The Melayu adat of pengantins being Raja/Permaisuri sehari went back for as long as I could remember. I would assume that’s where the idea of a palamin came about, a “Throne” fit for the King and Queen, elevated from the rest, where they can be seen and admired as they please. And by throne, people often take it that it has to be as grand (and gaudy) as possible. Which is fine, whatever suits their fancy, but sometimes the pelamin design is so loud and colourful that the bride/groom “disappears”/tenggelam. I tak nak sey macam gitu!

My dream pelamin would be something simple, as played down as possible (i know my mom’ll will have fit about this but let’s say she agrees, shall we?). A pedestal that will complement my outfit and make it look outstanding, yet elaborate and prominent enough to be distinguished from the rest. Something like this:

UPDATE: I found out personally from Zakaria that the decor provider for this was The Wedding Chateau. No. Freaking. Wonder.

I actually found this picture a few months back on a random site and have always kept for inspiration. I recently found out that it was taken by Zakaria Zainal, whose photojournalistic style has always caught my eye ever since he was featured in Manja magazine a while back.

Check out his work here!