Attending Bruce and Yanti's wedding in Ubud Bali

Friday September 25th was the day Bruce Briscoe ( Pak Bruce from the Bali Advertiser ) and Yanti were to get married in Ubud.

I met them both a few months ago in the Hard Rock Café on Jalan Pantai Kuta for lunch. Bruce is a native of California and Yanti is from Java.

Bruce had e-mailed me and said the wedding was to be held in his house in Penestanan which is just west of Ubud and the ceremony would begin at 11am.

It was overcast when I set off and I wore my rain jacket, the sarong I planned to wear carefully protected in a plastic bag hanging from the hook on my bike.

Circling around Denpasar using the bypass I quickly rode up to Ubud and tried to find Penestanan. I’ve never been there before, like so many visitors to Ubud just sticking to downtown area near Monkey Forest and Jalan Hanuman. To get to Penestanan I had to ride up and over a steep hill, you can almost miss it passing through on the main road. The road leads to a pleasant little collection of shops and houses, this is a cool, place to live!

My point of reference was the volleyball-courts and soon they were in view, Bruce’s house close by. I parked under the shed next to Bruce’s house a 2 local women helped adjust my sarong (next time I’ll bring a giant safety pin, this is getting old).

Bruce’s house is rented and sits next to paddy fields, a relaxing environment for all the creative talent here in Ubud. The town and it surroundings are in fact the major art center of Bali with the various villages specializing in a particular product. Penestanan specializes in beadwork.

Entering the house I was greeted by friends of Bruce from the US and the man himself decked out like he was starring in a Christmas pantomime. No skimping on the make up either!

Also present were Yanti, who was getting herself psyched up for the occasion, her relatives and Balinese locals who set up the offerings outside. The handy thing about the design of the house here in Bali is that most of them come with a large open air veranda that allows you to sit outside and entertain. The priest was set up on a bamboo couch with his equipment ready to go.

Bruce’s brother Jack had come all the way from California to attend the wedding and had also attended Bruce and Yanti’s conversion to Hinduism several days ago. This is one of the unique aspects of this wedding, that neither participant had grown up in this religion. Yanti is from Java and was brought up a muslim, but wanted a Balinese wedding and told me she wanted to convert so she can participate in ceremonies.

I think she’s very brave and her family are cool people coming from Java for the wedding, accepting that she’s is giving up Islam and wearing Balinese attire for the wedding. Everyone was here from her parents to her granny.

I also think Bruce is brave for getting done up for the event. While the ceremony got under way we were served refreshments and I commented to Jack that you’ve got to love Balinese weddings, the bride and groom have to do party games while the rest of us can talk, eat and drink.

The ceremony lasted about 2 ½ hours and included Bruce and Yanti receiving blessings from 2 Balinese women and facing the priest and performing a ritual. Bruce, a natural comedian had Yanti in stitches with some of his antics. The priest rang a special bell at intervals and Jack commented this one thing he could do without.

The highlight of the ceremony was Bruce and Yanti taking specially prepared offerings which included eggs, bananas and other small items and ‘ playing‘ with them by pushing them across the floor to each other. Balinese Hinduism is packed full of symbolism and we were thinking this might be a way of showing how you can share and interact with the other person.

After that session was over the ladies brought in a hoe with a coconut attached and handed it to Bruce while Yanti got a basket off offerings. They repeatedly had to walk in and out of the house carrying these. I think it was the most exercise Bruce has gotten in the last 20 years. He told me afterwards that for a while during the ceremony he was getting choked up thinking about the meaning of the whole thing, but after a certain amount of repetition was saying to himself ‘okay let’s get this over with’. One of the final acts was for Bruce to cut a mat with his ‘kris’ (knife) and a green headband to be tied around each other’s foreheads, symbolizing marriage. The old priest was later replaced by a younger one. Bruce later said he was hoping it was going to be part II. His brother Jack said he was thinking there were 2 priests so 1 could hold Bruce down while the other did the cutting. Fortunately things wrapped up and the bride and groom were able to get something to eat and relax with the guests.

We took a group shot out back and another one of Yanti, the ‘ rose between 2 whales’ looking lovely. Incidentally the headgear Yanti is wearing is made on many objects that have been stuck in one by one. I asked her how it felt and she said she had a headache.

We helped ourselves to the spread that included beef rendang, chicken, tofu and other delights. The food was very good and more in line with Javanese cuisine than Balinese. I think it was probably catered and I think if you don’t have a ton of relatives on hand, this is the way to go.

The offerings were very decorative and took a lot of time to make and Bruce was very grateful to the local ladies for doing this. The small temple outside was loaded pretty good as well.

At this point people were relaxing and chatting to their friends. Bruce and Yanti knew the deal was done and they could relax. I joked to Bruce that since he lives in Bali he should take Yanti to Cleveland Ohio for her honeymoon.

Jack had told me he and his wife had debated coming out for the wedding and they were concerned about safety. State Department warnings were a factor and considering they have a daughter they decided only one of them would go. I asked Jack how he now felt after being here a while and he said certainly in the village environment there didn’t to be much risk.

I was snapping away like crazy today and little Kadek got used to having her photo taken.

Around 4pm I decided to head back to Kuta and thanked everyone. It was great to attend Bruce and Yanti’s wedding and I wish them the best for the future.

• Bruce and Yanti back in Ubud Bali
• Bruce and Yanti update from China
• Yanti and Bruce perform wedding ceremony in Penestenan Bali
• Bruce marries Yanti in Penestenan Bali
• Meeting Bruce and Yanti at Hard Rock in Kuta

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