedding, as we mentioned – Fijians are pretty laid back, I took a little nap on the hammock.
And looked into the sky, the moonlight.
We were at the second VIP table in the main room. It was a buffet-style wedding dinner for the rest except for the two main VIP tables where food were already laid out before we arrived.
The main VIP table faced the crowd.
Kate, Jola and Makai enter the dining hall.
Outside where the other attendees were seated. They were mostly from the same village Jola grew up in.
Buffet-style.
Some of the prepared dishes.
The Kokoda dish – fish salad.
Chicken dish.
Cassava.
Chicken curry but not really spicy, quite sweet and mild.
More chicken, different taste.
There were some speeches and a live band. We had to leave early for an early day the following day – hot air balloon at 5am. It was well worth it!
We were pretty tired at the end of the night… but it was sure well worth the experience – different culture.
Till my next blog entry. Have a lovely weekend.
