Congrats to CH & Pamela~

Date: A Lovely Saturday, May 09, 2009...

"The Wedding of the Year..."

In conjunction with my Dragonboat Training/Bonding Camp (May 8th to 10th) was the wedding of Chong How and Pamela on May 09, Vesak Day.

Now, Pamela is my girlfriend, Charmaine's elder sister. So when Pam asked for my help in video-recording for the wedding day... I was more than happy to help out, but it's the first time I'm doing this video-recording stuff, so I did warned her that she was 'employing' me at her own risk... But not to worry, I believed that everything turned out fine. In fact I think I did a not-bad job, judging from the response of the family when they went through the video.

This is the first time ever I'm involved (sorta) in the proceedings of an actual wedding - from the fetching of the bride to the tea ceremony at the groom's place to the church wedding to the wedding banquet at the hotel... Normally I'll just be in charge of eating at the wedding banquet... But this time round, I actually learnt how a wedding goes about happening.

Preparations for the actual wedding day started as early as 5 plus that morning. Can you imagine how tired I was, after attending one whole day of training and physical activities the day before during the training camp, and then rushing over from NTU to Serangoon Gardens after the team meeting to stay over for the night, I only had barely a few hours of sleep on the living room couch. I was on high alert cuz I knew I couldn't oversleep for the wedding, so when the alarm went off at 4:30am... I immediately jumped out of the couch & went up to wake Charmaine up. But I ended up snuggling in bed with Charmaine instead, with the handphone alarm going off all the way till 5:30am... hehe =P

Eventually we dragged ourselves out of bed, washed up & got dressed up for the rest of the day. By then the bride's make up artist has already arrived & finished with his job! Fast & efficient, the problem was - it wasn't caught on tape by me, which was supposed to be! First blopper of the day... no more for the rest of the day.

Never mind, time to move on to filming the Pam's 姐妹 preparing the 'sabo' games to "torture" CH & his 兄弟 at the gate later on. They were preparing some super spicy chilli noodles for the groom to eat & decorating the gate with black & white balloons. Inside the balloons were tasks for the groom to accomplish... which some I ended up doing when I wasn't even part of the groom's 兄弟. (dunno why? hahah) What to do? Caught in the middle mah, groom & bride side... both cannot offend. Gonna be needing their support in the future too... haiz~

Oh yeah, I was also in charge of opening the car door for the groom, handing two oranges to him, and welcoming him, wishing him blissful marriage & stuff... In return, I receive a red packet. They call this the "lucky boy". Haha... which seems kinda ironic, especially since I was no longer qualified to be termed as a "boy". "Lucky" - yes, "boy" - not too convincing... =P

Anyway after the groom successfully "infiltrates" into the house, makes his way up to the bride's room & goes down on his knee to propose to the bride & lift up the veil of the bride (all caught on tape by me, by the way =] ), he is ready to fetch the bride from the bride's place back to the groom's place for the tea ceremony. I of course, followed the newly-wed couple to the groom's place to film the tea ceremony. Initially I thought that the tea ceremony was only between the newly-wed couple & the parents, but it turns out all the elders in the family, the uncles & aunties, get to drink the sweet sweet red dates tea as well.

After that, we went to the Church of Saint Francis Xavier for the church wedding. It is a lovely church setting, like those seen in your dreams. Make me want to have a church wedding in the future too with her... In the church I was at my busiest! I had to film the "walking down the aisle", exchange of vows & wedding rings, the lighting of the unison candle, the signing of the marriage certificate & the photo-taking session with the newly-weds after etc.

Following, there was lunch reception at the church premises. Boy, were the guests quick, by the time, i finish helping out & got to the food, there was nothing much left for me & Charmaine. Poor thing, cuz the food was looking so delicious! Man... I hate to miss out on good food~!

After the lunch reception, it was work for me once again back to the bride's place for the second round of tea ceremony, this time round to the bride's side. Finally when that was over, it marks the break until the wedding banquet in the evening. The groom & bride, together with the "team", went ahead to the hotel @ Mandarin Oriental, Singapore. Meanwhile, I had to transfer the video & recharge the battery for video-cam, before I went up to Charmaine's room, turn on the air con & zzzZZZ on her bed... while she was away at the hotel.

Time to wake up from my short nap, prepare & slip into my second attire for the evening. Took auntie & uncle's car to the hotel & got to work, filming shots of the guest arriving... Took a look at the ballroom, looking mighty stunning I must say... Theme was black & white, very nice combination! - something that I might have chosen for my wedding too.

Side note: The evening gown that Charmaine appeared in for that night was beautiful. She had her hair curled & down. She looked like an angel, from the heavens. Instantly took my breath away... Felt like love at first sight all over again.

Cocktail reception was over. The doors open, and the guest start making their way into the ballroom to be seated. A success for this wedding was that almost all the guest arrive on time, so that the dinner could proceed on time as planned. Singaporeans should practice this more often!

Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that I was seated at the VIP table with the family of the bride & groom? What a honour! That explains why I'm slogging away, filming here & there, this & that... =P The food was splendid! Different from most banquets I've attended so far... The door gift was unique as well, those measuring spoons used for cooking, but they were heart-shaped and each one had a special phrase to it, like "A pinch of joy", "A dash of tenderness", "A spoonful of affection" and "A heap of love". Very original, I like it!

During dinner, I also filmed the newly-weds' march-in. It was a real challenge walking backwards with a video-cam in your hand, all the time trying to focus on the couple. Haha. And the funny thing was while I was recording the groom uncorking the champagne bottle for the champagne pouring, I had a feeling deep down as I watched him trying to pop the cork, that it will fly in my direction & hit me. Guess what, IT REALLY DID HAPPENED~! The cork popped & flew at me! Lucky the force wasn't strong & didn't hit my head, otherwise I would have fainted upon impact. Instead it hit my biceps and thanks to dragonboating, it almost didn't hit at all, although I did "ouch" & it got caught on tape. It was hilarious~! Charmaine watched the video-clip & laughed very hard...

One other thing, the thing that really touched me during the dinner, was the surprise Charmaine specially crafted for the newly-weds, without their knowledge. Even months before the actual wedding, Charmaine has been working along with the money-box (for the red packets), a scrapbook with their dating & wedding photos. It was really nicely done up. Of course I helped out a little with the cover page, & accompanying her numerous times to "Made with Love" @ Plaza Singapura for materials. But that's not all, Charmaine even made up a very lovely & cute video-clip of both the couples' friends & their dog, having them say their good wishes for the newly-weds on video. That really moved me together with her speech on stage congratulating the newly-wed couple... What a blessed boyfriend I am to have such a wonderful girlfriend... hehe.

So as the dinner ended, & the VIP was empty with everyone heading outside the door to shake hands, & thank "whoever" for coming down for wedding banquet, there was really no reason for me to still be at the VIP table, so I grabbed my trusty video-cam & went outside too, to film the leaving of the guests.

After the guests left, all of us went upstairs to the couples' suite to bring back whatever needs to be taken back home. Because the married couple had two free rooms, Charmaine & I got to stay overnight in one room, together with her close friend. But because it was such a last minute thing, I didn't bring any extra clothes like the girls did, and I had to sleep in the hotel's bathrobe with a towel wrapped around my waist. HAHA... it was a totally new experience!

The next morning I woke up, I was too shagged out to attend training anyway, so I just continued sleeping in all the way till one o'clock... hehe.

That's about it for the wedding... As you can see, it has been a long day of events. Thanks for tuning in...

Isn't she stunning? =)

All the best to the Newly-weds, Chong How & Pamela... Always have patience with one another, when two hearts are together, there are no problems too hard or difficult to overcome. Have a Blessed Marriage. All the Best~!