Solemnization of Afiq and Maria

I guess a lucky 5% of Malaysian got married to a German. And my senior Afiq are now included in the statistic too! Last Saturday was the Nikah's Ceremony of Afiq and my dear friend Maria Ziyan, a German revert to Islam. What made it really special was the ceremony was held here in Germany. Despite every problem, we managed to pull a real Malay/German Style of  Islamic Wedding! The wedding was accompanied with traditional malay wedding song, a typical wedding dishes in Malaysia such as Nasi Minyak, Dalca Sayur, Ayam Masak Merah etc and a Mini Pelamin!

I have taken the role of a photographer! This was my first real job on photography and I really refuse to take any payment knowing that I'm not a professional photographer. Somehow Afiq and Maria insisted on paying my service. At the end, they both agreed to pay me after they see the results and they must pay me according to what they think worth the money they spent with the quality of the photo. But I must say that I'm really satisfied with my work on Outdoor photo shoots. Then, I must improved more on capturing moment during the ceremony. I need to explore more on various angle, work faster and more efficient, and also learn to adapt with various situation and light sources.

We went to Maria's hotel room for Berinai which is Henna Painting. One of my senior did the plant and leaves motives painting on her hands beautifully!

I arrived early that Saturday to capture the image of the event house, helping them with a few preparation and also photographing Maria during her preparation. I was really happy to see that we managed to make a small Nikah's Dais (Mini Pelamin)

The Venue : Tagung and Eventhouse Erlangen

The Ceremony begins with the called for Prayer which Adhan for Zuhr. Then the men prayed together with the Imam. I really like this idea since people tend to ignore prayer because they are busy during a wedding ceremony. As Mufti Menk once mention "Wedding is a religious celebration. One should do it without ignoring important religious rule such as prayer, aurah etc" To view it from another angle, this was also an act of Da'wah, to show the non-muslim guests the beauty of Islam.

Zuhr Prayer

After Zuhr Prayer, the Nikah's ceremony beginned. It was really different from what I have seen in Malaysia. Here the Nikah was done by asking the consent of both bride and groom over marriage, where they just have to answer yes or no without any long answer usually used in Malaysia. No shake between the Imam and Groom was involved too. It was easier than getting married in Malaysia!

Filling in the Heiratsurkunde (Marriage Form)

After exchange of ring

Mahar : €10 in Cash & Ring with white diamond and blue sapphire

In the middle of the reception, we sneaked out for awhile to do the outdoor photo shoots. We did it at a small field near the Eventhouse with a river nearby. I bet the photo will be more wonderful if we did it at small river in Eichstätt.

I'm ending this Photo blog post with a silly photos of us, the so-called bridesmaids donning various style of matching pink scarf with Maria.

Look at the Bride!

What's that?

Acting Cute Pose