This is just a narration of what's happened on the 14th Dec 09. How I feel about it, I'm going to mostly keep it to myself as I realised it's really hard to write this article about something that happened 6 months ago...
After a tiring day on the 13th, I barely had enough rest before having to wake up in the wee hours in the morning to get my make up done by Cynthia Lim. While having my make up done, the house was already buzzing with activity. My aunts were busy in the kitchen, while Oka-san went out to collect the kuih-muih. It was later when my 'jee muis' arrived, they started their preparation as well. Surprisingly, Oto-san was sporting enough to lend them the mahjong tiles for one of the games! Later as the relatives slowly made their way to my parent's house, we started taking photos before the groom and his entourage arrive.
After a tiring day on the 13th, I barely had enough rest before having to wake up in the wee hours in the morning to get my make up done by Cynthia Lim. While having my make up done, the house was already buzzing with activity. My aunts were busy in the kitchen, while Oka-san went out to collect the kuih-muih. It was later when my 'jee muis' arrived, they started their preparation as well. Surprisingly, Oto-san was sporting enough to lend them the mahjong tiles for one of the games! Later as the relatives slowly made their way to my parent's house, we started taking photos before the groom and his entourage arrive.
It took a while for them to arrive, and the lack of parking space in our condo didn't help either. Firstly, Ototo-san have to open the car door, but he had tricks up his sleeves. Apparently he negotiated the price of the angpow by showing my hubby pictures of a Nokia handphone, Wii and our ROM photo. Apparently he was speechless with the value of the first two angpows, but let my hubby out after the third round. No choice la...
As I remain in the room wondering what's going on outside, the groom and his 'heng tais' have to face-off with my trusty jee muis and their games. There was the hilarious session of yoga, followed by drinking of sour, bitter, spicy and sweet foodstuff and drinks. My special request was for him to eat bittergourd, of which he obliged. Since the heng tais were sporting enough, they also did the picking of 發 mahjong tile from a bucket full of ice.
As I remain in the room wondering what's going on outside, the groom and his 'heng tais' have to face-off with my trusty jee muis and their games. There was the hilarious session of yoga, followed by drinking of sour, bitter, spicy and sweet foodstuff and drinks. My special request was for him to eat bittergourd, of which he obliged. Since the heng tais were sporting enough, they also did the picking of 發 mahjong tile from a bucket full of ice.
Once that was over, Oto-san gave my husband his blessings to come into the house. But, it's not so easy! Hubby has to sign a contract, of which stating the number one rule : The wife is always right! We already came up with the rules prior to the wedding day since it would be almost impossible to get him to write anything during that short period of time. He also had to sing a song before going into the room. He chose "Because You Love Me" by Celine Dion as it held great significance during our courting days. So sweet of him, my heart melted that time!
After we shared a kiss and photograph, we proceeded out for a short refreshment According to Hokkien custom, Ototo-san had to present a bowl of bird's nest to hubby. After finishing the bird's nest, we kick started with the tea ceremony. I can only recall the entire scene as 'chaotic' since there's so many relatives, and the entire house was so noisy! An unexpected moment occured when supposedly Oka-san's family go ahead first for the tea ceremony, but all of the uncles were not around because they went to help my cousin who just arrived to carry luggage. So no choice but to switch back to Oto-san's family. I panicked for a moment!
After tea ceremony, it was the time the kids look forward to - the bride and groom giving out angpow to them. I have a lot of cousins so that took a bit of time as well. One of my indirect cousins - a little girl perhaps around two - decided not to take one but the entire stack! A hilarious moment for us! Before proceeding to the groom's house, it's group photo time! The first few with family members, then we went to the pool to take photo with the jee muis and heng tais. Mega posing session!
Our journey back to the groom's house took an unexpected twist when we arrived ahead of the photographer. Apparently he used GPS and took a wrong way instead! Hmm, GPS unreliable? So had to wait a while for him to arrive. Next is his brother - now my brother-in-law - to open the car door. Lucky no further negotiations as we ran out of time.
We quickly settled for the tea ceremony. His extended family isn't too big, plus they have more space than our condo, so it was slightly more relaxed. Even the kids receiving angpow are much fewer. Phew! We wrapped up the day with group photos with family and friends, and the dog! The dog was the hardest to shoot, because she was extremely angry that morning. She was kicked out from her favourite spot, and not understanding what's going on, she refused to take photo with us! It was through my hubby's 'persuasion' of which we manage to get a good potrait with her.
Once that was over, we took a quick break before heading on to Sunway Resort for preparations of the wedding reception. Half a day gone but we were so tired already!
To be continued...
Our journey back to the groom's house took an unexpected twist when we arrived ahead of the photographer. Apparently he used GPS and took a wrong way instead! Hmm, GPS unreliable? So had to wait a while for him to arrive. Next is his brother - now my brother-in-law - to open the car door. Lucky no further negotiations as we ran out of time.
We quickly settled for the tea ceremony. His extended family isn't too big, plus they have more space than our condo, so it was slightly more relaxed. Even the kids receiving angpow are much fewer. Phew! We wrapped up the day with group photos with family and friends, and the dog! The dog was the hardest to shoot, because she was extremely angry that morning. She was kicked out from her favourite spot, and not understanding what's going on, she refused to take photo with us! It was through my hubby's 'persuasion' of which we manage to get a good potrait with her.
Once that was over, we took a quick break before heading on to Sunway Resort for preparations of the wedding reception. Half a day gone but we were so tired already!
To be continued...
* All photos taken by Exes Studio *
Comments
I'm so happy for you both!!! Love to you both ya!!!!