Kellen has been my haus meri for the last year or so that I have been here, but she has helped the Radcliffe's for a number of years. She got married this past weekend, so I went with the Radcliffes to the wedding. The Radcliffes weren't just spectators but were main participants in the wedding. Jim shared a message about marriage, Kathy helped out with a lot of the preparations, Cilla and Lydia were bridesmaids, Cilla's friend Laura was the photographer, and Tessia played the piano. 
I haven't been to a PNG wedding before, so it was nice to witness this marriage ceremony for Kellen and Frankie. A lot of our western traditions have made their way into PNG weddings around here - white dresses, rings, flower girls and ring bearers. PNG traditions however are also present. There is the flower ring which is put around the couple to help to signify that they belong to one another and that no one else can come in and that they can't break the union or go outside of the ring. There is the illustration of roles of men and women. For men it was a bushknife and bible signifying being the spiritual leader and the worker to help build the house. For the women it was the bilum to represent the gardening and supplying of food, but also for kids and it was the sunday school chart to help teach others about Christ.
There was an uninvited guest at the wedding too, the little puppy - but he was cute, so I got his picture. Following the ceremony we all lined up to congratulate the couple and then enjoyed some mumu food before heading home for the baptism.
