Friday 16 November 2012

Wedding banquet


So continuing on from my previous post, this post will be on what I wore to attend my cousin's wedding banquet at night. Yeap, that's how many functions there are for one Chinese wedding here in Malaysia.

As you can see, I reused my shoes and clutch. I think it's the perfect way to save some time and not have to rack my brains to think of matching accessories to my dress.

My hair was a fail as I didn't have enough time and the weather here is just too humid for my curls to last.


There was a funny incident involving my blurness. The restaurant where the wedding banquet was held is really big and there were 3 functions going on at the same time. After cross-checking the guest list and getting my table number, I proceeded to walk confidently...into the wrong wedding hall!

I could see "my table" from afar and I remember thinking to myself, "Who are those strangers sitting at my table?" (Because usually family will be put together). My cousin brother had to come chasing after me to direct me to the right hall hahaha. Tres embarassing!


The dinner was the usual Chinese dinner with a 10 course meal. Yes, 10 courses. For those who have never attended a typical Chinese wedding, allow me to explain a little. Especially for events like these, Chinese restaurants usually have giant round tables (which seats 10-12 people) set up, which I definitely prefer as you can see and speak to everyone around the table as opposed to Western restaurants with its typical long rectangular tables.

10 giant dishes are served one at a time and placed in the middle, so everyone is literally sharing the food. Not to worry, there are serving spoons. After each course is finished, it will be promptly replaced with the next dish. If you think about it, it's actually very good because if you're a picky eater, you've 10 different choices to choose from.


I'm not sure if this is something that only us Malaysian Chinese practice (because my Hong Kong and Taiwan friends don't seem to know about it), but toasts are compulsory at all Chinese weddings. It's similar to the Western style where someone makes a short speech and everyone toasts to the couple.

Normal, right?

Except that the entire hall toasts in unison by screaming "Yam seng!" (drink to victory, in Cantonese). Also it is tradition for everyone to drag out the word "Yam" (quite literally until you're out of breath) so it's more like "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam SENG!!!"

And this is done 3 times. Phew!

There's also the cake-cutting ceremony which was you know, cake-cutting.

They showed some videos of the couple and there was one where they interviewed them about how they first met etc. It really was quite sweet.

The dinner ended with full tummies and smiles all around.


The shoes are from Oasap.com. They are actually pretty comfy considering the height. The platform helps, certainly. It was only towards the end of the night when my toes felt a bit squished and hurt a bit when I walked.

I am a shoe size 38 and for me, these were true to size.


Are Chinese wedding banquets similar in your country?

30 comments:

  1. As always, your outfit is adorable and loving the red accents again! Thanks for replying to my questions.. I feel like most bloggers kind of gloss over them and never reply so I definitely appreciate you taking the time to do that for me :)

    myblissisthisway.blogspot.com

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  2. Such a stunning dress! Love it! xx

    http://rosalindatj.blogspot.com

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  3. I love a good Chinese wedding! Love the red accents in your outfit.
    www.diamondcanopy.com

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    Replies
    1. Chinese weddings can be quite a lovely family affair. Thanks!

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  4. Chinese weddings are just like that over here in my city as well! I think it's because there are so many people from Hong Kong and China so the tradition gets carried over very well. I love watching them play the wedding games and watching nice videos =3


    Thank goodness someone came to get you from walking to the wrong table! That'd be so embarrassing can you imagine sitting down and everyone is thinking "who the heck are you" when they know everyone else LOL Omg a wedding fear for me to add to my list lol but luckily the restaurants here aren't really big enough to hold that many events at once!

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    Replies
    1. Hehe that's pretty cool, isn't it, that no matter which part of the world the Chinese people end up at, they bring a little tradition with them.

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  5. I really enjoy your recap on the wedding and the 10 course meal description!

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  6. i love this :) you look so pretty - red really looks amazing on you hon!!!


    www.lisalovescoco.blogspot.com

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  7. Very sweet dress, love the hint of floral patterns

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  8. Our wedding custom is exactly the same! Right up to the Yam Seng! hahaha...

    Love your red shoes!

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  9. Eh, I don't think we do that (im like GZ Chinese)... the everyone toasting ..... but I've onlly been to one chinese wedding years ago so I cant remember much XD
    hahaha, must've been a good experience... at least you didnt sit down at the wrong table :P

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    Replies
    1. I think it's very much part of our Malaysian Chinese culture :D

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  10. Joeeeeyyy! OMG You look so pretty on that dress!

    I love your matching heels and clutch!

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  11. you look amazing! loving those red heels!

    delicatelyfierce.blogspot.com

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  12. omg....i loved your outfit and how well you paired with red pumps and clutch is sooo gorgeous..

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  13. nice outfit!!!!! the shoes match the dress so well!

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  14. Haha I lol'd abit about your
    mislocation at the wedding :P
    don't worry Joey! Atleast everyone
    witnessed your gorgeous dress &
    bag! Nice shoes btw!

    xx
    http://icepandora.blogspot.com

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  15. You no longer use disqus? Still in love with your shoes and I hope that doesn't happen to me when I attend these two upcoming weddings. :P

    Glad to know about Chinese weddings. I think we've adapted some of your practices except for the 10 course buffet.

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    1. Yes! I just switched back. I meant to do it a long time ago since Blogger allowed me to "Reply" to comments, but procrastination took over hehe

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  16. Love the outfit, the accessories looks so matching with your dress. =]

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Thanks for dropping by and taking the time to leave me a comment xx

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