My sister just had her second wedding reception last night at the Grand Jasmine Ballroom in RH Hotel, Sibu. The KL wedding reception was held exactly one week ago and last night’s festivities were for the bride’s family and friends.
The Grand Jasmine Ballroom was used since we had 40 tables seating 10 people each. Both Jasmine 1 and Jasmine 2 were used to accommodate for the wedding. I just found out that each table costs over RM 450 so that’s about RM 18,000 for the wedding reception alone.
Gifts were respectfully declined and my parents did not accept any ang pows at all. My parents wanted this to be a casual get-together for friends and family without the traditional trappings of Chinese wedding banquets. It’s giving back magnanimously to the Sibu community to commemorate the wedding of their daughter.
The sales personnel of the local newspapers were politely kept away from the ballroom area to prevent their hard sell advertisements from bothering the guests and we roped in relatives to do the seating arrangements and ushering duties.
It was a huge task since there were 400 guests from various groups (church, organizations, corporations, family, schools and friends) to be seated at their designated tables.
I was slated to be the MC of the night and there were two main events that I had to coordinate – the entrance of the bride and groom from the flower arch down the red carpet lined with flowers and all the way through the second wedding arch before being seated.
The night’s festivities began with the bride and groom walking in before being seated at the main table.
There are ten seats on the main table:
1. Alvin Ng (groom)
2. Poh Yih Jia (bride – my sister)
3, 4: Mr & Mrs Poh (parents of the bride)
5, 6: Mr & Mrs Ng (parents of the groom)
7: Paternal grandmother (of bride)
8: Maternal grandmother (of bride)
9, 10: Poh Huai Bin & Doris (brother of the bride and girlfriend)
I started off with a short welcome speech before showing a presentation of my sister’s progress throughout the years. The bride and groom came on stage to acknowledge the efforts that went into the events management aspects. My sister did a great speech thanking my parents for her upbringing, waxing nostalgic and generally trying to be a tearjerker. It’s a good thing some sand got into my eyes. 😉
The good Reverent said grace before dinner and the first dish was served.
The interesting bit and the flagship feature of weddings at The Grand Jasmine Ballroom is the presentation of the first dish. The lights went dark and music started playing as a parade of waiters and waitresses choreographed a candlelit performance while carrying the first dish before serving the dishes. It’s quite unique and novel.
There was the time-honored cake cutting ceremony by the bride and the groom after that, followed by the champagne pouring ceremony, some kissing action from the newly weds and a toast led by me where everyone raised their glasses to bless the holy matrimony of the bride and groom.
This is a group photo of the immediate family at the main table. You’ll notice that there are only eight of us – my paternal grandmother went to the washroom and there was an empty seat meant for my maternal grandmother. Unfortunately, she had a bad Alzheimer’s attack before the wedding and couldn’t join us. Both my grandfathers are deceased, both coincidentally from lung cancer.
The food on the main table is served individually for some reason, instead of being a communal dish.
I have yet to figure out the reasoning behind this.
I went up and sang The Wedding a.k.a the “Ave Maria” song with my mom before the end of the night.
I actually sang it twice, the first one was dedicated to my girlfriend and I did a solo on that. My apologies for subjecting everyone to the auditory assault – I don’t sing well, but I sing with my heart. :p
The wedding reception ended at 9:30 pm and our relatives stayed back and helped clean up the place. Doris is seen here feeding me fake champagne – it’s a actually a prop that expels confetti when pulled.
There was just one major blunder at the wedding – the three-tiered wedding cake was not sliced and distributed by the RH Hotel staff after the cake cutting ceremony, which they were supposed to do. We all forgot about that since we were busy with other stuff and only realized it when it was still on stage when I thanked the guests for coming. Oh well, at least it was all packed up and given to relatives so it’s not that bad.
Congratulations to Alvin Ng and Yih Jia on their wedding. I guess I’ll have to start to call my sister Mrs. Ng now.
Hmm…
LOL finally I hear you sing, for the first time. I did a duet with my brother too in his wedding few years ago. Quite a strange feeling. 😛
Hey! Your girl’s really pretty and sweet looking! Hey bring her to Penang during the race! 😛
Ava Maria is my favorite. Make me want to get marry but no one in front of me yet. Oh well give me time to save up money for that special day hopefully.
The main/VIP table gets special treatment, that’s why everything’s individually served. RM450!!! Gosh! Most of it goes to the ambience and the sophistication of the place. The food is quite nice (unlike the horror stories that I’ve heard!)…but not worth THAT much! Can get better at Li Hua for RM250-300. And so dim…I could not take any clear photos so I will not be posting on the event. You didn’t video-cam ur singing and post it? Hahahahahahaha!!!!
Can’t wait for YOUR wedding now. Hurry! Hurry! LOL!
Oh you did!!! You do have a video of your singing!!! Umm…ummm….ROTFLMAO!!!
fish fish: Haha! My singing is horrible. 🙂
chefmel: Thanks Mel! 🙂 I think she runs better than me too. 😉
Jane: Yeah, I’m planning to get married soon too. Before 30. 🙂
suituapui: I see, the Very Impotent Person table. 😉 My ED problems have been resolved though. Heh!
My dad was telling me everywhere is at least RM 400 per table nowadays due to the economic situation. Was hinting to me that if I get married next year, it’s be at least RM 500 per table. Haha!
Okay, finally got some time on my hands, will reply the comments and complete the HDS project to this date.
Wow, ur blog are well updated but how come i din managed to see ur latest updates of ur sis last nite but this morning….lolz
Dear HB, congrats to you, yr sister and hubby and of cos to your parents. 😉
The wedding reception must be great, and I’m glad to see that you and your mom are having good time singing on stage, ya u 2 sang with heart. :)Its so heart warming tat you put yr hand on yr mom’s shoulder and she hold your hands as well.
Hope to get your red bomb soon next year, err.. in MIRI, each table cost RM500. Kakaka.. maybe i shall consider to marry sibu man then can have cheaper wedding reception. Kakakaka..
Oh ya, DORIS looks great, “Hi, Doris!”.
Catch you again next time, take care!
rm450 a table is i think impossible for KL. even in some small places (back in my hometown) ave price is also about 600 i think. and isn’t it better to have individual food served? 😛
Did I just see Melody in that family table photo?
hey, seriously! the registration is still open so it’ll be cool if she run together with me! 😛 besides, Penang is a nice holiday get away, u could both go around after that! what say you? =D
there you go – supplementing income by MCing AND also wedding singing! 😛
Hey, how come your girlfriend’s in the picture and her name is revealed? She changed her mind about being anonymous?
wowwww your singing, you don’t sing, you shout through the microphone. Ave Maria is the song i want it to be sang on my wedding day, i like the Chinese version. the other half of yours is finally reviewed? oww the reception was grand. congratsss!!!
dude… no more anonymity (if that the correct word) of your family? and the gf too? BTW in the spirit of old sixthseal.. I must tell you this.. the pictures is fucken saved.!!!
incase some of you new readers don’t know.. there is a risk that those pic is going to be taken down. 😉
BTW, congrats to your sis. When is your turn man?
my god, that was some singing! your mum sang better than you!
Wow that was bad enough having to listen to you sing in a video- let alone for the people in real life! i still thought u did a better job than i would!
aww cute, is she your younger sister?
quite a grand and nice wedding.. ur mum so sporting..sing wif u 😉
Doris looks familiar…mmm…from St.e maybe…
cwee: Yeah, I only updated it in the morning coz it was quite late when we got home. I helped to pack up and my new parent-in-laws wanted to go for supper coz they didn’t eat the last few dishes coz they were being introduced around the 40 tables. 🙂
goolooloo: Thanks, Mary! 🙂
My grandmother wants to see me get married too. Haha!
Red summons eh, will definately send in two years time if everything goes well. 🙂
xin: Yeah, the tables at Oversea Restaurant cost RM 1000 each, I think, so they had a smaller reception.
Hmm…individually served food, pros and cons. Cons is I can’t eat more of the stuff I like. 😉
KY: No, you saw Doris, my girlfriend. 😉
chefmel: Yeah, I am getting her to go too. Lots of Interesting Developments (TM) in the works now. Will update you when the dust settles. 🙂
essentric: This one was gratis due to the fact that it’s my sister. 😉
Heh! I don’t think I’ll ever get hired as a wedding singer. 🙂
ST: It wasn’t the right time to be making announcements then, now is the right time. I mentioned that she will be revealed when the time is right in a previous post. 🙂
janel: Heh! You’re right, at least you’re honest about my singing. Some people were complimenting me (!?!?!) on my singing that day. I sing atrociously, but I do like singing and I like to be on stage (narcisstic in a sense ;)).
Yeah, meet my girlfriend. 🙂
fred: I don’t think there ever was any anonymity on my family. The archives of sixthseal.com has family photos and other family stuff as well. I just don’t talk about them much on the blog, coz I seldom do personal posts. 🙂
Thanks buddy, my turn in two years. 🙂
GF: My mom is actually a pretty good singer, I confused her with my pitch (or rather the lack of it). 😉
Tom: Haha! Yeah, cruel and unusual punishments. They can’t leave to boot, or they’ll appear impolite. 😉
She’s my older sister, she’s 29. Two years older than me. There’s only the two of us in the family. One son, one daughter. Yin and Yang. I’m the black sheep if you can’t tell by now. 😉
She’s a doctor in Auckland, NZ.
cbenc12: My mom is an outgoing person in real life. She can dance up a storm too, which surprised me when I first saw it.
Jacklyn: Yeah, that’s the one. 🙂
SurpriSe!!
Whoa…nice oNe!! no AngPao at all??Impossible la..