The main event: An official of President Joko âJokowiâ Widodoâs sonâs wedding reception committee shows a wedding invitation to journalists during a press conference in Surakarta, Central Java, on Thursday
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Hundreds of journalists from a range of domestic and foreign media have registered to cover the wedding of President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka to Selvi Ananda.
The wedding is slated for June 11 in the President's hometown of Surakarta, Central Java.
As of Thursday, the second day of the registration, no fewer than 250 journalists had signed up to cover the event at the Military District Command (Korem) Warastratama Surakarta.
More journalists are expected to sign up, with Korem Warastratama keeping the registration open until Friday.
'There may be up to 300 of them by the time registration closes tomorrow,' Korem Warastratama spokesperson Maj. (Inf.) Mantang said on Thursday.
No limit had been set on the number of the journalists allowed to cover the event, he said, but the registration period was limited to three days.
Separately, wedding coordinator Quirinto Edy said that the invitations for the wedding had begun to be distributed on Wednesday and were expected to be fully distributed by Friday, for invitees from outside Surakarta as well as from in the city .
Quirinto explained that the cream-colored invitations measured 18 centimeters by 26 centimeter and were wrapped in red velvet cloth.
A golden emboss featuring a puppet gunungan (volcano-shaped motif) bearing the names Selvi and Gibran was attached to the front of each invitation.
Each invitation, he added, comprised five sheets of paper: the front and back covers, an invitation sheet, a sketch of the reception site and a card to be traded for a wedding souvenir.
'The cards for the souvenirs are printed in five different colors according to the time of the guests' arrival,' Quirinto explained.
Thousands of Jokowi partisans are also planning to attend the wedding procession and plan to erect tents around the reception building.
The volunteers will reportedly come to the site on the eve of the midodareni (wedding opening) procession scheduled for Wednesday evening.
Responding to the plan, Surakarta Mayor FX Hadi Rudyatmo said that the city administration would not facilitate the volunteers, stating that they were banned from erecting tents on the planned site.
'If they want to stay, they must find a hotel or an inn. They are not allowed to erect tents,' said Hadi.
The mayor also said that he had been given the task of preparing the parking lot for the guests, as well as preparing becak (pedicabs) to take guests from the parking area to the reception building, Graha Saba Buana, which belongs to the first family.
The mayor said he had prepared 200 becak for the purpose.
They would be decorated and the drivers would wear a traditional lurik uniform along with the traditional Javanese head cover, blangkon, he revealed.
'Everything's at the expense of Pak Jokowi, not from the city budget,' said Hadi, adding that no money would be spent from the budget for the wedding as all expenses were being paid for out of the President's pocket.
The media-shy Gibran has kept his relationship with the 2009 Miss Surakarta private.
The couple met in 2009 when Gibran was a panel member at a pageant in which Selvi was a finalist.
Current First Lady Iriana Widodo, the mayor's wife at that time, placed the crown on Selvi's head.
Twenty-seven-year-old Gibran, the oldest of three siblings, has managed a catering business in Surakarta since 2010, and started dating Selvi after frequently meeting her at the Surakarta mayoral office, where she was carrying out her ceremonial duties as Miss Surakarta.
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