When all you need is love, perhaps the matter of dowries is more of a formality rather than an occasion to present excessive luxury.
That appears to be the case for newlyweds Lalu Pahrurrozi and Widya Wati from West Lombok, who were married last Friday with a IDR1,000 (US$0.068) dowry, another example of a modest wedding in Indonesia that has since achieved a bit of fame online.
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In Islamic weddings, the groom or groom’s father pays money or possessions to the bride at the time of their marriage as mahr (dowry). The dowry is agreed upon by the bride and is usually specified in the marriage contract, often taking the form of money and/or jewelry.
According to reports, Widya requested the IDR1,000 dowry in order to lessen the burden on the groom and his family.
“Yes, I requested for that much mahr, it was sincere, because I didn’t want to burden my future husband,” Widya said.
Rozi reportedly works as a construction worker, and the couple dated for about two years before getting married last week.
Kuripan Village Chief Hasbi, where the couple is from, noted that weddings ought not to be an occasion that troubles either the groom or the bride.
“She [Widya] did not demand for what has been a custom here. It’s an example of progressive thinking,” Hasbi said, alluding to the more common demand for luxurious dowries.
Modest weddings should certainly be more of the norm rather than the exception, and we have several examples of that going viral in Indonesia in recent years. We recall the story of a couple in Central Java who got married with a pair of flip-flops or icy dessert es cendol as dowries, as well as beauty vlogger Suhay Salim’s low-key wedding, which only involved her and her husband going to the Religious Affairs office (the Indonesian equivalent of a City Hall marriage) while dressing casually.
