The Weddings Part I: Hotfooting it in Singapore
10 Oct
Hello my dear readers, I’m finally back in the blogging world after a long hiatus. I think life will soon go back to normal after I float out of my post-wedding haze — I’m still adjusting to being married (actually life is the same at home but we are basking in happiness that we finally did it!). It was the most amazing three weeks of my life and I can’t wait to share slices of what went down.
There are so many photos to wade through and download from Facebook – many thanks to my friends who uploaded their albums online (I didn’t take a single photo of my own) and the photos featured here were nicked from there.
I’ll just take you through the highlights because there was just so much going on…
My hen’s night was a riot. I’ve gotta thank my gal pals for making it such a fun evening at House Barracks — we got a private room and while we noshed on excellent grub and wine, I answered a long and cheeky questionaire. They sent something like 60-70 questions to the kangaroo to answer and I had to guess what his answers were and if I got them wrong, I had to drink. Let me tell you I got a bit tipsy that night all because the kangaroo set booby traps, like “What is YM’s favourite movie?” and his answer was “The Transporter” (!!!), so you get the drift.
This sounds so cheesy but I was floored at the effort my girlfriends made for this night. They all got dressed up in gorgeous black outfits so I could stand out in my white top; I had a sash that said, “Bride-to-be”; I received some pre-wedding gifts; and their time and presence to “usher” me from being a single gal to a married missus.
I had very little sleep from that night onwards, and for those of you who are going to get hitched, it is possible to run on pure adrenalin for several days straight.
I also feel like I need to mention this but our family pet, Coffee, a mini pinscher, passed away the night of my hen’s party which was really sad for us. She was coughing for the past several months and the vet said she had a weak heart so she was given some medication to ease her discomfort.
But her condition deteriorated in the last two weeks before her death. We knew she was terribly ill because she would hardly eat her food but we didn’t expect her to go so quickly. I’m glad I was around when it happened because it would’ve been even more awful if I was in Japan (that’s one really hard part about being away). I was so busy on this day but I remember she licked my fingers as I was making a phone call in the living room….
I just wanted to make a small tribute to my darling Coffee because my family really pulled themselves together for the weekend’s festivities despite being in mourning.
But let’s get back to the festivities….
We had a slew of overseas guests whom we wined and dined for two days before the wedding day. I had a lot of fun but I’m not sure if I would recommend this as I was seriously exhausted and quite stressed with last minute details I had to take care of at the same time.
We decided to go for a traditional Chinese wedding which meant lots of gift-giving and antics in the early morning. The kangaroo arrived at my parents’ home at 830am sharp and the games began while I was still having my hair and makeup done. I heard my sisters drove quite a hard bargain but the mini-sisters (the kangaroo’s nieces from Sydney) were absolute slave drivers (“We want a THOUSAND dollars!”).
The boys had to scoff down “suan tian ku la” (sour sweet bitter spicy) to represent the four elements of marriage life…The wasabi sandwiches caused some sputtering and tearing but I heard the dried sour plums marinated in lemon juice were the worst. Poor things…but I wasn’t to be handed over easily!
There were non-torturous parts to the negotiation, like balloon volleyball, where the boys had to bounce heart-shaped balloons to each other while shouting something flattering about me. I heard that the kangaroo only managed one, “She makes good omelettes!” Pffttt… He told me later he was overwhelmed by the balloons and the crowd and was tongue-tied.
Another fun challenge they had to do was a dance with glitter hats and oversized sunglasses. We actually have a video of the whole morning and will post it once I figure out how to get it online (the file size is enormous).
After much ang pao (red packets filled with money) wrangling and great feats (the kangaroo also had to write “I Love Yu Ming” in traditional Chinese), he was finally allowed to unveil me…
Then we had to eat “tang yuan” (sweet dumplings) which symbolizes a sweet and whole marriage. My mum made them super tiny so we could swallow them whole — we couldn’t bite into them because it would mean the marriage would be broken! Chinese traditions are so hilarious!
The kangaroo had to give two sets of gifts to my parents and the second set was meant to be given three days after he fetched me. However, we didn’t have three days so we just drove around the block three times to simulate the passing of three days. In the second set was a ginormous roasted suckling pig (it weighed 20kgs!) which the kangaroo was very proud to present…In the old days, a woman was worth the price of a pig! He often teased me that if my sisters were too tough, he would turn around with his pig and get a cheaper bride down the road.
We also had a tea ceremony which we served tea to elders on both sides of the family, with my elder sister acting as a translator because the whole event was in Cantonese.
My mum, her sister, and our domestic helper whipped up a luscious Peranakan dessert spread to add to the festive mood. Everything looked so colourful and delicious!
We also made up a booklet that explained all the Chinese wedding traditions for our non-Chinese friends and family.
The kangaroo managed to buy this amazing-looking double happiness poster and we stuck it on the wall behind the buffet table.
We had a short break from the morning festivities before the solemnization and banquet started in the evening. I say short because we ended the morning stuff at 1pm and went back into hair and makeup at 3pm. I did nod off when I had my hair done but was awake in no time with nerves. I don’t know where they came from and I thought they would’ve been over because we went through half the day already…
The bridal suite was a corner of madness with bridesmaids, flowergirls, and one frazzled bride getting ready but before I knew it, I was kissing the kangaroo after our super quick vows…The JP we got was itching to go to the F1 finale so it was all over in a matter of minutes which was quite disappointing because we watched him in another wedding and he gave a speech and took his time…Oh well, we were going to say a proper set of vows in Hokkaido anyway.
Yay – we were legally married at this point!
Here’s a photo of us with our pretty flowergirls. My sister came up with the idea of cheongsam tops and poofy tulle skirts — they absolutely loved the outfits and were very proud to be my flowergirls. All evening, they kept coming up to me to say, “We love our dresses, and Yu Ming, you are the prettiest among all of us.” Awwwww….
The evening was back-to-back with speeches, a video of the morning ceremony and games, and singing by a dear friend, and lots of photo-taking. The day raced by but I had a couple of moments thinking, “Damn, all these people are here for us!!”
I was glad to have had done the whole traditional shebang because my parents were so pleased. It was truly a great day and it felt like it was all about celebrating us with friends and family supporting us in this new chapter of our lives. You don’t realize how important it is until other people in the room are shedding tears of joy and beaming at you for taking this crucial step together.
More to come on our second wedding…;)
No related posts.
Woot, wedding pics! Congrats! What a fun-filled ceremony, and your flowergirls looked stunning in their cheongsam tops, good idea.
ooh, noticed you have baba nyonya (based on the 2-piece traditional costume) genes?
I actually omitted (too much preparation effort) most of the Chinese cultural wedding musts, except for the tea ceremony, my parents gave in to all my no-nos but this
*drools at the crispy pig* Oink!
Actually the kangaroo was really into having it pan out to be very traditional so anything that my parents requested, he gave in (very happily)….!!
Congrats! Are u peranakan?
Darling Girl. You look so beautiful! I am so sorry I wasn’t able to be with you on your special day. I can’t wait to hear about it.
Love Ebony
xoxo
Yup, I’m 1/8 Peranakan
I really don’t know much about the culture except my mum, my grandma and great grandma are proud descendants and they make the most wonderful Peranakan food. I should learn how to cook more peranakan dishes to keep the tradition!
Hey dearie, no worries about not being able to attend…Can’t wait to catch up too!
Wow, congrats to you!!!!!! Thanks for writing/sharing this also – loved reading about the traditional Chinese wedding and all the different things you did! Know what you mean about being out of the blogging for a while, I still am having a hard time getting back into things…
Ashley: thanks, girl
congrads on being a new mum!
Congratualations on being a Mrs! What a lovely (but tiring?) wedding day.. The ceremony looked fun (roasted pig…really? Crispy?) and everyone seems happy!^^
Haha- I didn’t have any of that poor piggy but I heard from our guests that it was yummy…
Your Singaporean ceremony looked amazing! Many congratulations to you guys!!
You are so beautiful!!! And your husband is handsome. I love reading about different wedding ceremonies, which are so interesting. Congrats! Have a happy and prosperous marriage.
Sandy
@Sandy: Thank you!! All thanks to my hair and makeup stylists!
@Nic nic: Many of our guests loved the Singaporean ceremony…it was v unusual for our overseas friends and fam.
love the details!
its so darling that you got his name translated too!! sorry i couldn’t be there but it looked like a fabulous celebration!
p.s. sorry to hear about coffee
@Zhing: he got his own Chinese name years ago actually when he went to see a geomancer
It’s not really a phonetic translation but close.
Only 1 pig, what happened to inflation?
Love how the JP really wanted to leave early.
Glad you enjoyed yourself, some weddings I’ve been to the couples didn’t, which is rather tragic.
congrats again! and everything looked so traditional…heehe…simply just amazing =)
congratulations!!! everything looked perfect and everyone, especially the both of you looked so happy!!
thank you! it really was a special event
Congrats!! The pictures are beautiful. I follow your blog to see life in Japan and I am very happy you are married! Looking forward to more lovely pics!
Happy Lunar New Year!
Thank you!! Very sweet of you to write such a comment.