S+N: Sarah and Neil's Wedding Celebration
My mother Didi and I are crazy about dancing. I had a back injury from this activity in 2008. It was then, when I met Doctor Neil. I was another one of his many problematic female patients. He was extremely sexy, polite, and caring. He had all the qualities I needed to get better. In fact, when we first went to his clinic, there was an Indonesian magazine lying around in his waiting room where Dr. Neil was listed as one of this universe’s top ten eligible bachelors.
When we were called in to his medical room, my mother and I walked in together because we knew we always appeared to be a very docile duet. When Dr. Neil adjusted Didi, my mother screamed, “Aduh, gila, enak banget.” Meaning: “Ooh, crazy, so good!” as we heard his staff outside the chamber giggling away from Didi’s signature comment. After the adjustment, Didi immediately told Dr. Neil that he was very handsome and if he was single, he should join us for salsa dancing. He blushed and answered he was together with a girl and that she would not be happy if he went dancing with us.
After a couple of treatments, Didi and I tried again: to persuade him to join our salsa- tango party team. His good looks would make us a very desirable team. We were so delighted to find out he was heart broken from a recent atomic break-up. We took his desperation as an opportunity to convince him in taking a series of salsa-tango classes by buying a pair of shiny silver dancing shoes. “If you dance well, you will get all the girls!,” Didi said.
Didi and I really wanted the sexy Dr. Neil to be happy, so we began a serious match making service for him. We started hooking him up with several girls from the dancing community. From all the efforts, we made two short scores: one was my beautiful young cousin and another one was Indonesia’s Salsa champion. Neither of them was a right match for him. He told me these girls were all very beautiful, but he could not find a satisfying conversation with any of them. I told him it was normal to be that way, I, myself could not get a satisfying conversation with many girls. But as I said those words to him, Sarah’s face suddenly popped in my head.
So I told Neil about my one true best friend by the name, Sarah. If I were a man, she would be the only woman to love. Sarah is passionate, witty, and organized in what I labelled ‘a mentally deranged’ cleaning habit. She does not fall in love easily, the only opening to her heart is through soulful words and music. I remembered when I invited Neil and Sarah to our regular dancing nights, Neil did a back flip and Sarah got excited. Since then, the two started texting each other. I could see from my best friend’s eyes that she was falling for this sushi boy. Her eyes would lit up every time a text message came from him.
After a couple of fun years, I suddenly received a hasty call from Sarah. We met and she expressed to me her impatience with Neil’s uncertainty about their love affair. I told her she should also be firmed with her mind on this. Although it did not mattered what I had to say, I let her babble away with all her explosive emotions. In the same week, I called Neil and asked, “What’s the plan?!” Neil had told me about proposing to Sarah about a year ago. He kept on waiting for the perfect moment, perfect ring, and perfect music that he never got the chance to take action.
That day, I pushed him so hard to get a ring – ANY RING! I told him his true intentions is what matters most. Now we are running out of time. In my head: Sarah was driving me crazy too. I told him to just go get a rubber band, or a hello kitty plastic ring; or (to go really insane) get a giant gold bling- bling puma ring from Cartier. For a moment, I thought Neil was going to follow my desperate advice. I think that became the biggest test for Neil’s genuine love to Sarah: to follow his heart or to follow my devilish suggestions. In the end, he firmly stuck to his over-complicated plan in proposing her.
It became a very good lesson for me too. Love is not about demanding from one another. Love is not about becoming the other person’s vision. Love is about accepting each other’s differences. Love is about embracing each other’s mistakes. Today, Love is about Sarah and Neil. I love you both deeply.
Triples kisses, Melissa Sunjaya
On March 6th, 2015 Sarah Sechan and Neil Furuno made a vow to each other. Filmed in Los Angeles, the following video by Michał Górzyński celebrates their loving journey in an intimate wedding ceremony and reception with their closest friends and family. The music “End of the Rainbow” was written and performed by Sandhy Sandoro to complement this graceful union.
