Two is better than one

The month of May flew by for me, but not without two very eventful weddings I attended back in Malaysia.

One was held in the very quaint and sleepy town of Melaka, once a fishing village but is now the country’s most important heritage city. The day was so hot that I don’t know how the very patient and graceful bride managed to look beautiful all afternoon. Me, I was melting away trying to look after myself.

It reminded me of the poem “Monsoon History” by Shirley Geok-lin Lim, where “The air is wet, soaks / Into mattresses, and curls / In apparitions of smoke / The air walking everywhere / On its hundred feet / Is filled with the glare / Of tropical water”.

The day began with the usual gatecrashing games, tea ceremony and a lovely church service held in a traditional Malay house that is now the Melaka Gospel Church. The dinner was a relatively small and casual affair held in a local restaurant. With minimal fanfare, the food was delicious and company superb.

I love how small and friendly Melaka is, and it was a great time catching up with old friends and making new ones. The bride and her family went out of their ways to accommodate us, and were ever so helpful in making sure we had a great time.

The other wedding, by contrast, was a most glamourous event held in G Hotel, Penang – with maximum fanfare, music, feast and dance. The bride was stunning in her multiple outfits, and the only two words I can use to describe her is “statuesque” and “goddess”.

Her almost-1000 guests were dressed to the best (and I promise you the bride’s younger sister looks like a Chinese version of Kirsten Dunst, only taller and prettier), and though I felt a little under-dressed, I had a great time catching up with two university mates from Manchester.

The groom and his family had also flown all the way from Venice, so this meant I got to practice my very rusty conversational Italian. The night ended with drinks at the hotel bar, while the next morning the gatecrashing, tea ceremony, lunch and photo sessions took place. The bride had done things the other way round, but hey, if it’s your wedding, you can do it however you like!