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In sickness and in health: Couples finally wed after restrictions loosen
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Preparations: Kevin Pradana (front) and Marsya Yasmina (back) take a pre-wedding picture in Javanese traditional dress. (Courtesy of Kevin Pradana) (Personal collection/Courtesy of Kevin Pradana)
E
ngaged couples have waited for their special moment since last year, wondering when they could seal their love amid the raging pandemic.
This pandemic, the sentiment “true love waits” rings as true as ever as future brides and grooms wait patiently to share their big day together.
For 26-year-old Kevin Pradana and his fiancée, Marsya, whom he had dated for 11 years since high school, it means having to wait since early 2020.
“I’ll be honest, planning a wedding during the pandemic is not easy, and there are countless challenges that come with it,” Kevin shared with The Jakarta Post on Sept. 28.
The biggest challenge, he said, was the tradition of weddings itself. For most in the country, weddings are seen as a social event, not meant for the newlyweds per se but for the families and friends instead. “It’s more like a service for others,” Kevin added.
And so, to have a merry and crowded wedding, the pair postponed their early 2020 wedding plan. This involved numerous postponements and not getting their hopes up.
“We’ve gone through two phases [of lockdown], the first was the large-scale social restrictions (PSBB), when we planned our wedding according to its rules, and then when the public activity restrictions (PPKM) hit, we changed the whole wedding plan again,” he said.
