So mama got an invitation from her cousin to attend his wedding at the glitzy Ritz Carlton Hotel. Oh it was rumored that it would be a really grand affair as the bride came from a well-to-do family who was in business. According to the grapevine, who else but wai po, each table cost $2500! I wondered how much a banquet table would cost when it was your turn to get married, in our current times, the rates go up by $100 every year. Hmmm...would it still be fashionable and a requirement in your times?
 |
| Tong looking all sharp and dapper in the Norwegian national costume. Lol but he had his blue mickey mouse crocs on...we had been trying to convince him to wear a proper pair of dressy shoes, to no avail. |
 |
| An astounding 20 seater Bride-groom-family table. According to hearsay, the floral arrangements at the banquet cost some $10 over thousand, the "open door - appease jie mei" ang bao was $20,000 and the "pin jin" was $10.000. Definitely a costly affair. |
 |
| People sashaying on the dance floor. We heard that the bride's parents were into ballroom dancing... |
While waiting, we fooled around. As usual, Wai po gave the "DUH" look when we made tong wear a flower on his ear...
Tong loved his food. He ate almost everything...erm, except vegetables, which he was particular to a fault, even if it was just one speck, he would whimper and insist I took it out.
They even hired a live band, two professional hosts and a few singers and performers to jazz up the night. Erm...it was a tad too noisy and...getai-ish for us. But xun was mesmerised by the alluring bright lights and costumes...daddy and I concluded we would not be surprised if jie jie went into show biz next time...
Our favourite moment - toasting to the couple...tong had mastered the art of toasting too, cup high in the air, a loud raucous yum seng...
Look how sharp his lips were...the older folks always commented that people with sharp lips would be very very talkative...tong had lived up to that old wives' myth...
As it was nearing Chinese, there was a surprise lo hei at the end! I hoped you kids would still have such a tradition. When pouring the various ingredients into the big plate, you got to say auspicious things. Then everyone would rake the ingredients as high as they could into the air, signifying high hopes and good luck for the coming year...
See how seasoned tong and xun had become at this. Ha, HUAT ah. An eye-opening dinner...well...mama had never attended a ge-tai extravagant showy dinner...well...
It was surely an interesting night.
No comments:
Post a Comment