Hello everyone 👧.
My cousin's and also my Dad's younger brother's daughter's wedding was on Friday. The wedding venue was at Shangri-La Tanjung Aru Resort, Sabah. My family and I must attend her tea ceremony at 4.30 pm. However, we arrived late at the venue due to me getting off late from work.
When we arrived late at the venue, my Dad, who usually walks very slowly, took the lead to the tea ceremony destination.
The tea ceremony was held in the hotel suite room. The room was packed with people waiting for very significant guests to arrive before the event started. We thought we were the last not punctual group, but were relieved to see that one family group reached the tea ceremony location after us.
This was the second tea ceremony performed by the wedding couple. During the first reception of the wedding, the groom's hometown in Australia hosted the first tea ceremony. Currently, the bride's parents and relatives are receiving the tea from the wedding couple.
My other cousins, Sister and I just stood on the side of the hotel room to watch the tea ceremony.
After serving tea to the bride's parents and relatives, the unmarried cousins of the bride who are younger than her receive a red packet of money. This is also one of the customs of the Chinese wedding tea ceremony.
End of the tea ceremony at 5.15 pm. The dinner wedding reception begins at 7.00 pm. Instead of returning to the hotel after a trip home for a rest, my parents rested in the lobby of the hotel while waiting for the event to start.
It's boring just sitting on the couch for more than an hour. While waiting for the dinner wedding reception to begin, I strolled around the hotel with my Mum. Meanwhile, my Sister was playing her mobile game while simultaneously taking care of my Dad in the lobby resting area.
We looked at the hotel's decorations, walked outside, took some pictures of the hotel's outdoor scenery, and In the end, we observed the wedding couple taking their photographs on the hotel's beach. Afterward, we strolled to another spot for sunset. It was too bad that the clouds blocked our view of the sunset.
After walking outside for too long, we felt thirsty when we saw the coconut. Our thirst vanished when we saw the price of a coconut at RM28 each. Out of curiosity, we checked out the outdoor pool restaurant food menu, and each plate of seafood fried rice cost RM50.
We managed to reunite with my other family members in one of the hotel recreation areas. We chatted with them until the wedding reception was about to start.
The rest of my family and I returned to the hotel and searched for the wedding ballroom. We found out that the ballroom space was small with ten tables only for close family and friends invited to the event. First, we found it quite shocking, as we expected the wedding couple to invite more guests than can fit in twenty tables, as they were from a wealthy family.
Just beside the wedding ballroom, I saw a gold carriage. When I asked my Mum to sit on it, she declined my offer shyly. I also saw that my Dad was drinking beer with my cousin on the couch near the wedding ballroom.
On the wedding invitation card, the guests' were asked to gather at 6.00 pm in the wedding ballroom. The wedding reception will start one hour afterward.
As an introduction, my cousin, who is a doctor in Australia, is getting married to her husband, who is also a doctor. After knowing each other for four years, they have now tied the knot. She will immigrate to Australia soon since her husband is Australian-Chinese.
My family and I were seated with my Dad's elder sister's family members. My Dad was fond of his sister and enjoyed chatting with her while waiting for the wedding reception to start.
The door gift for guests was a box with two pieces of chocolate and a tube of tea leaves. Although the chocolate was delicious, I was unable to get an extra piece from my aunt and her husband, who did not want to eat it. My Sister took the extra pieces for herself.
The wedding reception started with the entrance of the bride and groom's parents, followed by the couple. We started our dinner once they were seated.
While the guests were eating, there was a live music band that sang many romantic songs. Moreover, the couple made speeches, cut cakes, and cheered everyone with Yamseng, drinks on stage and at the guests' table.
The couple also played a telepathic game on stage. The couple had to sit back to back without looking at each other. They had to answer the same questions posed by the emcee at the same time with the same answer. If they are wrong, they will have to pay a penalty.
Out of ten questions, they had two incorrect answers. The penalty they received was kissing ten seconds on stage in front of the guests.
These were the dinner menu with eight dishes for the wedding reception. At my table, my nephew was allergic to seafood. He shared some of his food with me, but I only ate what I liked.
Rice dishes were provided as the second last of the dinner menu. I only ate a small portion of it as my stomach was full of the first seven dishes on my plate. My family members at the same table were also unable to finish the rice.
On the side of the waitress' serving table, many dishes were unfinished by the guests. I wish someone had taken it home in a container but no one did that time, so I didn't have the courage to do so.
The wedding reception ends with the wedding couple dancing on stage, and we have finished the last course of dinner, which is dessert.
That's all. Thanks for reading my post 🤗.
