For the second time in two weeks, I was at the Tropicana Club again for a wedding. This one was a smaller affair compared to last week's, but the bride and groom seem to be much cosier. They didn't have any special video to share like last week, and the space used was less than half the size of last week's, but they had considered little things like having someone lead the way to our table (last week, I had to find the table on my own). And this time, I had friends with me whom I could chat with.
I didn't bring my digital camera again - this time, because I lent it to a friend who hadn't returned it. Choon Meng was supposed to bring his but (1) he forgot, and (2) the battery was already flat. Or so he claims.
Fortunately my camera's 2 megapixel lens was good enough to take close-up shots. Hopeless for far shots though, so we stuck to taking pictures of ourselves. I'm waiting for Mei Chin to share the photos taken by the designated photographer.
Top left: Me Top right: Hui Ling
Bottom left: Choon Meng Bottom right: Yee Kiang
Our table was dedicated to school friends. Chandra didn't turn up though due to work. The others were Jefri, and two other girls from school with their boyfriends. Yes I do know their names but I'm not going to mention them here, to protect their identities. I don't really know these two girls, never did talk much to them in school cuz we hadn't been in the same class. We didn't talk much tonight either. I suppose we did appear standoffish, but somehow I couldn't really be bothered to make an effort. OK, so I'm a snob. I admit though, I felt pretty bad about it because I remember how I felt last week sitting at a table with a bunch of strangers who didn't talk to me.
Here are my excuses though. I didn't really talk to one of the girls because the last time I met her, although she appeared friendly enough, was not very willing to talk about much (I was kinda asking after her, as in how she is, what's she doing now, etc). The other girl, who appeared very bored throughout the dinner (possibly because she didn't really know the rest of us), I had met before at my gym, and when I tried to say hi to her then, she also didn't seem keen to talk to me. Conversation went something like this:
Me: Hi, you're <name goes here>, right?
Girl: .... yes...?
Me: I'm Sze Yen from Taman SEA.
Girl: Oh, hi.
And it ended there. She just kinda went off, which was a bit of a shock to me, because normally when I meet someone from school whom I have not met for a long time, we usually kinda catch up, even if we barely knew each other back in school. Even if it's fake interest. Small stuff like, "Where are you working now?" and general enquiries like that. The conversation ended making me feel as if she thinks I'm some wannabe who just wants to get to know her. If I get snubbed like that, I'm not going to bother trying to repair bridges especially if it doesn't seem worth repairing at all.
By the way, here are some interesting facts I've found out about weddings tonight (or rather, weddings I attend):
- There is such a thing as a karaoke wedding. Honestly, I've never heard of such a wedding before. Mainly because I've never been to one. Hui Ling mentioned it as we were sitting down at our table, and said she had been to a number before. Well, tonight's was the first I attended. It wasn't really a karaoke, because there were no TV or karaoke sets. But there were a couple of old men who went on stage and belted out a few tunes. One old guy went up to sing English songs (out of tune, by the way. He sang three, but the most horrible experience was the last one which he did Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini) followed by another old man doing a few Chinese numbers. I was pretty thankful when it was over early. I didn't want to lose my appetite, especially when I had so little to eat the whole day.
I don't think he was crooning to the couple of the night. I think he was just singing because he liked the sound of himself singing. It's what we say as syok sendiri.
No disrespect meant, really. I mean it. But if I have a wedding, I think I'll be a real control freak about it. I'd probably monitor the microphones so tightly that if anyone even attempts to sing at my wedding, I'd be jumping onto the stage and grabbing the mikes out of their hands, in my high heels and long train and all.
- Chinese waiters at Chinese restaurants are hopelessly inattentive. I always run out of tea and no one comes up to fill it up. Even last week at Alex's wedding. But at least last week we were seated right next to a table which had the refills on standby there, and I often walked over to refill my own cup. Tonight, my glass was constantly empty. And at one point, when the waitress was filling the glasses at my table, as the canister reached my glass, it had already ran out. And guess what, she didn't come back to fill up the glass.
- I'm always at the last few tables to yam seng the happy couple. For those new to this, every Chinese wedding has this hideously noisy ritual where we will raise our glasses to toast the newlyweds, and being typical Chinese, it has to be as loud, long, and noisy as possible. This happens after the couple have gone on stage and poured champagne into the pyramid of wineglasses, where the couple's close family members will be on stage and the whole room will stand with their glasses raised and scream the long "yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ........... SENG!" And then a little later, the couple will go from table to table where each table will repeat the ritual, with lots of happy photographs too.
And I have noticed that at almost every Chinese wedding I've attended, I am always at one of the last few tables approached by the couple. Some may say this is a good thing, cuz the idea is that the couple has "reserved the best for last". I'm like, yeah right!!! It just means I can't leave so early. Usually by the time the happy couple reach me, dinner was over ages ago, but I won't leave until I toast the newlyweds (and be included in the photo).
OK, OK, I'm being really selfish. I'm not really grumbling. I really do want to wish the couple happiness with a toast and I will never leave a wedding until I have done so. It's just that I've noticed this has happened to me at Chinese weddings almost every time without fail.
- Chinese weddings never start on time. I already knew this because when I was young, my parents never brought me to a wedding on time. When I was little I used to fret about it because the invitation would say "6.00pm sharp" and we're only leaving the house at 7pm. But even when we got there by 8pm, dinner hadn't even started yet. So I learnt not to go so early to weddings. This year I always stroll into wedding dinners about an hour after the time stated on the card and I'd still have to wait at least half an hour before dinner began.
I'm just mentioning this because I know some people who do fret about the time. There was a wedding earlier this year which was suppsoed to start by 6.30pm sharp, but because I had jazz class until 6pm, I knew I was going to be late. I took my own sweet time preparing though, and didn't get to the restaurant until about 8.30pm. An dinner hadn't even started. It annoyed one of my Indian friends though, because he had been there on time. Haha!
And last week, Jefri had fretted about the time saying that it was supposed to start 7pm sharp. And that they may actually start on time because it was puasa month and they may start on time for the Muslims to buka puasa. I told him he can go early if he likes, I'm only going to be there by 8pm. He finally decided to arrive only about 8.15pm, and dinner still had not started. Seeeeee???!!!
Here's wishing Steven & Mei Chin the very best!!!
