A.P.P.L.E

31st August is our national day. Most people were busy celebrating the holiday, whereas I was invited to attend my friend, Kerry’s wedding ceremony. Around 8am I reached her house (which she used to live together with her parents before married), the makeup artist was still applying makeup for her.

The photographer was busy as well and always came out with some ideas and Kerry had to try her best to come out with the best posture which satisfied the photographer.

Part of the ceremony - The father was feeding the daughter. Then, would be the mother’s turn.

Parents were giving sweet “good-bye” kiss to the only daughter.

Kerry’s brother was trying to kiss her. Well, actually all these were instructed by the photographer (director). In fact, the actors and actresses were very shy.  Probably because kissing is not something we do in the “public”, for a typical Chinese family.

This is me and Kerry. I was there to become her “sister” who was in charge of carrying her luggage (you can see this later) from her parent’s house to her new house.

Covering the wedding veil by the mother. This veil is to be open by the bridegroom. (I didn’t know “veil” is the proper word and when I asked Orange, he told me it’s “curtain on the head”. ROFL)

It was time when the bridegroom arrived. Also part of the tradition, the bridegroom was not so easily allowed to enter the house. Some family will come up with more fancy ways, but for Kerry’s, they just asked for ang pao or red packets which contains money!

Satisfied with the amount of red packets given, the bridegroom was able to enter the house. It was very crowded at that moment, everyone was excited.

It was kinda challenging for me to take good photos and with a lot of fast movement, my camera seems inadequate to capture. (Time for a DSLR?)

This is the most exciting and “embarrassing” moment. Just imagine you have to kiss in front of so many people, including kids and old citizens.

Now, you may kiss the bride.

Exchanging of wedding rings.

The symbol of love.

The bride was feeding the bridegroom. The bridegroom is funny! And did you notice the big black camera?

The bridegroom’s turn to feed the bride. Those are tang yuan, symbolized perfect, reunion, sweet.

The bridegroom was required to look for a pair of shoes hidden before hand. Once found, he had to help the bride put on the shoes. I call that the Cinderella moment.

Time to go the bridegroom’s house. The couple had bought a new house for themselves. Just before going back to their new house, the father sending the daughter. That would probably a mixture of feelings with happiness and sadness.

This is the wedding car.

Arrived at the new house.

Love nest…kekeke. See the luggage on top of the bed? That’s the thing I helped to bring along.

The bridegroom’s mother was putting a flower grass on the bride’s hair.

After that, the bridegroom had to ask for the key to unlock the luggage. But! He had to impress the bride first. Once again…involved red packets.

The bride finally satisfied with the amount of red packets (money) give, so the key was given to the bridegroom.

WOWWWW….Gold jewelery and….M-O-N-E-Y. Now you know why Chinese wedding is very expensive. If you don’t have money, better don’t get married. (Unless otherwise you don’t care about the traditional ceremony)

These were the things contained in the brow basket. Oranges and chickens, symbolized harmony and “productive”.

Once again, the bride and bridegroom had to feed each other again.

Time for the bride and bridegroom to serve tea to the bridegroom’s parents. They had to serve tea to the bride’s parents too, that was in the afternoon which I didn’t follow them anymore.

The serving tea ceremony was quite long, because every family members took turns. Time for the bride and bridegroom to sit down and wait the younger generations to serve tea to them. Once you drink the tea, you have to give red packets (again!).

The Sim family. Now, Kerry is officially Mrs. Sim.

At night, there was a wedding dinner. Didn’t take much photos that night, but here is a quick snap of the newly wedded couple.

Food was served. It was not so convenient to take food photos especially when you share the same table with someone you barely know. This is the first dish.

Me and the bride.

It’s challenging for me to take wedding portrait. But I tried my best and took some, I’ve arranged them in the slideshow below.

Tags: Chinese tradition, wedding

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