The wedding in Phuket was only the second outdoor I’d been to. But that said, I haven’t been to that many weddings. Well, I’m just all of 26 but I’m sure things will change in a matter of a year or so! My point was: Nothing beats an outdoor wedding, honestly.
The first one I went to was Charmaine’s wedding (haha, my ex-colleague from CLEO, not the Makan girl who’s gonna have her wedding held in Bali as well!) four years ago. It was the most beautiful wedding I had been to. It was in Seminyak, on the hillside and we were the only life forms as far as our eyes could take us. It was a secluded location, the number of guests small as the number of stars in the sky unbelievable.
I had never seen that many stars on a single night. It was like PIE in Singapore or the main tunnel in Hong Kong during peak hours. “Hello! Excuse me! I need to get to that side!” I could imagine one star saying to another.
Then a live band came on and sang “The Girl From Ipanema” so beautifully. The guests danced gaily and I sat along by the steps, looking on, smiling to myself. I don’t know why the memory was so vivid.
Then in Phuket, Matt’s friend’s Carl sang and played the guitar while Ed and Karen, the wedded couple, took to the dance floor. I watched, enraptured by the way they moved together. How gracefully she glided, how captivating the way her dress swayed with her, how they looked into each other’s eyes, smiling, blissful. That moment probably lasted all of 20 seconds before other couples joined them. But that 20 seconds was my favourite part of the wedding. I’m not sure why but probably cos for that 20 seconds, it seemed like them, and only them, existed. It was a beautiful 20 seconds.
Then the wedding speeches came and I love, love wedding speeches. I like how they allow some humourous glimpses into the groom’s and bride’s personalities and being a girl through and through, I love the “awww” factor of speeches.
Matt and I have always fancy outdoor weddings and after the soleminsation, Matt turned to me and asked: “Is this how you picture ours?” I thought for a bit and said: “Hmmm, no. Not really.” And he replied: “Good. Cos neither do I.”
Haha, it was a simple conversation but it made me fuzzy inside all the same.
That said, I do not dislike the wedding. I thought it was really lovely and fun – just maybe not for me.
Then midway through the yummy dinner, we got up to set off the rice paper lanterns (which is a Taiwanese tradition, no?) where we make our wishes as they set off towards the sky so they would “carry our wishes to the gods”, so they say. But Matt and I made ours anyway. And the usual pesky me pestered him about his wishes and the only thing he was willing to reveal was that they included me.
Mmmm, good enough for me. :)
chrissy said,
July 6, 2009 @ 5:37 am
my wedding reception was outdoors too! :/
ngyilian said,
July 6, 2009 @ 9:34 pm
Oops! I meant overseas outdoor weddings! Sorry babe! :(
Jules said,
July 6, 2009 @ 11:08 am
yes yes..the rice paper thing is a chinese tradition. you are suppose to write your wishes on it and it will fly to the gods! you released one in Taiwan when we went, remember? i think we were in Hwa Lian!!!!
ngyilian said,
July 6, 2009 @ 9:43 pm
The locals set it off on our behalf right, if I remember correctly. I wanna set it off myself!!!
vanessa said,
July 22, 2009 @ 10:51 pm
love your dress, babes!