19 September 2009, 7.30pm
The Chinese Dinner

We spent a long time looking for places to hold our Chinese dinner at, before finally deciding on Royal China at Raffles Hotel. It took us quite a few site visits to various restaurants and hotels before we finally decided on Royal China, because we wanted a place that had a traditional Chinese feel to it, yet served good food (i.e. wasn’t just one of those “to-be-seen” places). Most of all, we definitely didn’t want a plain, old ballroom.

Other than the pretty “Tiffany-blue” & white decor, Royal China (the London branch) also holds some memories for us – trekking all the way to Canary Wharf in the harsh winter winds only to face disappointing dim sum! Royal China in London was also a rare treat for us – only when we were desperately craving Chinese food. (They have a better outlet closer to town in Bayswater.)

The only thing about not having a “traditional Chinese banquet” in a hotel ballroom was that most of the stuff you’d usually take for granted had to be done by us – such as table numbers & signages (we handmade the above!!) – & flower decor. Thankfully, we stumbled upon a “cheap & good” florist tucked away at West Coast Plaza.

The wedding favours too, were not included. Thankfully, we managed to find – through recommendations – a lady who makes really cute cupcakes, which she customised for our wedding.

We had a food-tasting session before the wedding, and made quite a few changes to the menu (!!), mostly recommended by our parents – different types of sharks’ fins (I didn’t even know there were differences), a different breed of fish, the addition of wasabi prawns (Mr’s favourite!)…

The “ang-pow” box which we made ourselves (& are really proud of but don’t know what to do with it now) with raw materials from Spotlight, a great place to get every possible handicraft need at once.

Our wedding photo album – with the autumn-leaves cover shot that we took in Taipei.

A brief shared moment just before the walk-in. One of the things we really wanted was starting on time! We kinda made it… by starting only 15 minutes late (early in Chinese-dinner terms), thanks to our cooperative family & family friends!

One of the major disadvantages of having held our dinner at Royal China was their lack of experience in dealing with wedding banquets. The staff were frequently uncontactable, didn’t bother remembering instructions we gave, had difficulty coordinating their own people etc. One of their major boo-boos was not switching on the lights for the walk-in (!!) and playing the wedding march from the middle, rather than from the beginning of the piece!

(The flowergirl-ringbearer entourage bravely trooped on in the darkness though! Great kids!)

Finally, the lights turned on, and we walked in.

Because we already had a church wedding, our Chinese dinner was literally just a dinner following the matrimonial ceremony – other than the march-in. There wasn’t the usual speech, videos, 2nd walk-in etc. The one thing Mr really wanted though, was his favourite yum-seng (a toast to the newly-weds).

Only family & family friends were invited to the Chinese dinner partly due to the lack of space in Royal China (its full capacity was 19 round tables of 10), and partly because we didn’t want to bore friends with a long-drawn Chinese dinner affair.

Who knows, even relatives can poke fun at you – the two of us, trying to gamely sing a cheesy song thrown at us.

And a very confident Mr – having total faith that I won’t crack the (unboiled?) egg that I was tasked to roll up and down his pants – beneath.

As you can see, there’s quite a lot of trust :D

The appreciative audience (Mr’s side of the family).

& our final task – waltzing around the restaurant (to Mr’s father singing 月亮代表我的心 in the background).

Oh yes, we also did have the “table photoshoots” – starting with the “Red Table” (traditionally where the immediate family sits with the bride & groom). We only had one table though, instead of the usual two (one for each side of the family).

& finally, the queue for the privilege to congratulate the wedding couple & their families before leaving :)

& my cousin (in white) – the all-in-one – all smiles as her duties are successfully completed! :D