Saturday 23 January 2010 11:03 pm
Today was the wedding day of my dear Uncle 3. My mum comes from a large family of 8 children so everyone got used to being referred to by number rather than name. Uncle 3 is over 50, has never been married and has no children. He’s also the last sibling to be wedded so today was gonna be a very special day for him.
At 9 o’clock, my brother and I were dropped off at the hotel by the parents, who weren’t going to the morning proceedings - they were however coming for lunch/free food. Uncle 6 took us into the hotel and we took some pictures with all the best men.
Okay, a little history: in the olden days the man would travel countless miles from his village to the woman and took her back for the wedding. She would then have a new life there and could never return home. Therefore the woman’s village, upset by this fact set up a series of challenges for the man so that he may prove his conviction to the woman.
In the modern day, the series of challenges turned into a bunch of crazy games.
When we entered the bride’s hotel room, she was nowhere to be seen. Uncle 3 declared himself and the best men (my brother and I included) cheered. Uncle 3 was instantly blindfolded by the bridesmaids. As this happened one of the best men had a D-cup bra strapped onto him. Uncle 3 had to pat random people and try to guess which one was his bride. I thought that was a bit unfair. I mean how were you supposed to pass that challenge? No right answer. So much wrong.
Other games included eating dry biscuits and spitting it, choosing the bride’s lipstick print from a line-up and dancing to a high-energy Cantonese pop song. Why aren’t all weddings this ridiculous?
After passing all the challenges the bride came out of hiding and we did a more serious tradition; the tea ceremony, where the bride and groom honour their elders.
We had to take a long, boring bus trip to Uncle 3’s apartment to perform the ceremony. When we were inside the apartment I saw a photo of Grandma, who past away when I was really young, 17 years ago. I thought it was weird that I was feeling sad about someone who I had never met before. Tea ceremony probably went alright. I didn’t play a part in it so I wasn’t paying attention.
We had lunch somewhere and reconvened at the hotel where the actual wedding would take place by the outdoor pool. My first thought was that they were marrying in front a heavily chlorinated swimming pool with dead bees floating about, but it was actually really nice. It looked like an expensive koi pond with a waterfall.
On one side was the bride and groom and the other side was the audience. The wedding went on and the crowd were at bit rowdy. Yelling shit from across the pool, but nobody minded. Finally when all the vows, signing and what else were done Uncle 3 got to kiss the bride. At that point everyone let go of the helium balloons we were given earlier and it was like a scene from Up (brilliant movie).
Love was filling the air so my brother and I decided to visit Game Zone before dinner. Game Zone was just a room in the hotel where we’d hope to find a pool table. There was only checkers and Connect 4.
Few games of checkers later, we headed down to the restaurant for dinner. It was a buffet and there was plenty of entertainment.
One microphone. One drunk Uncle 3. Comedy gold.
Uncle 3 claimed he wasn’t drunk but deliriously happy. My mum kept commenting she’d never seen her brother this “high” and that he had never sung before. That was obvious when he started to scream the lyrics.
Everyone was getting into the festive mood, cheering, laughing and taking pictures. Then it came to the cousins to take a picture together. My brother and I and seven of our cousins gathered around Uncle 3. We cheered, pulled faces and enjoyed the spotlight. Then Uncle 3 had a tissue and he was wiping his eyes. Someone asked him what was wrong.
He grabbed the microphone and said, “I miss my mum.”
But then he smiled and hugged all of us and we caused a ruckus right till closing time.
Today was the wedding day of my dear Uncle 3. My mum comes from a large family of 8 children so everyone got used to being referred to by number rather than name. Uncle 3 is over 50, has never been married and has no children. He’s also the last sibling to be wedded so today was gonna be a very special day for him.
At 9 o’clock, my brother and I were dropped off at the hotel by the parents, who weren’t going to the morning proceedings - they were however coming for lunch/free food. Uncle 6 took us into the hotel and we took some pictures with all the best men.
Okay, a little history: in the olden days the man would travel countless miles from his village to the woman and took her back for the wedding. She would then have a new life there and could never return home. Therefore the woman’s village, upset by this fact set up a series of challenges for the man so that he may prove his conviction to the woman.
In the modern day, the series of challenges turned into a bunch of crazy games.
When we entered the bride’s hotel room, she was nowhere to be seen. Uncle 3 declared himself and the best men (my brother and I included) cheered. Uncle 3 was instantly blindfolded by the bridesmaids. As this happened one of the best men had a D-cup bra strapped onto him. Uncle 3 had to pat random people and try to guess which one was his bride. I thought that was a bit unfair. I mean how were you supposed to pass that challenge? No right answer. So much wrong.
Other games included eating dry biscuits and spitting it, choosing the bride’s lipstick print from a line-up and dancing to a high-energy Cantonese pop song. Why aren’t all weddings this ridiculous?
After passing all the challenges the bride came out of hiding and we did a more serious tradition; the tea ceremony, where the bride and groom honour their elders.
We had to take a long, boring bus trip to Uncle 3’s apartment to perform the ceremony. When we were inside the apartment I saw a photo of Grandma, who past away when I was really young, 17 years ago. I thought it was weird that I was feeling sad about someone who I had never met before. Tea ceremony probably went alright. I didn’t play a part in it so I wasn’t paying attention.
We had lunch somewhere and reconvened at the hotel where the actual wedding would take place by the outdoor pool. My first thought was that they were marrying in front a heavily chlorinated swimming pool with dead bees floating about, but it was actually really nice. It looked like an expensive koi pond with a waterfall.
On one side was the bride and groom and the other side was the audience. The wedding went on and the crowd were at bit rowdy. Yelling shit from across the pool, but nobody minded. Finally when all the vows, signing and what else were done Uncle 3 got to kiss the bride. At that point everyone let go of the helium balloons we were given earlier and it was like a scene from Up (brilliant movie).
Love was filling the air so my brother and I decided to visit Game Zone before dinner. Game Zone was just a room in the hotel where we’d hope to find a pool table. There was only checkers and Connect 4.
Few games of checkers later, we headed down to the restaurant for dinner. It was a buffet and there was plenty of entertainment.
One microphone. One drunk Uncle 3. Comedy gold.
Uncle 3 claimed he wasn’t drunk but deliriously happy. My mum kept commenting she’d never seen her brother this “high” and that he had never sung before. That was obvious when he started to scream the lyrics.
Everyone was getting into the festive mood, cheering, laughing and taking pictures. Then it came to the cousins to take a picture together. My brother and I and seven of our cousins gathered around Uncle 3. We cheered, pulled faces and enjoyed the spotlight. Then Uncle 3 had a tissue and he was wiping his eyes. Someone asked him what was wrong.
He grabbed the microphone and said, “I miss my mum.”
But then he smiled and hugged all of us and we caused a ruckus right till closing time.
