| The wedding began in the
morning when the Groom went to collect the Bride from her
hotel room. To get into the Bride's room, Jin Ting must
please the 'door guards' (Teresa's sisters) by giving them
money in any monetary amount that have '9' in the figures [9
for the limit of money]. After a traditional struggle with
the guards, Jin Ting was finally permitted to enter the
room, where Teresa was lying in wait. The Chinese Tea
Ceremony proceeded, which was attended by private members of
the family. Jin Ting and Teresa gave cups of Chinese tea to
certain family members, and kindly the family members even
gave them a traditional red packet in return.
At midday, the wedding guest arrived at the Registry
Office in Sutton, Surrey. All guests were greeted with a
white rose to wear, treated with sweets and kindly signed
the guestbook.
As the gold rings were not lost, the registry ceremony
could begin with the registrar giving a lovely speech which
all guests must of taken in. This was followed by the
wedding vows and the rings were worn by the couple.
Fortunately, their hand size did not grow to any outstanding
proportion where extra rings maybe required, and therefore
no hiccups were burped. Thereafter, the wedding poem
was kindly read out by Sarah Evered that was listened by
everyone who remained conscious at the time (and those who
did not were practising the art of snoring). The
couple signed the registry book, and was officially married!
[oh dear...]
After taking several hundred photographs, by which time
our faces developed a permanent smile fixture, the guests
arrived for the wedding reception, a Chinese banquet. This
is where even more jolly fun starts.
Traditional Chinese banquet food was served on massive
plates where the temptation to break some plates did occur
for the personal discovery of weight distribution. Whilst
eating, the games began.
It all started when the guests on the main table started
singing (where the definition of 'singing' means in tune).
The first game was the get an apple and see if the couple
could catch it in their mouths. This would have been
easy if the apple was not running everywhere in an
resistance for staying alive. Though the apple had a big
chunk of it taken out, the couple enjoyed the apple together
ending up in a kissing situation that was bearable to
the guests.
Other games continued, including the traditional
blindfolding game. The Groom was blindfolded and guests
would stand inline so the Groom could feel their hand to
determine which one is the Bride's hand. Even the men
decided to go up for a nice feel. Fortunately Jin Ting
recognised Teresa's hand, most probably because he was
practicing this scientific event days before.
The guests was rather kind, and left after the banquet.
In some Chinese weddings, the young people will follow the
couple to their room until they begin sleeping together.
Luckily, the guests did not have disgusting open minds but
was rather indulged in their personal quest for sleep.
The couple spent the next few days on their honeymoon
visiting several countries in Europe. Obviously they was in
a rush to experience the new Euro monetary system.
Wishing both Jin Ting and Teresa Liang the best marriage.
- Written by Chi (Best Man and best friend to JT), 2002. |
