Wedding bells

With all the excitement of Melody becoming engaged and her happy emails and texts back and forth, I have been reflecting a little on cultural differences surrounding the wedding day.

1. Timing - it is all with the monks. Go to your local temple, talk to your monk man and he gets back to you with the favoured date - when omens are all good.

2. Venue - a great choice ... of streets. 'Street party' takes on a whole new meaning in Phnom Penh. Local hire companies set up a tented affair, together with chairs, tables, banquet, the whole bit - on the road. The tarseal road. Or, the dirt road - your choice.

In the process of setting up - neighbourhood wedding venue

Riding your moto through streets that are two-thirds blocked with the wedding reception is just part of every-day experience here. Better still, riding around a block because the wedding reception has filled the street is just as likely ...

3. Gifts - could not be easier. Money. The envelope is opened with you present.

4. Who pays - interesting. Everyone would be the short answer. The man pays his in-laws for his future wife. Prices are negotiable. A lovely guy in the church here needs to come up with US$3000. A white boy marrying a local girl is up for a $60,000 house for his inlaws to hand her over. David Collins, look and learn ...

It appears a little fluid - inlaws can pay, or the young couple can pay for the reception etc. Which, hopefully, the guests cover. The trick is to invite the right guests. One of our friends got an invite to a wedding from people whom he had never met.

5. Love - distressingly optional. The right family, social considerations and the like are paramount. Young folk we know a little who are now engaged are out of favour with her parents. He is 'below her' - the former man she knew, the guy who beat her up, was much more suitable. She should not have broken it off with him.