A Samoan Wedding...

...is a lot of fun.
Sharon invited me to escort her to a Samoan wedding on Saturday. Of course I said yes, being a sucker for wedding cake and open bars. It turned out that the wedding was actually in Western Samoa - so it would be a weekend trip off Am. Sam. - bonus! Our friends Ryan & Cynthia and Jeff & Meredith were also going - double bonus.

We took the 8:30 am flight over to Apia. Sadly, we were not able to get a rental car, so we took a cab into town. The six of us were all staying at the Samoan Holiday Hotel. It is a nice hotel, it was clean with solid air-conditioning so it is a five star in my book. Even though it is little far from town compared to the other hotels, they do have a fine selection of Australian gossip magazines from eight months ago. Did you know that Angelina Jolie is pregnant with Brad Pitts baby? We headed into town for some lunch and shopping. We ran into Paul and Barbara who were also going to the wedding. This being Samoa, we were not in a major rush to get to the wedding, because none of us thought it would actually start on time. The bridal shower "started" at 1 pm, but the bride did not show until 3:30 pm. However, the wedding actually started on time. oops. It was a Catholic Samoan wedding. I actually understood most it thanks to my years as a Catholic alter boy. The church was pretty cool, you could tell that it had been there awhile. I enjoyed the velvet/light in the dark Jesus display.The ceremony was nice - bride (as they normally are) looked beautiful. They even had a choir, which (as they are normally do in Samoa) sang wonderfully.The musical accompaniment - a electronic keyboard - was set on "Baseball Theme Music" so the hymns to the music were a little odd, but still worked. After a couple of post-wedding photos, we went to the reception. It was one of the stranger receptions I have ever attended. Besides the Tim's (the groom) brother, nephew and brother-in-law, the eight of us were the only palagis at the wedding. We were sort of a big deal. They placed us at the VIP table - so designed by a piece of paper ripped from an appointment calendar with the word "special" written on it. We also got table service for drinks. We attempted to get our own from the bar, but our Samoan hosts would have none of it. It was weird ordering drinks from a nine year old, but when in Samoa...
Even before the wedding party showed up, the reception was in full swing. The bride and groom finally showed up around 5 pm - we got to the reception around 3 pm. The DJ kicked it. We were very popular as dance partners. The Samoan women wanted to dance and they would not take no as an answer.
Our ladies were also popular... Dinner was eventually served. In theory, this is only for one person. While not the most tastiest meal, I will say it was the most original wedding dinner. I did not get a piece of cake, but I guess others did. I noticed that we were really the only ones who were actually eating our meals. The rest of the wedding guests were carrying the food out to their cars to save for later. I hear that this is a normal practice. The removal of food did not slow down the party or the popping of balloons. The popping of balloons was very popular and at times, turned a bit savage. Eventually the party slowed down. In a sad note, Sharon's wallet was stolen, not sure how or when. Our new friend Angie told us that she would get her Tongan friend to do a card reading and figure out who stole it. On a happier note, Tim told us that we should grab as much beer as possible, because he paid for it all, and would like his friends to enjoy it as much as the random people from the village. The party planner had him buy 90 cases of beer. Our cab drive we met earlier in the day, Triple X, took us back to the hotel with our stash. Sidenote, Triple X was so named by the large decal of "XXX" (from the the famous movie) on his windshield. We hung out at the hotel with Tim's West Virgina relatives. Even Dwight from the TV show "The Office" showed up at the hotel.How cool is that. At the wedding, some people mentioned that there was going to be an afterparty. Our new Samoan friend Jeff picked us up and took us to the afterparty. It was a party, but it turned out that it was not in fact an afterparty for the wedding, but a party for a couple that just returned from Australia. whatever. The highlights of the party was a Number 2 size pig (they come in five sizes), the host of the party, Panoa who introduced us to the "Panoa" - Malibu rum and coconut water - DE-LI-CIOUS and this guy...he opened our beer with his mouth. The beer was not a twist top. ouch. After awhile, we were all fading, but our ride had left for an errand and would return soon. In Samoan speak that could be five minutes or the next morning. Cynthia was able to con our way into a ride with another Samoan couple. sweet. The next morning Sharon and I enjoyed the air-conditioned room. Paul and Barbara had already left for a flight to New Zealand for a three week vacation - super jealous. Ryan, Cynthia, Jeff and Meredith were going to stay for the rest of week in Samoa and go to another island called Savai'i by ferry boat. Since Sharon and I had some time before the flight, they dropped us off (after finally getting a rental car) at Aggie's Gray Beach Resort. Aggie's is close to the airport and is a posh resort in Samoa. We had some lunch and thought about doing some water sports - like waterskiing, but the weather was not ideal for it. We then decided to get a full body massage. Best idea ever. Can't really say much about it, just recommend it highly. Unfortunately, we almost missed our flight, the airline attendant said it was closed, but a second guy allowed us to go. We timed it perfectly, we passed customs as they were boarding the plan. sweet. Overall, a wedding weekend to remember. Best of luck Tim & Ana - thanks for for hosting a great wedding!