My brother's wedding

My brother got married last Saturday!

I must say, I never knew a wedding day could be so tiring, and not just for the bride and groom! No wonder people say marriage is "once in a lifetime"! It has a double meaning! Ha!

As my sister and I were to accompany my brother and his brothers to the bride's home, we had to wake up at 6am. Not to mention that we slept pretty late the night before.

That was the start of a hectic day.

I can imagine the hard work my brother and sister-in-law had put in to make wedding arrangements, plan the schedule for the wedding, organise the brothers and sisters etc, over the past few months, just for this one big day.

Eric in his bridal car before setting off from our home.

For those who think that certain things only take place in movies, would be in for a laugh at what happened during my brother's wedding day.

First, after my brother got into the bridal car, moved off, and three brothers' cars followed closely behind him, he realised he had forgotten to bring the bridal flower! As it was quite impossible to make all the cars to make a U turn, he ran off home to grab the flower on his own! And when we thought everything should flow smoothly from then on, what came later on really "shocked" us.

For those who are familiar with the "rituals" of marriage, it is common for the bride's sisters to sabotage the groom and his brothers before allowing them to entre the bride's house. And guess what? One of the brothers nearly fainted during the game!

He fell so sick midway that he could not stand and had to lie on the staircase nearby to rest. In the end, he had to be brought away by another brother, even before my brother stepped into the bride's house! It was said that he drank a concoction of chilli, bitter gourd, lime and sugar (served by the sisters) which upset his stomach too badly (he did not have breakfast by the way). This is the first time I have heard of such a tale, but I shan elaborate to spare his embarassment.

After my brother brought his bride home to offer tea to my parents, he and his bride and the original entourage followed him to the Chinese Garden to take pictures. It took them a while before going back to the bride's home to offer tea. It was 12 plus at that time, and by the time my sister and I returned home, it was 1 plus, and the makeup artist my brother had engaged was waiting for us.

I was hoping to catch a short nap (boy was I tired!), but there's no chance of that. My mother, sister and I took turns to do makeup and style our hair. After we finished, we rested for a little bit before soon setting off to the restaurant to get ready for the wedding dinner.

My parents, sister and I took this picture just before the guests came streaming in. The screen shown here is for the guests to sign their blessings. It's my father's idea, quite cool isn't it?

A pity I did not manage to take pictures of the bride and groom as they were busy getting ready for the ceremony. Anyway, the professional photographer was there to snap shots at them throughout the day.

As the wedding dinner came to a close at 10 plus, we packed up, did some final checks and said goodbye to the newly weds. It was close to 12 am then. I could not remember much of the rest, except that once I got home, I washed out my heavily waxed hair, and heavy makeup, blew my hair try and fell onto the bed, exhausted.

Here's wishing the newly weds--"live together happily ever after"!