Last night was the wedding dinner of Nick's cousin Hannah, to her longtime boyfriend Ellis whom we had not met before. It was held at the Mandarin Oriental and we brought Nutty along since she wouldn't take up much space plus some of Nick's uncles and aunts had not seen her.
In fact, one of his aunts didn't even know we had a baby...think she felt slighted that she was not informed earlier. But then again, he's not close to his uncles and their wives and we don't get updated on any of their children's lives. Very stark contrast to my family, where everybody knows what everyone is doing, and the cousins actually hang out together all the time.
Anyways, as expected, Mildred and her sisters all readily volunteered to look after Nutty while we ate...another reason why we brought her, because we knew there would be no shortage of babysitters. I wore a new silk maxi dress from Zara but regretted it as soon as we stepped out the door. Not only did I keep stepping on the hem, I was so concerned about getting drool on it. Plus everytime I stood up or sat down, it kept getting caught underneath my chair legs or Nutty's stroller wheels. Not good!
Hannah's gown was very simple but she looked stunning in it. It was a white strapless ballgown with black lace and beading at the bodice and waist. Later on she changed into a puffy maroon evening gown. The pre-requisite introductory montage was done slightly different. No childhood pictures, just a music video of them at their favourite activities and re-enactments of dates and the proposal. It was quite cool. The wedding favour was cool too, customised purple and grey M&Ms with "Just Married" and 'Ellis & Hannah" printed on it.
After the champagne popping, the groom had a surprise for his new wife by serenading her with 'Dream a little dream', accompanied by the live band. It was more warbling than crooning but he did apologize in advance because he had never sung before!
The highlight of the evening for me was the food. Each course was really lovely in terms of taste, and presentation to an extent, and I kept snapping away pictures of the food. Let me see if I can recall everything... The first course was a lobster, prawn and melon salad, followed by a double-boiled shark's fin soup with chicken. Next was deep fried pork ribs with honey glaze, and a stewed duck with five treasures. This was followed by pan fried cod that was done to perfection, and abalone with sea cucumber. Next was yam 'pears' with scallop and asparagus, then mantou with chili crab sauce followed by a dessert of passion fruit cream. I can't wait for the next wedding at Oriental but there aren't any on the horizon!
There was a slight mishap midway through dinner when a waiter dropped a tray of soft drinks right behind Ben, who was not spared. Ice cold Coke got poured on his back and some got onto Nick's suit as well. The banquet director was most apologetic and asked how he could make it up. He offered to launder Ben's clothes but since there was no permanent stain, Ben declined though joked that a bottle of wine would be nice.
Nick joined in and said he didn't need a bottle of wine but wouldn't mind if the hotel could dry clean his suit. The banquet guy graciously obliged and even offered to collect the suit from our house and deliver it back when ready. And later on he swung by our table to give Ben and Nick a bottle of wine each...now that's service!
