Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Upacara pernikahan diadakan di masjid, sedangkan resepsi keluarga dilakukan di rumah. - The wedding ceremony is held at the mosque, while the family reception is carried out at home.

Upacara pernikahan diadakan di masjid, sedangkan resepsi keluarga dilakukan di rumah.

The wedding ceremony is held at the mosque, while the family reception is carried out at home.

Breakdown of Upacara pernikahan diadakan di masjid, sedangkan resepsi keluarga dilakukan di rumah.

Elon.io is an online learning platform

We have an entire course teaching Indonesian grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Indonesian now

Questions & Answers about Upacara pernikahan diadakan di masjid, sedangkan resepsi keluarga dilakukan di rumah.

What does sedangkan mean here, and how is it different from words like tapi or sementara?

In this sentence, sedangkan links two clauses that contrast with each other:

Upacara pernikahan diadakan di masjid
resepsi keluarga dilakukan di rumah

So the idea is: The wedding ceremony was held in the mosque, *whereas/while the family reception was held at home.*

Key points about sedangkan:

It often means whereas, while, or on the other hand.
It is typically used when:
- The subjects of the two clauses are different, or
- The situation is parallel/contrasting (place, time, activity).

Comparison:

tapi / tetapi ≈ but / however
- More general contrast; can be used even in short, non-parallel sentences.
- Example: Saya mau pergi, tapi hujan. – I want to go, but it’s raining.
sementara ≈ while, whereas
- Very close to sedangkan, often interchangeable.
- sedangkan is slightly more formal and more common in written style.

In this sentence, tapi would sound more casual and a bit less “neat” than sedangkan, because we’re contrasting two parallel events with similar structure, which is exactly where sedangkan fits well.

Why are both verbs diadakan and dilakukan in the passive form with di-? Where is the subject?

Indonesian often uses the passive voice without mentioning the agent (who does the action), especially in formal or neutral descriptions of events.

diadakan = to be held (from ada – to exist, to be)
dilakukan = to be carried out / to be done (from laku / lakukan – to do, to carry out)

In the sentence:

Upacara pernikahan diadakan di masjid
→ The wedding ceremony *was held in the mosque (by someone, unspecified).*
resepsi keluarga dilakukan di rumah
→ The family reception *was held / carried out at home (by someone, unspecified).*

The doers (maybe the families, the organizers) are not important to mention, so they’re simply left out. This is very natural in Indonesian.

If you wanted to include the agent, you could say:

Upacara pernikahan diadakan oleh keluarga mempelai pria.
The wedding ceremony was held by the groom’s family.

What is the difference between diadakan and dilakukan? Could I use just one of them for both parts?

Both diadakan and dilakukan are passive verbs, but they have slightly different usual collocations and nuance.

diadakan (from mengadakan)
- Literally: to be made to exist, to be held/organized.
- Common with events: upacara (ceremony), rapat (meeting), konferensi (conference), seminar, acara, pertandingan (match).
dilakukan (from melakukan)
- Literally: to be done / to be carried out.
- More general; can be used for actions, activities, procedures.

In practice:

Upacara pernikahan diadakan di masjid sounds very natural.
Resepsi keluarga dilakukan di rumah is also fine, because a reception is an event that is “done / carried out”.

Could you swap them?

Upacara pernikahan dilakukan di masjid – Acceptable, but less idiomatic than diadakan.
Resepsi keluarga diadakan di rumah – This is also very natural and maybe even more common in real usage.

So yes, you can use diadakan for both clauses, and many native speakers would. Using different verbs here just adds a bit of stylistic variation.

What does upacara pernikahan literally mean, and how is it different from just pernikahan?

upacara = ceremony
pernikahan = wedding, marriage

So upacara pernikahan literally means wedding ceremony.

Difference:

pernikahan alone can refer to:
- The event (the wedding), or
- The state of being married (marriage) depending on context.
upacara pernikahan is specifically the ceremonial part of the wedding, usually the religious or legal rites.

Example:

Pernikahan mereka berlangsung meriah.
Their wedding was lively.
Upacara pernikahan akan dimulai jam 9 pagi.
The wedding ceremony will begin at 9 a.m.

What does resepsi keluarga mean? Is it “family reception” or “reception for family”?

Resepsi = reception (as in wedding reception, formal party after a ceremony).
Keluarga = family.

In Indonesian, resepsi keluarga can be understood in both of these overlapping ways:

A family reception – a reception that is family-based or hosted by the family.
A reception for family – often implies it is mainly for relatives, maybe smaller and more intimate.

Context usually clarifies what is meant. In many cultures in Indonesia, there may be:

A more formal or public reception in a hall, hotel, or village hall.
A family-focused reception at home (often called resepsi keluarga).

So resepsi keluarga dilakukan di rumah suggests a reception that is more family-centered and held at home, as opposed to a large public reception elsewhere.

Why is it di masjid and di rumah? Could pada be used instead of di?

di is the standard preposition for location: in, at, on.
- di masjid = at/in the mosque
- di rumah = at home / in the house

pada is more formal and is usually not used for simple physical locations like buildings or homes.

Common patterns:

di
- place
- di sekolah (at school)
- di kantor (at the office)
- di Jakarta (in Jakarta)
pada is more common with:
- time expressions: pada hari Senin (on Monday), pada pukul 3 (at 3 o’clock)
- certain abstract objects: pada kesempatan ini (on this occasion), pada diri saya (in myself)

So in this sentence, di masjid and di rumah are the natural choices.
Pada masjid or pada rumah would sound wrong in normal Indonesian.

How do Indonesians express tense here? How do we know if diadakan and dilakukan are past, present, or future?

Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense. The verb diadakan can mean:

is held
was held
will be held

The tense is understood from:

Context
- If someone is telling a story about last week, it’s naturally past.
- If it’s in a schedule, it’s future.
Time adverbs, if needed:
- kemarin (yesterday), tadi (earlier) → past
- besok (tomorrow), nanti (later) → future
- sedang, lagi (in the middle of doing) → ongoing

Examples:

Upacara pernikahan kemarin diadakan di masjid.
The wedding ceremony yesterday was held in the mosque.
Upacara pernikahan besok akan diadakan di masjid.
The wedding ceremony tomorrow will be held in the mosque.

Without extra markers, your original sentence is time-neutral; tense depends entirely on the surrounding context.

Why is it upacara pernikahan, not pernikahan upacara? Is the word order always like this?

Yes, the usual pattern in Indonesian for noun + modifier is:

Head noun + modifier

Here:

upacara (ceremony) = head noun
pernikahan (wedding) = modifier (what kind of ceremony?)

So upacara pernikahan = wedding ceremony (a ceremony of/for a wedding).

This pattern is very common:

rumah sakit = hospital (literally “sick house”)
lapangan sepak bola = soccer field
toko buku = bookstore (book shop)

Saying pernikahan upacara would be ungrammatical or at least very strange; it would sound like “marriage ceremony” but with the order reversed in a way that Indonesian doesn’t use.

Why isn’t there any subject like mereka or keluarga kami in the sentence? Is that normal?

It’s very normal in Indonesian to omit the subject when:

It’s obvious from context, or
The focus is on the event itself, not on who does it.

The sentence focuses on what happens and where, not on who organizes it. That’s why the passive voice is used and no subject is mentioned:

Upacara pernikahan diadakan di masjid
→ The wedding ceremony was held in the mosque. (by someone, understood)

You could add a subject if needed:

Keluarga kami mengadakan upacara pernikahan di masjid.
Our family held the wedding ceremony in the mosque.

But in many reports, announcements, or neutral descriptions, the agent is left out exactly like in your original sentence.

Is there any difference in formality between pernikahan and nikahan or between diadakan and diadain?

Yes, there is a formality difference.

Pernikahan vs nikahan
- pernikahan – standard and formal; used in writing, news, speeches, and polite conversation.
- nikahan – colloquial; common in casual spoken Indonesian.
Example (casual speech):
- Gue mau ke nikahan temen gue.
  I’m going to my friend’s wedding.
diadakan vs diadain (Jakarta / informal Indonesian)
- diadakan – standard, formal.
- diadain – informal, often used in spoken Jakarta Indonesian.

So, your sentence is in a neutral–formal style. In casual spoken Jakarta-style Indonesian, it might become:

Upacara nikahan diadain di masjid, sedangkan resepsi keluarga diadain di rumah.

This would be understood as very informal.

Could you rephrase the sentence in a more active form?

Yes. One natural active version is:

Mereka mengadakan upacara pernikahan di masjid, sedangkan resepsi keluarga mereka adakan di rumah.

More commonly in speech:

Mereka mengadakan upacara pernikahan di masjid, sedangkan resepsi keluarga diadakan di rumah.
(First clause active, second still passive.)

Or:

Keluarga mempelai mengadakan upacara pernikahan di masjid dan resepsi keluarga di rumah.

The meaning is the same, but the original passive version sounds a bit more neutral and descriptive, typical for written or report-like style.

Is masjid specifically a Muslim place of worship? What would be used for a church?

Yes:

masjid = mosque, a Muslim place of worship.

For a church, Indonesians say:

gereja = church (Christian place of worship).

So similar sentences could be:

Upacara pernikahan diadakan di gereja, sedangkan resepsi keluarga dilakukan di rumah.
The wedding ceremony was held in the church, whereas the family reception was held at home.