| After lunch the third and fourth parts of the wedding festivities took place. When the noon meal was finished, the families retreated to their homes for visits with relatives and a nap. The bride and groom and wedding party headed out with the photographer to take formal staged photos at various locations around Phnom Penh. By 3:30 PM they were at the restaurant for the wedding banquet, the most significant part of the day in the Khmer wedding culture. Guests arrived from 4:00 PM till 9:30 PM and were offered a full banquet meal as the tables were continually reset and prepared for the next group as the previous group departed. In return for the meal, each guest left an envelope with money to help pay for the all the ceremonies. The bride kept changing her dress all evening. She told me she changed about 12-15 times during the day. |
The bride (now in green) welcomes arriving guests under an archway leading into the restaurant. Two of the bridesmaids pass out small artificial flower buds, a custom for most weddings. |
Vuth the groom (on the left) poses for a photograph with some of his deaf friends from the Cambodian Disabled People's Organization where he works. |
Narin, the bride (now in white) with some of her deaf friends and her new husband. She also works at the Cambodian Disabled People's Organization where she is a teacher in an adult literacy class. |
The bride (now in a blue dress) and groom pose with some of the foreign guests, Charlie Dittmeier (on the left) and Peter Ward (second from right). |