kl: wedding

Following the March ROM, and the April photo shoot in Melbourne, the penultimate event in the very long runway of events leading up to Choon and Phoebe’s Big Wedding Lunch in Singapore was their wedding in Kuala Lumpur.

(This year is really the couple’s year)

Phoebe is a KL girl. While her father and three siblings reside there, she’s the only one who came out to Singapore during her university years. She goes back pretty often and she’s got heaps of family and friends there.

The Singapore contingent heads up North and comes back down in two cars. Three days, two nights. This was our time to get to know our new "relatives" in Malaysia a little better!

* The patriarchs

We mostly hung out at the KL suburb where Phoebe’s family home is located, in Jinjang. It apparently used to have loads of gangsters in the 70s, but is now a residential neighbourhood with a high proportion of Chinese.

* View of Jinjang from our hotel room window

These are the wedding bits which struck me:

The Dowry

Phoebe’s family is fairly traditional and there are many things – never done during my wedding because we are so bo chup - which I see for the first time.

My parents have to present her dad with a dowry.

Upon arrival in KL, my folks quickly assemble a basket of fruits and alcohol. I think the dowry also includes gold jewelry and a roast suckling pig (money was passed over in a red packet for the pig to be served during the dinner).

* At the KL bridal shop, Fai Fong Bridal Gifts & Bakery

 * Por Por, tired from the six-hour drive

* Selecting beautiful fruits for the basket

* My parents present this basket to Phoebe's dad

The House Buffet

The night before the formal dinner, Phoebe’s family host an outdoor buffet dinner at their family home for what feels like hordes of people.

* Before the deluge...

* Phoebe in white in the middle, greeting all her relatives

* Us

Tents were set up, tables brought in were accessorized with pink tablecloths and red plastic chairs, the cooking (including the preparation, we saw them cutting and slicing at about 3pm) was done on-the-spot, in huge woks, with gas and water tubes running all over the sidewalk.

* Preparing food at 3pm, next to the er, lamp post and street sign

* Frying chicken wings!

Phoebe’s brothers, in preparation for the onslaught of cars, “booked” lots with the neighbours. And there really were so many cars, after the party there was a traffic jam with cars passing within inches of each other. But I don’t think anyone really minded. That’s the nice thing about Malaysia. If we did that in Singapore, the neighbours would raise a ruckus and complain to the Prime Minister. (I suppose one could argue that in Singapore, no one would organize a party which spills into most of the neighbours' private spaces..)

The food, was divine. Maybe because it’s piping hot, it was really excellent. Especially these chicken wings which were snatched up batch after batch, despite being fresh out of the oil and sizzling hot. KK ate tons.

The Dinner

The wedding dinner was at a Chinese restaurant which wasn't an ordinary restaurant, it looked as if it had been built for events. 

It had a cavernous ceiling and no pillars, with an enormous stage and what looked to be a super-bright LED screen on which Choon and Phoebe’s wedding photos were beamed with crystal-clear clarity.

* I wrote that board!

* The unforgettable first-dish song, which was so blaringly loud it caused quite a few guests to clap their hands over the ears

* Our menu, which I can't read. But food was great

Por Por was asked to sing a song at the last-minute. She showed off her karaoke chops with Shanghai Beach.

Phoebe’s father, we find out, is also a karaoke fan. He showed off his vocal prowess with Cao Yuan Zhi Ye.