Show's Over, Take A Bow

I had vowed on FB that I would update my blog during this weekend... and I'd better do it now before I sleep and forget about it!

The whole week was indeed the most relieved week "ever"... Now that the traditional ceremony & wedding dinner is officially over, we had time to recuperate from the lack of sleep.. (erm, of course, i didn't really recuperate cos I fell sick after that!)

The night before the wedding day, I had to bunk over at my parent's house. For those who don't know the chinese traditions, details as follow:

The morning session was mostly dedicated to the chinese traditions... the groom has to get his bride from her parent's house and go through a "tea ceremony" with her family... but before that happens, he & his "brothers" have to go through a series of "ragging" (as in the video) by the bride's "sisters". Once all that was done, we went back to his parent's house for another round of "tea ceremony" with his family. Mind you, we had to step foot in his parent's house before 11am!

We all then had to drop by our "home sweet home" for Mike's nephew to jump on our bed.

*Photos by Mun Keat & Radm

*Video editing by Radm (how creative of him!)

So, imagine that day when I woke up at 6am to get ready for make up & hair do, while the groom got up at 7am to get ready for his free ride and "teh tarik"... *sigh*... by the time the morning session was over, it was almost 12:30pm.

We arrived the hotel at about 1:30pm and checked in our suite a.k.a. "Senator Suite" (which James had been teasing when he arrived at 4pm to help us out... but I only found the reason why the next morning!)

I didn't have any rest there as I was busy segregating & labelling the items for my bridesmaids to coordinate later on.

*Photos by Winnie Wong

And how did the wedding dinner go? Smooth & almost perfect to the way we wanted it to be! The few weeks before, we were worried sick. We were worried that the coordination would be bad, worried that major glitches would happen, worried that our guests would turn up super late (yes, "us" Malaysians, are well-known to be late comers.. when the hosts says dinner starts at 7:30pm, the guests would arrive at 8:30pm!). We were basically worried about everything! or maybe it was just me...

We had our "movie premier" wedding titled "Love Actually" at Equatorial KL. Everything happened on time & the whole reception was lovely.. thanks to the hotel staff, our friends & family who made it happen! It was indeed a wonderful experience for all of us and we definitely will cherish the memories!

*Photos by Winnie Wong & Radm

(More photos on FB)

Traditions? What Are They?

In this modern era, I bet most of our parents generation have not much clue on traditions to its core, what more us?

Not knowing exactly what to do or expect, we find ourselves consulting fortune tellers or "feng shui" masters who now leverages on the opportunity that we all lack on knowledge of traditions & offers everything under one roof. From choosing the best wedding dates to stating precisely the things you need to do on specific dates before the wedding. Apparently it is to bring good luck to the couple. Taboos, myths, whatever you may call it, it certainly is one good business opportunity for them!

When my mother-in-law spoke to us about the wedding traditions that we need to follow, I found it hard to comprehend. Needless to say, I didn't even want to know why. I have, before, a year back, made the biggest mistake by asking someone about a tradition done when we first moved in to our house. We were suppose to scatter rice at corners of the house. The reasons scared the hell out of me! I couldn't sleep for almost 2 weeks! Or, I am really still hoping that my friend is pulling my leg!

Few days back, we had to put some red packaging under our bed and in our cupboards (any extreme red color scares the hell out of me... Probably the effect from watching horror movies in the past!).

We were also told to change to a new bedsheet, not knowing that we were not suppose to sleep on it after that. I felt abit of resentment & awkwardness as I helped. As if it is not enough to the current pressure.

I silently swore that if I was forced to sleep on the sofa, I would rather stay over at my parents house until the wedding is over. Thankfully, everyone came to their senses and found it to be rather ridiculous to follow each and every instructions.

Although I find it really unnecessary to follow the beliefs, I guess abit of it would do no harm. Of course, we still need to maintain our chinese culture/traditions, for example the "Tea Ceremony" for the Chinese or "Akad Nikah" for the Malays and what not. It is the only thing that differentiate our wedding traditions from others.

I guess we are somewhat losing touch and the real meaning to each traditions these days. We are living in a multi-racial country with multi-cultures & traditions. A "fort" we need to hold on to for so many different races.

Meanwhile, good luck to myself and I am really hoping that my wedding day will turn out well.