Tina's. 恰淡日志: Nuptial Mass and Wedding Luncheon (Part 2)

Everything happened in the blink of an eye as soon as we got to the restaurant.

Noel and I served tea to the senior relatives from 12.00 pm to 12.30 pm. The luncheon began at 12.45 pm after Noel's dad gave a short welcoming speech and prayed for the food. Noel and I had a few bites of the food before we went from table to table to greet the guests. By the time we were done with it, it was time for Noel to give a short closing speech. We then stood at the entrance and bid the guests farewell. Everyone, including Noel and I, left the venue at around 3.15 pm and headed home.

Remember in Part 1 I said I just turned into a stoic Humpty Dumpty towards the end of the day?

Yep, here's a picture of me staring intensely at nothing.

In my opinion, when planning a wedding on a budget, it's important to know what you're willing to splurge on and what you want to save on. Moreover, you should communicate your expectations clearly to whoever that's involved in the planning process as early as possible.

Disclaimer:

(1) I believe there is no definite right or wrong way when it comes to spending money. Wedding is also something personal, so everyone is free to have it the way they like.

(2) A little context for my non-Chinese readers: In a typical Chinese wedding, it's customary for a guest to present the bridal couple with a red packet to help cover for part of the wedding expenses. The amount they give depends on how close they're with the bridal couple, what kind of restaurant they're invited to, and most importantly, how much they can afford to give.

However, a bridal couple should never expect to have everything paid off by their guests. Also, it's rude for a bridal couple to ask for a specific amount from the guests.

Noel and I viewed our wedding celebration more as a family reunion time rather than an exclusive event to fulfill our childhood wedding fantasies, not that we have any that our lazy bums were resolute enough to put it into action.

With that in mind, I came up with a list and told my parents-in-law my expectations since they were practically our wedding planners.

Here's a picture of my awesome parents-in-law who went above and beyond to make sure everything was in order for our wedding.

The three must-haves in our wedding were: good food, right people, and meaningful photographs.

By good food I don't mean luxurious delicacies such as lobsters and caviar that we couldn't afford. I simply mean enough (and of course decent) food to feed everyone.

This sounds like a common sense, but I had had plenty of first-hand experience working in a restaurant many years ago how bridal couples would cut cost by skimping on food. They would order dishes meant for eight people for a 10-pax table. Needless to say, I was appalled, and I just wanted to make sure it wouldn't happen in my wedding.

Next, due to limited space and budget, we chose to prioritize relatives over friends when it came to who to invite. My parents-in-law were mainly in charge of this.

Noel and I invited a few friends, and we were truly grateful to everyone who showed up despite having to sacrifice your family time and embrace the crazy traffic in Penang during the Christmas period.

Last but not least, I wanted a professional photographer to capture all the important moments. Noel and I quickly decided on engaging the service of C Bride Studio right after we had our pre-wedding photoshoot there.

Candice did my makeup beautifully, and her husband did a good job with all these photos you have seen. Read about our pre-wedding photoshoot here.

On the other hand, the three things I didn't wish to spend much on in our wedding were: decorations, entertainment, and the usual formalities.

Since we were having the luncheon in a relatively new restaurant, the ambience was nice enough without any addition decorations. The easel and the flower arch you see in the photos were complimentary from the restaurant, and they are reused for other wedding banquets too.

Secondly, the only entertainment Noel and I prepared for the guests were two photo montage videos. One was made by C Bride Studio, which consisted of our pre-wedding photoshoot photos. The other one was made by me, which consisted of photos meaningful to us.

Throughout the luncheon, light music was played in the background over the speakers. Noel and I actually prepared a list of songs to be played. However, in the end, instead of plugging in our pen drive, the restaurant staff played whatever they had in their computer system. It would definitely be better if they had played our preferred music, but I was not upset though because I didn't even notice it till Noel pointed it out to me!

Well, technically, we had the most amazing performance during our luncheon courtesy to our very talented cousins. A few of them managed to put together an awesome band performance after rehearsing for less than a couple of hours!

Thank you! *googly eyes*

The third element which Noel and I omitted for our wedding was the usual formalities. No cake, no champagne tower, no outfit change.

During the wedding planning process, we also did not print out any invitation cards. The invitation was sent via Whatsapp, and everyone responded either through call or filling in a Google Form.

My artistic mother-in-law put together our wedding flower bouquet and corsage for an affordable price. On top of that, she also made the ring bearer pillow and the flower basket carried by the flower girl using recyclable materials. Thank you, mom!

I printed out a copy of our wedding invitation card because the photographer needed it for this particular shoot. Not featured in this photo is the flower basket.

Another thing which saved us a lot of money was not getting a pair of new wedding rings. Noel used his family ring as his wedding band, while I used our engagement ring as my wedding band.

Honestly, I'm not wearing any accessories, not even my wedding ring, on a daily basis. Therefore, I don't see a need in getting an exorbitant ring just to have it collecting dust in a safe.

Here's a photo taken while Noel was delivering his closing speech.

He looked very smart while I looked exactly how I felt: it's nice having all of you here, but I think it's about time all of us go back to our respective caves.

Ultimately, I'm aware that the biggest reason our wedding went well was because Noel and I are very fortunate to have sensible human beings as our relatives. Therefore, we didn't have to "fight for our rights" throughout the entire process. Everyone involved in the planning saw eye-to-eye on most of the stuff, and all the guests went with the flow without any complaints.

Allow me to squeeze in some more appreciation notes before I end this post:

Thank you, Wan Ning, for being my bridesmaid.

On a side note, I prepared a cute dress for my makeup session, but I completely forgot about it! I even boldly told the photographer that I didn't have anything else to change into! So, I ended up taking all my makeup session photos in this men-shirt and biker shorts.

Thank you, Nicholas, for being Noel's best man.

Thank you, Nelson and Hazel, for being our witnesses, the accountants, and the doorgift delivery man/lady.