T

he First Family has invited more than 4,000 guests to the wedding of President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo'€™s eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka to Selvi Ananda on June 11.

As many as 1,000 of the 4,000 invitations have been reserved for Surakarta residents, 2,000 of them for volunteers who helped out on Jokowi'€™s presidential campaign and the other 1,000 for state officials and politicians.

The statement was conveyed by Surakarta Mayor FX Hadi Rudyatmo, better known as Rudy, a member of the wedding committee. According to Rudy, the wedding will begin with a serah-serahan ceremony on June 9, when the groom brings the bride'€™s family gifts like food and other things that will be used during the wedding.

Then, on the eve of the wedding on June 10, the midodareni (eve of the ceremony) traditional Javanese ritual will be held at Jokowi'€™s private residence in Sumber, Banjarsari, Surakarta. The peak of the event is the ijab kabul, or exchange of vows, which will be held at 9 a.m. local time on June 11 at the Graha Saba Buana Hall, followed by the first wedding reception at around 10 a.m.

'€œAll 4,000 guests will not arrive at the same time of day. The invitations for Surakarta residents and volunteers are divided into two for the midodareni and reception. Guests who have come for the midodareni ritual cannot come again for the reception,'€ said Rudy at his Loji Gandrung official residence on Tuesday.

Rudy, who was Jokowi'€™s deputy when he was Surakarta mayor, added that the first reception would be held from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. with 1,500 guests, followed by the second reception from 11 a.m. until 12 noon with 1,500 invitees and the third from 12 noon to 1 p.m. for the remaining 1,000 guests.

Rudy said the evening reception was reserved for the more important guests, such as state officials, state dignitaries and politicians. The evening reception will be divided into two sessions: the first from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and the second from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

'€œI don'€™t know the number of guests for the evening reception as it is being handled by the State Secretariat, but the evening reception is strictly reserved for VVIPs,'€ said Rudy.

Rudy reminded that only those who received invitations would be able to attend the receptions, so those who wish to come but are not equipped with an invitation should not try to get in.

'€œAlthough it is a personal occasion, the host is the President, so we must comply with protocol. I remind you again that there will be no people'€™s party or open house. Only those with invitations can come,'€ Rudy pointed out.

Separately, Surakarta Transportation, Communication and Information Office head Yosca Herman Soedrajad said his office had prepared around 300 pedicabs, or becak, to pick up the VVIPs from the parking lot and bring them to the Graha Saba Buana Hall.

'€œWe will decorate the becak and the drivers will wear traditional clothing. We have prepared two parking lots in Banyuanyar and the Sumber Field, located around 400 meters from the reception venue,'€ said Yosca.

Yosca added that to facilitate the wedding reception, his office would close Jl. Ahmad Yani heading to the Sumber area for two days on June 10 and 11.

The media-shy Gibran has kept his relationship with 2009'€™s Miss Surakarta private. The couple met in 2009 when Gibran was a jury member at a pageant where Selvi was a finalist. Current First Lady Iriana Widodo '€” the mayor'€™s wife at that time '€” placed the crown on her head.

The 27-year-old Gibran, the oldest of three siblings who has managed a catering business in Surakarta since 2010, later started dating his fiancee after frequently meeting her at the Surakarta mayoral office where she served her pageant duties.