Singaporean Wedding

Yesterday, 08Dec08, I attended the Singaporean wedding lunch reception of my colleague at the Sheraton Towers near the Newton Mrt station.

It was supposed to start at 1:30pm, so my colleague and I met up at 12:45pm (1pm actually, since I was late). The Sheraton Towers is a beautiful hotel, there was a grand staircase leading up to the grand ballroom, and from afar, I could see a beautiful landscape of greenery and waterfalls by the open-air area.

We went up, and saw the bride and groom there, meeting the guests as they arrive. First, we wrote on the dedication book and then, this is a cool idea, there were 2 boxes on the reception table. One for the bride and one for the groom. The guests will then just drop their angpao (red packets) on the designated box. No more giving directly to the bride or groom. Nice! Because in a way, it is awkward to be giving money to someone else. Well, at least for me.

We took pictures with the bride and groom. Snap! Snap!

We entered the grand ballroom. It was dimly lit, and so beautifully set. There were red, green and yellow spoltlight on the tables. That, against the dimlights created a beautiful colored glow on the white plates.

We waited for some 30 minutes, before the emcees queued for the showing of the wedding video. Then, afterwards, the ballroom doors were closed for the grand entrance of the bride and groom.

They walked slowly to the stage, where they cut the cake and posed for pictures.

After that, they walked down to their table, which is a round table where they sat with the groom's family. It's not at all like in Manila, where the couple have a special table all to themselves.

We sat patiently, waiting for the food. The lights were suddenly turned dimmer, then, a hip and groovy music suddenly blasted from the sound system, and the doors were opened. In came the waitresses dressed in black coat with the first dish on their hands. They did their formation and danced a bit (like take one step forward, turn then step backward).

They went up the stage, took a bow, and started serving the first dish.

This was our menu:
-Deluxe hors D' Oeure (Deep fried spring rolls with minced chicken, prawns & yam, deep fried scallop coated with bread crumbs, deep fried prawn with mayonnaise & suckling pig)
-Shark's fin soup with shredded chicken and crabmeat
-Roast Chicken with preserved beancurd
-Braised dried scallops with shiitake mushrooms and Hong Kong seasonal vegetable
-Steamed live sea bass with broad bean sauce
-Fish noodles with prawns
-Sweetened sago cream with mango

In between the dishes, the bride and groom were called up to the stage again for the toasting. The family and close friends also went up, and, as the tradition went, everybody was supposed to shout 'cheers!', but in Chinese, which is 'Yang Seng'. This is the thing, people were supposed to shout yang seng like this: "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang Seng!!!". You're supposed to shout "Yang" and hold your breath for a long time, like when we used to do when we were kids. Then, all together, shout "Seng!!!". This went on for three rounds, one for good luck, one for well wishes (for them to grow old together) and one for... I forgot.

The bride and groom also poured champagne over stacked champagne glasses, and did the arm twisting thing (to drink together). Then, the emcee asked the couple to do a slow dance. The groom said "I don't know how to dance." Of which the emcee said "That is why you will do so on this special day." (Or something to that effect).

While they danced, the emcee asked "What are you going to tell your wife?". The groom then told his wife, using a microphone, and in front of everyone "I love you." and she said "I love you too." Awwww... it's so nice to be in love.