Westny and Wayan had the longest conversation when they first met after fourteen years of only communicating through Instagram DMs. Wayan started as a friend of Westny's big brother, and the two never thought that they'd end up together. That was until Wayan asked Westny if she was still single. "I told him, I'm single, but I'm looking for married life. It turns out he wanted the same thing," said Westny.
"Well, we've known each other for such a long time. Why don't you just marry me?" said Wayan, which kind of surprised Westny, but then she thought why not? In a split second, without hesitation, she said yes. She felt like he was the one. Sure, they'd only been dating for two weeks, but they were friends for so much longer before that. Even Westny's parents had been encouraging it for a long time.
Westny loves Wayan's patience, which is the opposite of how she is. She has a spontaneous and talkative personality and likes to pay attention to detail. Even though their characters are different, they never had trouble communicating with each other. "He changed me into a more open-minded person. I learn a lot about respect, caring, loving, and cherishing every moment from his influence. It was always about more than love for us; it was about friendship too," explained Westny.
The two lovebirds wanted a traditional concept because Balinese cultural background. Aside from wanting to make their parents happy, it was also important for them to go back to their roots and pay respect to their ancestors. For this vibrant couple, the Balinese traditional wedding rituals are incredibly sacred, and not everyone nowadays wanted to go through the rituals that could take up to four hours.
Both families decided to have a full day of traditional Balinese rituals continued by a traditional reception. And then, another day for a more intimate international styled reception was also planned. On the day of the Balinese full-on traditional wedding, Westny got up at the crack of dawn to prepare herself for the dokar ceremony. This ritual requires the bride-to-be to be paraded through a village wearing a two-and-a-half-kilogram headdress and a full Balinese traditional attire. She started from Tabanan to Klungkung, and then back to Tabanan for Wayan who would ask permission from Westny's family that he's going to 'take' her.
For the whole day, Westny tried to hold back tears as she carried out all the traditional proceedings. From asking permission from the elders in her family to finally uniting with the love of her life, it was an emotional rollercoaster for her. "I didn't want to ruin my makeup. But in my heart, I was overcome with happiness because I can make my parents happy." According to Westny, Wayan was way more emotional than her that day. And in a way, it ensured her that this huge-hearted man was the one she wanted to be with for the rest of her life.
