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Just returned from my Stephen and Lily’s wedding dinner. Have been up and about since 6.00 this morning. Good thing I managed to sneak in a short nap in the afternoon.

A wedding’s the only time to congratulate a man for making a big mistake
- Navin -

The receiving of the bride in the morning followed the usual Chinese customs, including the traditional tea ceremony on both sides. There was also the compulsory clash between the best men on the grooms side and the bride’s maids on the other. A Chinese wedding wouldn’t be complete without this. It felt kinda like participating in The Amazing Race.

While it wasn’t exactly the seven Herculean tasks, the Groom’s side had to complete several road blocks before being able to ascend the stairs to the Bride’s room. This included finding the 6 ingredients necessary to provide for the Bride to be:

• Wood (for fire),
• Oil,
• Sugar,
• Salt,
• Vinegar, and
• Rice.

The catch was that we were not allowed to get the ingredients from the Bride’s household. We wound up borrowing the items from the neighbour. Next up was the Sweet, Sour, Bitter, and Spicy task where there groom was required to eat four different food items representing each of the flavours; sweet grapefruit (although some might argue that it was sour), sour lime, bitter black coffee, and spicy hot wasabi. The final task was to drink three cans of beer using 9 straws joined to make one LONG straw. This was probably the toughest since it was difficult to draw the beer through the straws. We wound up doing only a single can.

And all this was just to get up the staircase to locked doors of the bride’s room. We was still another hurdle in our path. Getting those inside to open up. The negotiations were long and hard. Since we weren’t very good hagglers, we had to call in reinforcements in the form of Stephen’s in-laws :)

The dinner was held at Nikko hotel’s grand ballroom. For the most part, I think it went rather smoothly. There were some hiccups at the start but things panned out great in the end. It was wonderful to catch up with old friends amidst the merry making. There’s little else to say except that we had a wonderful time. More importantly, we hope that you had a good time too.

Stephen and Lily’s wedding was a wonderful affair from start to finish. Being a part of their happy union was definitely worth waking up early and going to bed late. Congratulations to the happy couple. Many thanks for allowing us share this small part of your lives. May your future together bring you much joy and happiness.

P.S.: I heard that according to the Chinese calendar, next year is the year of the Golden Pig. An ideal time to have children. We’re all waiting to hear the pitter patter of little Stephen’s and Lily’s.