President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Boediono have confirmed their plans to attend the royal wedding of Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X’s youngest daughter, GRAj Nurastuti Wijareni, at Yogyakarta Palace on Tuesday
resident Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Boediono have confirmed their plans to attend the royal wedding of Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X’s youngest daughter, GRAj Nurastuti Wijareni, at Yogyakarta Palace on Tuesday.
Nurastuti, 25, now bestowed the title Gusti Kanjeng Ratu (GKR) Bendara, will marry Achmad Ubaidillah, 30, the head of print media at the Vice Presidential Secretariat, who has been appointed KPH Yudanegara.
“The President and Vice President will attend the panggih ritual,” a younger brother of the Sultan, KGPH Hadiwinoto, said Saturday, referring to a ritual held to ceremonially meet the bride and groom after both have officially become husband and wife.
The wedding process will take four days, starting on Sunday, with the main event scheduled to take place on Tuesday. This will include a wedding ceremony at the palace’s Panepen Mosque and the panggih ritual at Bangsal Kencana hall in the morning, a bridal parade in the afternoon and a reception at Bangsal Kepatihan hall in the governor’s office complex in the evening.
“I apologize to tourists because the palace will be closed to tourists throughout the wedding process,” Hadiwinoto said in Yogyakarta on Saturday.
Separately, the Presidential Security Forces (Paspampres) were finalizing preparations for the VVIP guest security at the wedding, which involved training with a helicopter at the palace’s Alun-Alun Utara Square on Saturday.
The commander of the Yogyakarta Military Resort 072 Pamungkas, Col. Sumedy, who directly led the training exercise said 2,400 military and police personnel took part.
At the palace, the organizing committee was seen busily conducting its final preparations for the wedding. “The preparations are 99 percent ready. We just need to make sure,” the Sultan’s eldest daughter, GKR Pembayun said on Saturday.
A final practice for the panggih ritual was also carried out at the palace’s Bangsal Kencana hall on Saturday afternoon, while others were seen preparing wedding decorations using coconut palm fronds and flowers.
Meanwhile, outside the palace the joint secretariat for the Yogyakarta special status was also seen busily preparing events aimed at making the royal wedding a public celebration.
The secretariat plans to employ hundreds of angkringan (traditional carts selling various food items), from which members of the public can enjoy free food from 2 p.m. on Monday until early on Tuesday morning.
It also will organize a traditional festival on Monday afternoon, presenting local performances and a parade of poetry performances in the evening.
“The performances will continue until Tuesday, and involve performers from other regions including Surakarta, Boyolali, East Nusa Tenggara and Kalimantan,” joint secretariat spokesman Widhiasto Wasana said Saturday.
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