We recently had the great pleasure of witnessing Katherine's brother, "Froggy" (an English translation of a play on the pronunciation of his name in Cantonese), marry his long-time girlfriend, Alice. I've been to a few wedding ceremonies and banquets during my time here, but only as a peripheral guest. Not so, this time; this time, we were intimately involved from start to finish.
...well, with one exception: The first event of a traditional Chinese wedding day, where the groom and his groomsmen go to the home of the bride and "obtain" her. Since we weren't there, I can't be exactly sure how it unfolded, but the usual process is something like...
- Bride gets up very early to don her make-up and elaborate dress
- Groom's party arrives and attempts to gain entry to the house
- Bridesmaids (and sometimes other friends of the Bride) block the entrance and will not allow the Groom's party to enter until they pass a series of tests (to exhibit their dedication and the seriousness of their intent)
- Most of the tests are designed to mildly humiliate the Groom's party ("drink Coke until we say stop!", "sing a love song!"), but bribes stuffed in red packets (after haggling the price) are also usually involved
- Once the Bride's friends have been appeased, they allow the Groom's party to enter and whisk the Bride away to the next event, which is where we pick up our story now.
Storming the gates!
Katherine's side of the family congregate, exchange congratulations...
...and take many, many pictures
Katherine's mother and most of her siblings (a few couldn't make the trip)
A special moment: Unprompted, the 3-year-old (left) brings a tissue to comfort the 2-year-old (right). The number of people, noise, and perhaps lack of attention made her very weepy.
Snacks! Indonesian "kuih lapis" (steamed layers of a firm tapioca-flour-based pudding flavored with pandan)
Indonesian "bika ambon" (coconut-lime sponge cake)
Chinese "pineapple crisp" cookies
(A Chinese snack, but neither Katherine nor I know the name, so I'll just call them "white finger cookies" ;>)All of this eating and chatting and photographing took place while waiting the Bride and Groom to arrive, which happened around 10:30AM...
Here they come!
And there they are! (Make note of Alice's dress: it's the first of four that she'll wear during the day)
As is traditional, the wedding couple kneel and serve tea (poured by the maid of honor) to Katherine's parents (and, later, they served Katherine and I as well). Note the enormous gold bracelets (some already on Alice's arms and some waiting to be given to her) - an essential gift in traditional weddings.
...in front of a slew of photographers (some from the family, some professionally contracted) who stayed with them all dayOnce the tea-serving and accompanying photography concluded, we all left the apartment for a nearby dim sum lunch...
A sad tale about the unscrupulous ways of the restaurant that was chosen: In an event like this, with lots of people spread across a number of tables, and lots of different people ordering, it can be very easy to lose track of what you did and didn't ask for. The restaurant decided to take advantage of this by repeatedly bringing us food that we didn't request, hoping that no one would notice. We did, though, and while I'm sure we didn't catch everything, it could've been worse than it ended up being.With that little stain on the day out of the way, we moved on to happier moments. Namely, the wedding ceremony itself! It occurred in the Cotton Tree Drive Marriage Registry of Hong Kong Park, the single most popular place to get married in Hong Kong (more than 100 weddings happen there each day)...
Cramming into the tight hallways of the registry
While waiting for our turn in the ceremony room, we took the opportunity for more photos!
Alice, posing in dress #2!
Peering through the paparazzi...
...and peering at the paparazzi
Space was at a premium in there, but we still found ways to get large group shots
Entering the ceremony room!
Exchanging rings (and posing for the cameras)
"And now you may..."
The newlyweds with their parents
Riding off into the sunset
...or at least into the banquet (which started at 6PM and lasted until about midnight)
Yes, this is where we're going to focus on food!
Suckling pig
Baked stuffed sea whelk with cheese
Braised broccoli and mushrooms with dried scallop
Shark fin soup (something we normally wouldn't eat because of its cruelty, but it was provided, so we didn't want to waste it)
Steamed grouper (note: I forgot to take a picture of the abalone dish that preceded this!)
Fried chicken (Hong Kong style ;>)
Sweet red bean soup with lotus seeds and lily bulbs (an important traditional wedding dessert)With the food out of the way, we can now focus on the remaining dresses...
The first shown at the banquet was the same as what was worn earlier in the wedding ceremony
Dress #3, mid-meal
Dress #4, in the receiving line (formed as guests exited the banquet)Katherine and I were also part of the receiving line, which was lots of fun (and noticeably surprising for the guests, since I suppose it isn't common to see a non-Chinese person speaking Cantonese to you in the line-up).
It was a wonderful (albeit exhausting ;>) day and we were honored to share it with Froggy and Alice!
It was a wonderful (albeit exhausting ;>) day and we were honored to share it with Froggy and Alice!
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