My Wedding (Part 2) - Tea Ceremony and Dinner (Mark's)

If you thought you might have missed the second part of 'My Wedding', here's the scoop - you didn't... coz ya seeing it only now.

The following events happened on May 29th in the evening after my ROM.

Took me a while to post this up; the more photos there are, the longer I take to edit (ex..eh-hem..cuse) and I'm thinking you prefer me to elaborate my stories through pics rather than words right?

We held a mini tea-ceremony at Mark's grandma's place and by 'mini', I mean tea for ... one. Apart from paying respects to our ancestors that is.

The tea-drinker here is Mark's grandma (po-po)

gee my head looks bigger than my body...

A little something from grandma... :D

Then it was Mark's younger sister Hwee Nee's turn to serve us tea. It looks like she's doing some kind of strut here...nervous perhaps...tee~hee

It was quite a hilarious 'first-time' for all of us, judging by hubby's awkwardness...

and the fact that the bride and groom had forgotten they were to sit side by side during the tea-drinking ceremony!

And that was about all the tea that was served.

If you're wondering what happened to the rest of the uncles and aunties, let's just say they were a real sporting and 'modern' bunch as all insisted to do away with that particular tradition.

However, we did pour tea for dad-in-law's side of the family - no pics though as it's in another camcam.

I say with or without the tea ceremony, seeing the ang-pows pour in, makes me one happy camper :D
(Oops did i just say that out loud..)

Love you guys, anyhow!

Back to dinner that night, we chose (where else but..) Old Hong Kong Kitchen, Jalan Imbi to host 5 tables for relatives and close family friends.

Loving the grand set up and having a spacious private room all to ourselves.

My family were of course here for the dinner as well. All but Irene (sis-in-law) who couldn't make it.

With Mark's grandma from dad's side (ma-ma)

Here you get a clear shot of my other white dress (apart from the ROM's), plain and simple with gold sequins at the waist which I got for a steal at one of those boutiques in Ampcorp Mall.

Oh, have I mentioned all 3 WHITE dresses I bought for the wedding came from the same boutique? LOL. I forgot its name but I can pinpoint the location if you ask me :)

With aunties and their children...who are now my ermm 'cousins-in-law' (if there's such a thing?)

With the sons and daughters of family friends whom Mark grew up bullying and being bullied..

I also met Hwee Nee and her boyfriend, Ravin for the very first time. Friendly chap alright, even blurted out a duet with Hwee Nee that night.

Other than my camcam that night (as you can see in the mirror), Mark's other cousin, Ah-Kuan took plenty of photos for us too. Really appreciate it!

Ah-Kuan and wife

As the night rolled on and people were enjoying the food, dear starts singing his lungs out.
Can't believe he was so shy at first, but one song request from me, and he had no choice but to do it. hah!

And THAT certainly started the ball rolling for the rest of dem 'talents'.

including my dad-in-law. Like father, like son.

Now, the F-O-O-D was another highlight altogether.

From a specially concocted menu and not meaning to sound cocky, the meals prepared were up to the mark ('my' mark) and fresh.

classic must-have ' 4 season'

sharks fin in individual little pots

crispy suckling piglet (poor piggy i know, but another 'must-have' in a wedding dinner)

deep-fried salted egg prawns

vegetable treasures

i think this was black pepper fried rice

shanghai pancake and i forgot what was in those balls.. :p

ever heard of serving barley beancurd gingko in a wedding dinner?

told u this was SPECIAL! and especially good!

And I think there was some fish dish in it too but I can't seem to find the photo of it...hmm....

Anyways, we were in for a surprise too as we were presented with this really stunningly awesome 2-tier wedding cake!

Designed by one of Mark's childhood friends.

Poor chap came so late to the dinner as our cake took a really long time to assemble and all. I was told a cake like this sells for around RM 800 in the market. gulp.

It was indeed disheartening when we had to disassemble the cake all because we were greedy eaters. Wonder how a baker feels seeing his many hours of creation crumble in a matter of minutes..No wonder he refused to cut the cake that night and taught me the steps instead.

doesn't this remind you of a bowling ball?

The guests ended up eating only the chocolate spongey part of the cake as the white part was marzipan and so insanely sweet, I went around forbidding people to eat it.

Close to midnight, dinner was over, toasts were made and guests were starting to leave the karaoke-filled night with fond memories and a happy belly.

Everything about that night went smoothly and I certainly felt welcomed into a new family.

I for one cannot be happier that dear plucked up the courage to sing our song in front of everyone.

Nevermind that he forgot some of the lyrics...

...it still had me smiling sheepishly throughout the night.

shy*

fun cafe ok?

I recently visited this cosy little cafe known as "Fun OK Cafe" located on the top floor of a row of shophouses in Taman Connaught, Cheras. Surprisingly, this place was packed with many youngsters..including me of course.

I liked it here - it's got this 'homey' feel...

with dear's Form 6 gang...

...which makes me wana fall asleep ... hahaha

Our drinks

They've got all types of furniture here, eg pick your favourite cushion/ rug like this freaky face,

or a slice of watermelon, anyone?

All in all, a nice place to hang out with friends (and family), to chill and catch up on the latest gossips or to pour out one's feelings.

One thing's assured, you'll always find a shoulder to cry (or lean) on here.

Nevermind the weird name for a cafe, maybe they just want us to remember that it's one fun cafe, OK?

me wild taste

The best taste I could ever have in my mouth

is this thick sticky substance

which at first feels warm and gooey,

but all of a sudden, explodes in my mouth

giving out the wildest sensation ever.

aaaaaaah....


The feeling it leaves in my throat.....

out-of-this-world.

roziah + jasmi happy ever after

So, dear and I went to a friend's wedding this afternoon. Well MY colleague, to be exact..he doesn't even know her.
Since I was gonna be back in Malacca anyway this weekend, we decided to pop by the wedding. Even though it's in one of those small villages in the outskirts where you need about an hour's drive from town, I was still enthusiatic about going. Know why? Coz we have GPS!
Only to then find out that there wasn't any Jalan Kebun Sayur listed in the GPS! *gulp*

So, we did what we do best.

ASK for directions. (Yea men out there, learn to ASK for directions will ya)

Even with directions coming from the only local pakcik we found, we ended up driving into really really narrow deserted roads including through a Chinese graveyard, almost knocking into those tombstones! aiyoyoyo...

Then this little signboard along the road brought us to the exact location.
Finally.
You can see we had to drive through some oil palm estate with real bumpy roads just to get to this so-called 'car park area'. Thank God Choy Phyll had not driven her new car here :)

The weather was quite chilly - a sign that the rain was coming.

Other than that, it was nice to be outdoors in this pollution-free, quaint little village where the people welcomed us with open arms and a feast of traditional Malay dishes.

Roziah's sister led me into their house where I managed to take this picture of their pelamin (the 'thrones' they were going to be sitting in).

As I sneaked into Roziah's room soonafter, she was still being dressed and hair being done up, so I didn't managed to get a photo with her :(

Both the bride and groom's side were standing by with the kompangs.

And here, the lovely newlyweds in pink walked hand-in-hand towards their pelamin.

Ain't the groom cool or what in his shades?

The surrounding cows and ducks and geese join in the joyous celebration as well.

For the first time in a wedding, we did not stay for the lunch (!) and left early.

For it was starting to drizzle and we were rushing to head back to KL dy.

Plus it wouldn't be much fun if we got stuck along this road while manouevring our way outta here.

It was a long journey yes, but I am mighty glad I made it to what I hope is Roziah's happiest day of her life and the beginning of a lifetime of love and joy with her hubby.

And thanks dear for being such a sport today...training for driving in NZ perhaps? heehee