Ah Ren's Wedding

We (Ju, Chris, Jace and I) arranged to meet at the TP bus stop at 3.45 pm. I tried my best to straighten my hair and apply clumsy make-up. I was rushing to the bus stop when my shoe strap broke so I had to run back and dig up another pair. Fortunately my mum had a nice formal pair and fortunately I could wear them since my feet are 1 size bigger than hers. Anyway, by the time I had found the shoes, I was definitely going to be late if I took the bus. Hence I went out, flagged a cab and relaxed through the journey. I was about 10 minutes early and Chris was slightly early too. So at least I had some company since Jace and Ju turned out to be late. Ju told us to meet at the bus stop near the petrol station instead of the TCC one as it was more convenient for a cab to go down to Mandai Orchid Gardens from there. Unfortunately, that bus stop was one of those flimsy, temporary, orange bus stops which provide almost no shelter and it just had to rain heavily while we were there. Chris and I were frantic since the rain was going to ruin our outfits and mess up our hair. It was also freezing when the wind blew. Once Jace arrived, we were waiting for Ju but she took forever to come, claiming that she couldn't get a cab when we saw plenty passing by. In the end, we got a cab and went to pick her up. It was 4.30 pm by then and we were supposed to be seated by 4.45 pm.

The drive down was pretty fast and we reached Mandai around 4.55 pm. Luckily it was also raining there and they were waiting for the clouds to clear and the sun to come out. We signed in and each got a pink flower which signified "unmarried". The unmarried guys got a yellow flower while married people got purple. I guess this was a way to matchmake the singles?

The ceremory was held down near a small pond and it was quite beautiful. The sun was clouded and we blew bubbles when it was time for the bride to walk down. They had a golden retriever to carry the ring and a pastor from their church presided over this ceremony. After this, there was a short break while they prepared for the dinner. We were invited to try out the chocolate fountain where you could dip marshmallows, strawberries or kiwifruits into the chocolate before eating. That was pretty good but a little messy when there were too many guests crowding around the table. We also got to see some of their wedding photos which were really casual. They didn't dress up for the photo-taking; instead, they were dressed in t-shirts and jeans. That was a nice change because they looked great and radiant even without all the make-up and stuff.

We had the dinner in a marquee where buffet tables had been set up. You could tell that this was a really scaled down wedding since there were only 13 tables in all and not all the tables were full. In fact, our table (Table 12) had just 8 people. Still it was nice and cosy and at least we were able to see the bride and groom when they went up to "perform" and cut the cake. The food was good and the catering service was even better. We had fun just chatting and laughing. There was a 3-man band that went to each table to play a song. We sang along and the photographer must have loved us for he took so many pictures of us. I only hope we will get to see those photos since the ones taken with Chris's digicam didn't turn out too well.

We stayed back till 11 plus to wait for Ah Ren. He was so busy sending off his guests that we waited until we were quite fed-up but finally got some chance to chat with him and also take some photos. In fact, we were the only guests left excluding family members. All in all, it was a great day with lots of new memories. Still I was pretty tired after the entire event.