Yes, it was our country's 51st Independence Day, and it was Mee Mee's independence (from dieting) day - it was her Wedding Day!
I was there the night before, to show my face at Mr Teofu the groom's house, which took us hours, plus countless u-turns to locate. The moment I walked in, I complained so loudly to Mee Mee the bride that friends and relatives seated at nearby tables turned their heads. Pardon me, but I was exasperated! And Mee Mee was... well, I'd expected her to be stressed out over the wedding affairs, but not that stressed! I don't think I'd ever seen her so tense, not even during the worst of final exams. As for Teofu, I'd never seen him so stressed as well (but then I'd never seen much of him anyway...)
After leaving Teofu's place, we went to a "famous" grilled crabs restaurant for dinner, and then to Polar Bear's place where the kaki botols had a few botols.
The Crabs
The next morning, I got up, got ready, and got myself to the hotel (from where Mee Mee will "leave the house") just before 7am. As I walked into the lobby, I saw this bunch of girls in bright Chinese New Year red dresses heading towards the elevator. They were, no mistake, part of Mee Mee's entourage. I ran after them, in heels and all, and managed to squeeze into the elevator. In her room, Mee Mee was ready. Bee Ree was there, along with a host of family members. Mee Mee looked breathtakingly gorgeous, and Bee Ree was... well, like the rest of us, verrrrry red.
As per the tradition, the girls were to guard the door(s) and set some tasks (some call it torture) for the groom and his men, when they come for the bride. We had 3 doors this time, and had a different task at each, which the men had to brave in order to get to the bride. At the first, there was a very Malaysian delicacy - durian - with wasabi and cili padi toppings. Durians, when consumed freshly opened, is delicious - for those who love it. But when the flesh was removed, possibly since the night before, and placed in cute little paper cups, and left covered in a container for goodness knows how long - let's just say you should really avoid doing that with durians. When the girls first unveiled their creation, the smell was so revolting I was momentarily worried that the hotel staff might kick us out. I think the groom and his men could had smelled it from the moment they stepped out of the elevator, but there was no way they could had escaped eating them.
Come and yum seng with healthy green juice
So, the guys can eat and drink awful stuff without regurgitating (ei, ever thought of going for Fear Factor?). Now, let's see if they are as intelligent as their academic qualifications show - all of them are engineering graduates, honours students; more than half have masters degrees and / or professional certifications; and one of them a PhD candidate! A smart lot, no joke! Here, solve a sudoku puzzle.
Yea, that's not the groom solving it...
While one of his men was sudoku-solving, Teofu, with his nose in the air, said in a super haughty tone to me - the task was so easy, it wasn't a challenge at all. Ah, he spoke too soon. The real challenge is here:
The guys' reactions were approximately:
"WALAO EH!!!"
"Oi! What is this?!!! Exam question ar?!!!!!"
"Eh, in uni, we're given 3 hours to answer this ler!!!!"
"What the ... !!! How to solve?!!!!!"
"Whose idea is this ar?!!!!!!!!!!"
Challenging enough now?
Teofu, upon beholding the "exam" questions
Well, of course they couldn't solve it. Even the Mee Mee-related questions they got 3 out of 4 wrong! Some of them insisted that the difficult questions were figments of my imaginations (ie. bullshit I put on paper, which weren't real, solvable problems), but hey, I had expected them to accuse me of that - which was why I prepared the solution as well! So there, just admit you can't solve them, and pay us off using ang pau! That, they gladly did, of course. (On a side note, Mee Mee told me, afterwards, that her cousin brother, a little boy of perhaps no more than 10 years of age, when heard that the guys had to solve a math problem, wanted to go and solve it! When his mother told him he couldn't, because he was part of the bride's entourage, not the groom's, he sulked on the couch - because he really wanted to solve the math problem! So cute, don't you agree?!)
As the troop marched towards the final door, thinking that nothing would be stopping them then, Mee Mee's sister came up. Mee Mee wanted Teofu to sing her a song! This they gladly complied, and after some singing and some swearing (ie. I will LOVE YOU forever!!! etc) Teofu reached Mee Mee (at long last!)
My dear, don't mind my durian+garlic breath, yea. Muaks!
We girls then took a step back and relaxed while the bride and groom performed the traditional tea ceremony for the bride's family, and following that, the whole company went out to the pool area for more photography sessions. Then, it was off to the Teofu's house - a symbol of the man bringing home his bride. On the way:
Mr Professional Photographer, I salute you!
At Teofu's house, the newly weds repeated the tea ceremony for the groom's family, and then they headed back to the bridal suite at the hotel. The groom's men and the bride's ladies then took off to their respective destinations to rest / lepak for the next couple of hours until lunch. Bee Ree and I, however, stayed on to take care of the floral arrangements. Yes, Mee Mee commissioned me to finish up her floral arrangement for the table, and to make 2 hand bouquets as a surprise for her mom and mom-in-law. After an hour and a half,
Bee Ree: GAH! I don't know how to do this!
Nee Lee: Tell me about it...
Bee Ree: This is the ugliest bouquet I'd ever seen. If someone gave this to me, I will kill him!
Nee Lee: Tell me about it... I hope she won't kill us.
Bee Ree: She is soooo gonna kill us!
Mee Mee (later): The bouquets are SO LOVELY!!!
Aaahhh. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
Floral arrangement for the main table, complete with candles in the center
One of the hand bouquets
Lunch was extremely enjoyable - the food was abundant and the company was great. The songs selection was something I need to shout about - Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli, Teresa Teng - it's really an advantage when one shares such similar taste for music as the bride!
Nine dishes and some really, really LOUD yum sengs later, the guests were ready to go. And Mee Mee came over to our table for some more photos!
Muaks! Muaks! Unlike your hubby, we don't have durian+garlic breath!
The Roomees + Teofu
This is one of the BEST weddings that I'd attended, as yet. This I'd said many times, and will say just 1 more time - Mee Mee, I love your stunningly lovely dark purple gown!
For more photos and stories, visit:
Bee Ree's post, Part 1
Bee Ree's post, Part 2
Bee Ree's post, Part 3
No comments:
Post a Comment