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Top: Mom Phat and her husband
Sophal.
Below: Everyone gathered together
to celebrate.
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In the last few weeks Aziza’s Place has had an air of anticipation as we all looked forward to attending Mom Phat’s wedding on April 29th in her home province of Takeo. Phat has been a House-Mom at Aziza’s Place since we opened in 2007. She is a central figure in the Aziza’s Place family and we were delighted to share in her day of celebration!
The weeks preceding the big event were full of excitement. Thanks to a generous contribution from Craig Nethercott, the children all went on a major shopping spree at all the markets to find perfect outfits for the occasion. AP’s Co-founder Amjad Ghori, and visitors Mark Arnold, Cindy Turcott and Barbara Devine also arrived in time to attend the wedding festitvities.
The day began with an early wake up in order to meet the 5AM departure time from Aziza’s Place. Despite the early hour the girls looked beautiful and the boys very handsome. The entire troupe travelled by bus to Takeo arriving, still a bit sleepy, to a brightly decorated wedding tent and greeted by Mom Phat and her groom, Ven Sophal, who both looked stunning in their brightly colored traditional wedding outfits.
The day was filled with traditional Khmer wedding ceremonies, including an exchange of rings, blessing from the bride and groom’s parents, and a hair-cutting ceremony representing the new start the couple were making with their union. Interspersed amidst the many ceremonies were formal sittings for vast amounts of food, another feature of Khmer weddings! After the second major feast of the day, the afternoon was time for everyone to rest up while the older girls made a trip to the local beauty salon to prepare their hair and make-up for the Main Event (the evening party), and the ever-energetic boys enjoyed a game of volleyball.
By 4pm it was time to celebrate and eat, again! Everyone put on their new outfits and looked stunning! Plenty of photo’s were taken (see the AP facebook page) as we all made our way back to the wedding tent where we all ate, sang and danced well into the night before the final fruit-cutting ceremony ended the blissful evening and signalled it was time to leave. The entire day was filled with joy, and love, energy and excitement as we all congratulated the happy couple and felt privileged to share in Mom Phat and her husband Sophal’s special day!
The weeks preceding the big event were full of excitement. Thanks to a generous contribution from Craig Nethercott, the children all went on a major shopping spree at all the markets to find perfect outfits for the occasion. AP’s Co-founder Amjad Ghori, and visitors Mark Arnold, Cindy Turcott and Barbara Devine also arrived in time to attend the wedding festitvities.
The day began with an early wake up in order to meet the 5AM departure time from Aziza’s Place. Despite the early hour the girls looked beautiful and the boys very handsome. The entire troupe travelled by bus to Takeo arriving, still a bit sleepy, to a brightly decorated wedding tent and greeted by Mom Phat and her groom, Ven Sophal, who both looked stunning in their brightly colored traditional wedding outfits.
The day was filled with traditional Khmer wedding ceremonies, including an exchange of rings, blessing from the bride and groom’s parents, and a hair-cutting ceremony representing the new start the couple were making with their union. Interspersed amidst the many ceremonies were formal sittings for vast amounts of food, another feature of Khmer weddings! After the second major feast of the day, the afternoon was time for everyone to rest up while the older girls made a trip to the local beauty salon to prepare their hair and make-up for the Main Event (the evening party), and the ever-energetic boys enjoyed a game of volleyball.
By 4pm it was time to celebrate and eat, again! Everyone put on their new outfits and looked stunning! Plenty of photo’s were taken (see the AP facebook page) as we all made our way back to the wedding tent where we all ate, sang and danced well into the night before the final fruit-cutting ceremony ended the blissful evening and signalled it was time to leave. The entire day was filled with joy, and love, energy and excitement as we all congratulated the happy couple and felt privileged to share in Mom Phat and her husband Sophal’s special day!
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