Wolf Can Fly, Too

 I went to a wedding today.

And the short messages that I can post on Plurk is not enough to do it justice =).

So, the only Singaporean in my lab was married last October, and it took them a whole six months to plan out the reception; at least, the 'Chinese' side of it. The guy from my lab is a Malay Singaporean, while his wife is a Chinese Singaporean. From what I've gathered from various conflicting sources, they registered last October, had a Malay wedding reception for the groom's side of the family at some point before tonight, and had the Chinese style reception tonight... err... I meant yesterday evening (as it shows Monday the 31st on my computer now). (By the way, the side bar for Vista is actually quite helpful if you have a wide screen, but back to topic for now.)

Anyway, the last time I've been to a Chinese style wedding reception was ten-ish years ago, I did not know what to expect going into it, and apparently Aerospace engineers across the world have the same problem with making decisions: it takes them forever, and everyone is willing to go along with other people's plan with none wants to lead. For example, the amount of gift money was debated upon among the people in our lab for two weeks, and the amount was not finalized until the evening before; the method of delivery was constantly changing, and instead of having an envelope ready, we had to improvise a bit at the reception desk. But now back to the wedding itself.

The reception began with a short slide-show of the various stages of life of the bride and groom, followed by the entering of the couple following a flower girl through a fog-covered doorway. The walk through the dinning hall, and cut the ceremonial cake, and the meal began. This is where the wedding became interesting, though. The light was turned down and waiter/waitress streamed in with large plates with 'cold platter' and a LED light on it, more fog and light flashing, and some loud music. The light came back on, the waiters/waitresses proceeded to the other side of the room, removed the flashing LED lights, and served the first course. Some where between the third and fourth course the bride and groom went out and changed their clothes, and re-entered the dinning hall with more fog and flashing ceiling lights. This time they poured the ceremonial 'champagne' (non-alcoholic, I believe, as the groom is a Muslim), the family of both the bride and the groom went on the stage, and they performed three long howl/battle-cry/cheer(?) before drinking the champagne, which, from what I've heard, is a Singaporean tradition of unknown origin (maybe I should ask the groom at work tomorrow... I meant today...). Anyway, everyone proceed eating until we reached the sixth course, which is fried noodle 'for those who did not have enough food' according to a Singaporean who sat next to me. The desert was yam paste with sweet potato and coconut milk, which a girl at my table proclaimed 'this is too sweet.' People started streaming out as soon  as they finished the desert (another Singaporean tradition, maybe? The last wedding reception I've been to saw a lot more socializing, and the one before actually has a dance-party afterward.)

I have to say, though, that this is quite an eye opener, I enjoyed the food, especially the desert.