KM's wedding day... tea ceremony

The tea ceremony would only start at 9:30am, so with no traffic jam to worry about, I took the time to enjoy my breakfast. The spread at Sunway Hotel was pretty good.

Arriving at Kooi Meng's house, I met up with my fellow heng tais - Marcus and Tuck Wai. Apparently Kooi Meng had forwarded the links to Marcus, so I wasn't the only who was nervous about it. :D The groom didn't fare any better, as he kept on saying "I'm nervous", from the eve before. :)

Once we had received the green light from the bride's side that they were now ready for our arrival.. off we went. The bride's house was a mere 10 minute drive's away, so we were there in no time.

"Erika, are you guys ready?"


Kooi Meng flanked by his parents


The send off


The bride's brother greeted the groom and he was led into the house for yum cha (tea). We heng tais were looking at each other, asking the question "That was it?" Little that we know, that just wasn't it... ahhh.

The groom was welcomed by his brother-in-law


Yum cha


Before long, Kooi Meng had to sit at the table outside with us and his family members. He was fed with some cakes like the kuih lapis (the nine-layer glutinous rice cakes). The other heng tais were telling me about the symbolic meaning behind the nine-layer cake, but I don't think it's appropriate to write here :)

Open wide!


Then... let the games begin.

The first 2 games are food-based. We had to finish up a plate of tiny donuts filled with wasabi and a plate of bananas. I didn't mean to boast but I hardly could taste the wasabi. Probably because the sugar overpowered the wasabi. Maybe the chi muis tried not to be so hard on us... you'd think? :)

Tuck Wai finishing his banana

Next, Kooi Meng had to remember the dates of their first date and kiss. Good thing he got them right! :)

Then comes the "say I-Love-You in 10 different languages" question. This I can proudly say that I contributed the Arabic phrase. :D

The following challenge involved Kooi Meng singing romantic songs in 2 languages. He just translated the same Chinese song to English (or was it Malay?) so that counted. :)

The chi muis then asked for 20 pushups. I would have voluntereed (cewah) but the mak andam said "no need lah" for all these. I can sense the disappointment in the chi muis because I believe they still have a lot more in their list. Their lost was our gain. :)

So it was time for the angpau aka toll. The negotiation didn't materialize since we all rushed in once the door was opened :D

Just as we thought it was all over... the last hurdle was to find the bride's shoe hidden somewhere in the room. My first instinct was inside the bride's dress. Of course, I let Kooi Meng do the searching there :D

I actually found the shoe, which was hidden at the top of the window behind the curtain. I found out later from the mak andam that it was a sign that I'd be next to wed... pretty much like the bouquet-throwing routine for the ladies in Western wedding? ... "sure or not?" :)

Kooi Meng fitting the shoe on Erika


It's okay to leave the room now


The rest of the agenda concentrated on serving tea to the parents and family members. We pretty much hung out outside, cooling ourselves under the fans. :D

Angpau time!





We then headed back to Kooi Meng's house... again, our jobs as heng tai were officially over (except for Marcus, because he was the appointed best man), so we shyed away from the ceremony taking place inside the house, targeted for family members.


Before we left, we got to see the last bits of the photoshoot.
Say Cheese!


The wedding reception will come next...