Fetching the Bride

Taken at about 9am from The Gardens Residence.

It was a beautiful day on our wedding day indeed. We were anxious about how the weather will turn out to be... it had been raining between 3 and 5 in the afternoon for the past few days. Our Church wedding ceremony was scheduled to start at 4pm, what was the chances of it will be pouring at that time of the day. And of course, what if the rain actually 'intensify' the traffic?

Fortunately, the rain came early that day. Almost by 10am, the clouds had cleared. Looking out from my room at The Gardens Residence, I was actually feeling relief and happy.

Thanks to Eugene and Rita. CJ agreed to have the Chinese traditional 'fetching the bride' session. I think he was seriously worry about the challenges my zi mui's had prepared for him. The wives of heng tai's, however, were really excited about it and one of them, Vanessa, actually sent a prank text to CJ telling him to be VERY prepared for the games he was about to face.

Dolling up at our own place, I felt really tired from late and sleepless nights. The night before wedding was the worst because I could barely sleep. My make up artist, Emilia (from Fifoto), was looking serious, attempting to conceal the dark circles under my eyes. '3 layers', she said, 'you need 3 layers of foundation at least to conceal that...'. The day we had our trial, I only had one layer on!

Trial make up a few days before wedding.

I was telling my friends, the only thing that went wrong was the bride's health, because I was seriously ill. Anyone could tell from my dry and tired looking skin, squinting eyes and bloated face. Grace was feeding me shredded roti boom, making sure that I have a few bites at least.

The only solid food I had that day, roti boom.

The make up was finally completed. I put on a red cheong sum that was passed on to me by a close friend, Shalyn, as a wedding gift. It was a simple yet beautiful dress. We managed to get a few shots whilst waiting for the groom and heng tai's to arrive.

Grace was putting on a necklace
my mum bought for me as a wedding gift.

One with Grace.

One with PZ and gorgeous Baby Hayden.

One with Jovita, our funny wedding planner.

The boys were punctual. CJ was joking about turning up late at the hotel so they can bypass the games. I didn't take that seriously considering his heng tai's were keen on getting CJ 'played'. Bet CJ didn't know that.

CJ and his heng tai's.

They did have an episode whilst driving down from Subang to KL... the flower ball on the bridal car flew off as Leong Kee (accordingly) took a fierce turn. Fortunately, our second photographer, Steve, was quick to act and was holding on to the the flower ball all the way to The Gardens Residence. Many thanks to him, because otherwise, I would not have seen how beautifully the car was decorated.

Leong Kee and Tze Wyn fixing the flower ball
that was intact to a suction plate.

We had about 3 games prepared. The first one was limbo with man boobs. The night before, Li Shien, Mee Yoke, Siew Yin, Lee Kuan and Grace were sitting with me at the dining table preparing those colourful balloons whilst having girl chats. As Chang Thai tuned in the song 'Macarena' I was so tempted to have a quick look. The sound of laughter from outside the room was getting louder and louder!

Sean helping CJ with his man boobs.

Sean never fail at stealing the lime light!
Except this time, he did it with smart clothing.

Way Sheng did a limbo.

Wondered what was happening outside the room.

'Please don't cheat! Be a man, do the right thing!'

The second game was 'chicken lays golden egg', a game that I have adopted from 'chicken lay eggs' contest that me and my Godsis would play when we were little. The idea was for the guys to follow dance step instructions e.g. front, back, right, left - and constantly shake their butts until the orange ping pong ball fall out of each of the tissue box. Yet another game that I anticipate to know how it went!

Third game was the 'tastes of sourness, sweetness, bitterness and spiciness'. The groom and one of his heng tai's must eat off 2 bananas that were hung on other heng tai's. I think all of them had fun on this session, because all I could hear was scream and laughter. Every 'fetching the bride' session ought to have some obscenity to a certain degree! My zi mui's had been lenient with the heng tai's, because we had to go easy with the groom as I wasn't too sure if he was OK with 'being played'. There was no punishments as such for them as well if they didn't perform well. Too easy!

Finally, it was the final stage for CJ to get through to me. CJ had to read out loud from a love letter that Lee Kuan and Mee Yoke had put together and of course, the ang pow for the zi mui's to open the bridal room door!

Love letter sealed with a kiss!

It was a quick 'fetching the bride' session, followed by a simple tea ceremony for dad. I couldn't hold onto my emotion any longer when dad's voice trembled and his eyes became watery as I served him tea. Tears rolled down my cheeks as we hugged each other.

I love you dad.