sniggers
After weeks of chasing the Tays, they've updated their blog with enough wedding photos to keep me quiet(er) and to save them from the perennial nagging about having photos of bunny rabbits up forever.
Am shamelessly stealing from their blog to put up their photo here.
So scheweeet hor?
To Yvonne and Vinnie - many many many happy returns of the day. Huge hugs for everything. And I can't tell you how glad I am to see both of you soo contented and happy together like this.
The Usual Singaporean Wedding:
The groom arrives at the Brides home at some unearthly hour of the morning accompanied by his posse of "brothers". (NB: Please note that this means that the bride has to wake up three hours in advance to get prettified - there may be some accompanying rituals like hair combing yadadadada - the reasons for which this uncultured clout has no idea about)
The brothers are stopped at the door by the bride's own posse of "sisters".
Sounds bad yet?
The brothers have to barter/buy/try everything possible to get through the sisters - this usually involves extremely embarrassing stunts, horrible hot sauce concoctions and money changing hands before the groom is allowed to get to his bride.
But all this has to happen before a magic hour - else it would be horribly unlucky for the couple - when they'd have to leave for the groom's place.There they will kneel and serve tea to 1001 relatives who will give blessings of many children - *shudders*.
THEN, they have to go back to the bride's home to serve tea to her 1001 relatives - who will also most likely call down wishes from the heavens for children. (she also changes her outfit - apparently it is tres unlucky to wear the same gown)(BTW, this uncultured lout actually knows this little factiod: The bride back in those feudal days would only go home three days later, but the entire thing has been compressed to fit the modern day and age)
If they have their own home, they then go there and sometimes have strange ceremonies which involve children rolling around the nuptial bed - again, its this archaic fertility rite. Sometimes there are even live chickens involved. A cock and a hen are thrown under the bed - the first to emerge is a clue to the sex of the couple's first child.
What is it about children and marriages anyway? Isn't it supposed to be ahem about the couple???
They then get transported in a garishly decorated car with fountains of ribbons, half wilted flowers and occasionally scary looking dolls to the designated hotel where the 10 course Chinese dinner is held. The car is parked right outside the hotel - mainly as a way to show it off: ahem.
If course, there are often more than 2 weddings at the hotel on any given night SO it just means that there are a lot of rather sorry looking mercs, BMWs and Jags drooping with flowers in the driveway.These dinners usually feature ... ugh.... shark's fin soup! *triple shudders and annoyance*But the dinners have to start with a de riguer slide show showing the couple's entire life story in pictures - usually starting with baby pixes.
Geez. Okay, if this corniness is not enough, there's usually a grand entrance of the couple, complete with dry ice. Sigh.
Halfway through this extremely protracted affair - the bride changes into another outfit.By this time, its 10 pm and the guests are raring to go home, the couple is exhausted but noooo: its not the end.There's the yam seng ceremony, a couple of speeches AND the mandatory table photos where guests huddle into a scrimmage at one end of the table, the bride and groom joins them and the photographer takes the obligatory shot.
Wha liaus. I'll let you find out for yourselves how many of these milestones actually happen on our wedding dinners.
-------
As you can tell it was an extremely vituperative post. Hahahha, savage critism is just so... me.
But now more mellow lah. The Tays looked charming together at the dinner; Yvonne looked fabulous; and it was sweet to see them make each other and their families oh-so-happy.
Am still gonna give them grief for a while though ahahhahahhah *tease*
That'd be me going yuuummmmy! Pix again stolen from Yvonne's blog. I had quite a few of those that night.
Am shamelessly stealing from their blog to put up their photo here.
So scheweeet hor?
To Yvonne and Vinnie - many many many happy returns of the day. Huge hugs for everything. And I can't tell you how glad I am to see both of you soo contented and happy together like this.
But, dear readers, as much as I lurve them... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I'm still gonna give them grief for a looong time. I was there in Rochester when they were going "noooo! nooooo! no posed shots! So fake! Eugh." ROTFL.
And yes, I can attest to Yvonne's admission that they said "Over my dead body am I going to walk in with the dry ice".... sniggers.
Okay okay, look, I am insanely critical of the de riguer Chinese wedding here - that's just me selfishly imposing my views on the rest of the world lah. The truth is that the little ahemm touches like dry ice probably flicks someone's bic. So technically, I shouldn't comment...
But if I didn't... I wouldn't be Nat! *grin*.
By the way, this is what I wrote in September 2005 (!). Click this link to see full post.
(My diatribe against the regular wedding started way back then lah... )The Usual Singaporean Wedding:
The groom arrives at the Brides home at some unearthly hour of the morning accompanied by his posse of "brothers". (NB: Please note that this means that the bride has to wake up three hours in advance to get prettified - there may be some accompanying rituals like hair combing yadadadada - the reasons for which this uncultured clout has no idea about)
The brothers are stopped at the door by the bride's own posse of "sisters".
Sounds bad yet?
The brothers have to barter/buy/try everything possible to get through the sisters - this usually involves extremely embarrassing stunts, horrible hot sauce concoctions and money changing hands before the groom is allowed to get to his bride.
But all this has to happen before a magic hour - else it would be horribly unlucky for the couple - when they'd have to leave for the groom's place.There they will kneel and serve tea to 1001 relatives who will give blessings of many children - *shudders*.
THEN, they have to go back to the bride's home to serve tea to her 1001 relatives - who will also most likely call down wishes from the heavens for children. (she also changes her outfit - apparently it is tres unlucky to wear the same gown)(BTW, this uncultured lout actually knows this little factiod: The bride back in those feudal days would only go home three days later, but the entire thing has been compressed to fit the modern day and age)
If they have their own home, they then go there and sometimes have strange ceremonies which involve children rolling around the nuptial bed - again, its this archaic fertility rite. Sometimes there are even live chickens involved. A cock and a hen are thrown under the bed - the first to emerge is a clue to the sex of the couple's first child.
What is it about children and marriages anyway? Isn't it supposed to be ahem about the couple???
They then get transported in a garishly decorated car with fountains of ribbons, half wilted flowers and occasionally scary looking dolls to the designated hotel where the 10 course Chinese dinner is held. The car is parked right outside the hotel - mainly as a way to show it off: ahem.
If course, there are often more than 2 weddings at the hotel on any given night SO it just means that there are a lot of rather sorry looking mercs, BMWs and Jags drooping with flowers in the driveway.These dinners usually feature ... ugh.... shark's fin soup! *triple shudders and annoyance*But the dinners have to start with a de riguer slide show showing the couple's entire life story in pictures - usually starting with baby pixes.
Geez. Okay, if this corniness is not enough, there's usually a grand entrance of the couple, complete with dry ice. Sigh.
Halfway through this extremely protracted affair - the bride changes into another outfit.By this time, its 10 pm and the guests are raring to go home, the couple is exhausted but noooo: its not the end.There's the yam seng ceremony, a couple of speeches AND the mandatory table photos where guests huddle into a scrimmage at one end of the table, the bride and groom joins them and the photographer takes the obligatory shot.
Wha liaus. I'll let you find out for yourselves how many of these milestones actually happen on our wedding dinners.
-------
As you can tell it was an extremely vituperative post. Hahahha, savage critism is just so... me.
But now more mellow lah. The Tays looked charming together at the dinner; Yvonne looked fabulous; and it was sweet to see them make each other and their families oh-so-happy.
Am still gonna give them grief for a while though ahahhahahhah *tease*
And that said. Despite our best efforts, we were sabo-ed. Had to do a yum seng at one of our dinners - luckily not at both. And I did change out of the uber fluffy wedding gown for something for comfy too.
Plus, one nice plus at the Tay's wedding at the Shang earlier this month? The Cape Mentelle definitely passed the palate test!That'd be me going yuuummmmy! Pix again stolen from Yvonne's blog. I had quite a few of those that night.
