Shadow Puppets

Shari inherited two beautiful puppets her great aunt had collected from Indonesia. Those two, three-dimensional puppets, plus a recent occasion re-watching the Indonesian movie, Opera Jawa, (a "must see") were the inspirations for doing something special for Raphael's and Woan Ching's wedding.

It was their second wedding. A year earlier, they had a rather public if somewhat frugal legal wedding at the courthouse, along with a hundred or so complete strangers. We joked about Rev. Sun Myung Moon mass weddings, expecting several scores of happy couples to shout in unison, "I do".

Wendy made the puppet of Woan Ching. She's flying with the
crescent moon and star symbols of Malaysia on her wing,
a piano in her purse. Roy made the dancing violist puppet of
Raphael. The pianist and violist met at the U of A music school.

Actually, each wedding party was called into the various courtrooms privately. It was quite nice, as was our dinner at Trattoria Pina Italian restaurant afterwards.

Woan Ching is from Malaysia. Her parents were unable to attend that courthouse wedding. But Woan Ching more than made up for it with a delightful family and friends wedding celebration this past Mother's Day (coincidental, but mothers in attendance were honored) -- with all the trimmings.

So what do puppets and Raph weds Woan Ching have in common? Well, to honor the Chinese Malaysian family, Shari thought of making shadow puppets to decorate our backyard for the pre-wedding party we hosted. She made six puppets and inspired Raph's parents, Roy and Wendy, to make puppets of Raph and Woan Ching.

The happy couple and their puppets.

The whole idea was kept secret. It was to be a surprise. It worked.

The eight puppets with the spotlights were set up the day before the sit-down, pool party buffet function. Just enough time to check the lighting the night before, then that day, a quick run to the hardware store to replace a non-functioning spotlight. Which was good because the light that died was pointed at Raph's and Woan Ching's puppets, and the new replacement was brighter and brought a nice focus to the display.

Bride and groom, parents Hee Tek and Chin-bee, and others were suitably surprised and impressed, as were we with our new Malaysian dresses and shirts.

The happy gathering of family and friends the evening before the formal wedding. (Thanks, Randy.)