Finally, the groom has arrived with his brothers. Onion was very sporting in many of our demands, including eating raw bittergourd, chili padi and lemon. One of the questions which he needed to answer was to crack a series of number codes. To be frank, I had no idea how to go about doing it myself. Although he managed to get the code, he did it outside the time frame which he was given. Therefore, he needed to be ‘punished’. The punishment was gross – raw eggs with lemon juice and chili. Eek! The sight and the smell of it were already revolting. His brothers were rather unhelpful. None of them helped him. In the end, Onion swallowed most of it himself.
After Onion entered the main door, he had a final task before he could meet Hui. He had to sing Hui’s favourite song – Angel by May Day. Being not familiar with the song, each verse sounded exactly the same so that when he delivered the entire song, it sounded more like a poem than a pop song.
Alright, the fun was over. It was down to serious business. First, it was tea ceremony at Onion’s house. Then, it was to Hui’s house to change to a Kwa (Chinese bridal gown) before heading back to Hui’s house for lunch and tea ceremony. After lunch, the sisters and brothers headed back home for a rest so that we could be ready for the wedding dinner.
We reached the hotel at 6 pm. Well, this was when I realized that there were 2 hotels at Cityhall – Raffles the Plaza and Swissotel. It was also the first time I went to a bridal suite (which happened to be a presidential suite) as well. Wow, the view from the 66th floor was simply mesmerizing. Who said Singapore did not have a great view. The view far surpassed that of Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong and the Bund in Shanghai.
Sharon and I were part of the reception team, so we headed to the function rooms to be prepared for the work coming. Many guests were school mates whom I had not met for a long time. Many had changed beyond recognition. If I were to meet them along the streets, I would not have recognized them. There were also many Hui’s colleagues invited. They were typically well-dressed and certainly more well-dressed than the other guests.
When all the guests had arrived, it was time for the marching in of the bride and bridegroom. Onion and Hui gave a succinct speech. Dinner started soon after.
(The sisters and emcee took a photo together before the start of the dinner.)
The food was good. It was so good that we were very full when it was the dish before the dessert because we needed to save some space for the dessert. The food was certainly refreshing. It was one of the best dinners I had for a long time. The cold dish was an assortment of maki, ham, prawns and squids. We could see the Sharks’ fins in one consolidated piece. The abalone was not in pieces but in one whole. The crispy chicken was lined with prawn meat below its skin. The dessert was bread pudding. The food was traditional in the choice of ingredients but fusion in the preparation methods.
This was indeed a nice finale to the wedding of Hui and Onion. From now on, they lived happily ever after.
The End.
No comments:
Post a Comment