Juniper
It’s been well over a decade since I last attended a wedding reception. A few days ago, on the fortuitous date of 10.10, I attended a family friend’s wedding reception at Grand Lagoon Ballroom Sunway Resort Hotel. The dress theme was “Formal/Oriental” which was very nice but not everyone bothered to dress up. Some dressed like they were just going to the mall/supermarket, no effort to even don a formal shirt.
Before the dinner, guests had photo ops with the bride and groom. I have known the bride since she was a toddler as her parents and my mother have been close for decades. The bride has now grown up into a beautiful, graceful & very clever woman who works in the US while the groom is her childhood friend as they were classmates in primary school. It’s a story that spans decades, the groom having had a soft spot for the bride ever since he was a young lad of 10.
There were over 500 guests, all seated comfortably with plenty of room to spare in the Grand Lagoon Ballroom which can accommodate over 2000 guests. There was a tray of canapes on every table and a box of fruits (the wedding favours) on every seat. Each table accommodated 7 persons instead of the usual 10 at Chinese weddings but this wasn’t the typical Chinese wedding as guests were served individually, course by course.
The dinner was supposed to start at 7pm but has anyone ever attended a wedding reception that started on time? At 7pm, most of the tables were still empty as the guests were still happily sipping cocktails in the foyer. My table was probably the earliest to be filled as the other guests were already seated there by the time I went in way before 7pm. There was a bottle of orange juice and a glass of lychee cocktail (the same one they served at the foyer) for each guest. Also a tray of canapes to be shared, almost all had been demolished by my fellow guests by the time I took my seat. The early bird does get all the canapes!
I think that when you attend such dinners, you would hope to have amiable dinner companions but this being the modern age of technology, people can always pretend to be looking at their phones instead of having to make some sort of conversation with you. Only 2 of the guests at my table were engaged in animated conversation, mostly about politics which is just about every Chinese man over 60 years old’s favourite topic of conversation. All the guests at my table were also guests of the bride’s family whereas the majority of the guests at the other 60+ tables were invited by the groom’s family.
Fortunately, I was seated next to a middle aged lady who, I shall call “Morticia” as she had a glum expression throughout the entire dinner and was clothed in black lace (very aging!). She and her husband didn’t use the knife once during the 7 course meal and ate everything, including the overcooked chicken with spoon and fork. I think it would have been less excruciating if she’d used the chopsticks provided. I was fascinated watching her carve the chicken with her spoon. When she wasn’t eating, she was glued to her phone and looked like she would have been happier at home. At least her husband mustered up a smile every now and then but neither did any talking to any of us.
Overall, the dishes were excellent save for the smoked chicken thigh which was tough and somewhat dry, clearly overcooked. It was difficult cutting with a knife so I don’t know how Morticia managed it with spoon and fork. I know I should not look but I couldn’t keep my eyes off watching her tear off the chicken with spoon and fork.
The best dish was the Atlantic Cod Fillet, it was the melt-in-your-mouth type and indeed the soya sauce tasted superior. You know it’s wonderful and sublime when you want more of it. I hardly touched the dessert platter as everything on it was so sweet. I love mango puree with pomelo but after a small spoonful, I was done. Just too much sugar! Same goes for the log cake.
The emcee was excellent as he doubled up as a wedding singer. Anyone who gets married in future should hire this guy as he’s the best wedding emcee I have ever encountered. The groom gave a most impressive speech in Mandarin, ably translated into English by his lovely wife. He praised his wife, parents and parents-in-law. The bride and groom are very lucky to have found each other at 10 years old, a love that bloomed over time and will no doubt grow stronger day by day.
