Starting from my mid-20s, it was typical for me to attend at least two weddings a year, as friend after friend, settled into matrimonial bliss. The beauty of attending weddings in Malaysia is that since we live in a multicultural country, it's not unusual to be invited to either a traditional Chinese wedding banquet, or a church wedding, or even a traditional Malay wedding ceremony.
One of the more memorable weddings I've been a part of was the wedding of my college roommate. She'd asked me to be a part of her wedding party, as a chi mui or one of her bridesmaids. So, I was involved from the morning tea ceremony, to the church wedding and eventually the wedding banquet in the evening. That was a whirlwind of a day which I wrote about here and here.
Then there was that one time when I attended a traditional Indian wedding of one of my ex-colleagues from an NGO I interned at. I was nearly late but made it just in time. As I sat down to catch my breath, I vaguely recalled that there were some introductions and then the traditional music began led by a man playing the shehnai. I expected the music to just last mere minutes but it seemed like it went on and on and on, and my friends and I were raising eyebrows at one another the whole time wondering if this was normal. The music lasted so long, it almost lulled me to sleep.
Of course, since this is about weddings, I mustn't forget my sister's, which I chronicled during the 2013 April A to Z Blogging Challenge starting with the post Aftermath. That entire experience was...well...unforgettable, although at times I wish it was forgettable actually.
During one of the last weddings I attended, I realised I was the only single woman among my friends there. This fact was put into extreme focus, when the bride, instead of throwing the bouquet, walked up to me and just handed it over. Yep, I felt pretty special then. Not.
The past few years though, it's been quiet on the wedding front, much to my relief.
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