My Big, Fat Samoan Wedding (Reception)

Ok, before anyone can get offended. . . that title is merely a play on the very popular movie about weddings with very strong cultural overtones.
Which is exactly what Markus and I were treated to last Saturday. The staff I work with felt sorry for me for missing out on the typical (American) Samoan wedding traditions. So they threw us a wedding. We were treated to two custom made wedding outfits. This is our first outfit. It was hand painted with glitter. Super cool. Markus calls it his Samoan Miami Vice outfit.











We do our siva (dance):

John sings for us:













The bridal party enters (they all got special bride's maid's puletasi's made for the occassion)














My "Dad" (aka some random guy named Eddy who was at the bar that says we are to name the first baby after him, sorry Eddy, I think not):














John marries us:






















Then the Groom's Siva (he dances with his "family" (aka random people at the bar-I told him his family is just a bunch of drunks!) That woman in the middle was really into him, too. She picked him up like she was going to sling him over her shoulder and carry him away. That's MINE sista! Our palagi friend, Cliff, even got into the action, though when he got his dollar bills out, Julia intervened, finding it inappropriate for him to throw money at another male-no worries though, she did it for him!











The Bride's Siva (I got all the nice bride's maids as my family). Here's an action shot of them throwing money at me. I originally thought this was a traditional Samoan thing, until a friend from Western Samoa said she was shocked the first time she saw this at a wedding in Am Samoa. It's fun to dance in a pile of money in my opinion.














Then cake:


















































Gifts (yes this whole party AND $$-these guys are amazing):














Some of the sentiments on the card:






















































Then dinner:














Some of our palagi friends showed up for the festivities:



















Dress change (many weddings end up with multiple costume changes. Bride's family's dress, groom's family's dress, etc.) This was a dress made from lovely traditional print material that John (my boss) brought from Apia where he lives when he's not at work. This was to signify our more traditional portion of the evening where we dance with the taupo (village virgin-signified by her leg tattoos)














Family Shot:













Then the after party:
Gangsta Shot (if you ask any Samoans, except a perhaps a group of women to pose, you will get this shot here):






















































And this is what you get after dancing barefoot in bars (it's impossible to siva in shoes):

My Samoan Wedding was fabulous. As always, more photos on my flickr site.