Wedding Bells Part I (Church) 201208

Warning - Photos galore post! (Grab a coke and sit back again)

My elder bro Leslie is finally married! Wahahah. Here is the exclusive post! I finally got on my butt and sat for a couple of hours to blog this down. Been really busy with all the partying activities right after the wedding. Hardly have any time to do anything! Furthermore there's still lots to do for my exchange trip in a couple of weeks! Gee.

Anyway my bro tied the knot at the Queen of Peace in Paya Lebar. The wedding fortunately went on without a hitch, despite my family's notoriety in procrastination and delay. The massive spring cleaning of the house in time for the tea ceremony was done right up to the final night itself. But we finally got it all sorted out, with the key appointment holders for the wedding briefed as well.

On the morning itself, things went 'havocky' from the onset! Hahaha. My mom was the first to wake up but she didn't wake any of us up. So as I dreamily crawled out of my bed and glanced at the clock it was already 0740! And the guests are due to arrive at my place at 8am! I hurried out of the room to find mom occupying a toilet and my younger bro and dad still snoring soundly in their slumber.

Before I could wake them up the first guests arrive, and I guess they were rather shocked to see me with my flattened hair and in shorts and my sleeping shirt. Must have been a sight. I quickly opened the door and rushed back to wake dad and younger bro Jermaine. Fortunately my cousins arrived early and helped with the setting up of the tea ceremony stuffs while I played a mad game of toilet tag with dad and Jerm for quick showers before donning our wedding bests. XinYi arrived a few moments later and was able to capture some light moments of the pre-tea-ceremony-last-ditched preparations.


The very traditional Tea Set used


Me and my still dreamy looking younger bro


Last minute make up (while guests are already in the hall)


Some random pictures in my room


Getting the blazer (which I got from G2000 black label at a steal) ready...


The princess helping me with the tie while Jerm chats with my best cousins in the background


Smartest cousin Chin Koon and dad along with us


The whole tea set. My mom is keeping it for future uses. Eh Jerm got the hint or not??? LOL.


Relatives and elders from dad's side


I finally get my tie on!


The very pretty princess in her very nice greek dress


My mom is finally out too and starts interacting with the guests


One of the key appointment holders - my distant cousin the assigned 'car door opener' for the day. One of the easiest way to earn ang pow if you ask me!


0925 - The arrival of the bridal car


The bridesmaids better known as the jie meis


The Groom and the Bride with her PA



Taking a stroll around the block before heading up


My bro chatting with the guests


Now sister-in-law Cindy waiting in Leslie's room before the tea ceremony commences


Tea ceremony begins! Dad and mom are over the moon. Finally after so long...


The throngs of elders drinking tea. Hmmm a lot of ang pows to collect like that man. The second most rewarding ang pow collection method eh?


I got an ang pow too! Because Jerm (blocking me in the picture) and I had to serve tea to them. Hahaha! We were told to mutter Chinese phrases of blessings but all we could conjure was "红包拿来".



A couple of family photos


The bridal entourage's transports





Cam whoring moments after the tea ceremony while waiting to proceed to the church for the wedding ceremony. The jie meis were very amused that we can 自拍 with an SLR. Hahaha. Our retort was that we are taking '自拍' to a whole new level.



Some pictures of the bride


We're in the church for the wedding mass! Sister-in-law's a catholic so they're having a catholic wedding.


The wedding mass booklet


The page boy (Cindy's nephew), who was also the ring bearer.





Her father 'giving her' away to my elder bro


The pianist and choir in the distant at the back. They have very angelic voices! So much so that Jerm though it was recorded. Hahaha.




"And you may kiss the bride"...


Signing the marriage certificate


They're finally married!


Returning for photo taking to a rousing applause and many teary guests. After all elder bro is the first of our generation on mom's side and the second on dad's side to get married.


So cute! The page boy's an American and is armed with an amazing smorgasbord of vocabulary at his tender age of 5 (Cindy's sister emigrated to the US) along with a charming US accent!


The very cute and shy flower girl, the younger sister of the page boy


Simple and elegant rose decoration of the pew


The princess got a close up picture of the ring!


Close relatives staying behind for the photo-taking


Leslie's new family


Jerm acting handsome


The buffet food was fabulous! They manage to get good value for the price paid because the caterer is a friend of Cindy's.



The grounds of Queen of Peace


The princess taking a break from her official appointment of unofficial camera man of the day. She got her favourite food. We're still awaiting the edited photos of the professionals. So blogged here are some of the photos taken by us.


There was about a hundred people and we over catered by a lot. Haha. Had to encourage some of the guest to 'ta-bao' the food back.


A light hearted moment of Cindy and her nephew


The couple serving tea to those who cannot make it on time for the ceremony back home earlier


One of my mom's best friend daughter







Some pictures of us around the Queen of Peace. I love the traditional, rustic and old feel of the grounds. No fanciful, 'techy' and modern decorations, but full of history, peeling paint, faded walls, stained glass, and European culture.


A cool photo of the princess back home after a very tiring day!

Thank God for good weather throughout the two days! All sun, wind and clouds without any rain!


And finally a close up of the wedding ride

I'll be back soon for the second installation of the wedding!