The Wedding Banquet
Wow wedding is really tiring. Moving around, to and fro between my house and her house, for the entire early half of the day, till late afternoon,... eventually dashing to the hotel for a quick bathe and change of clothes, follow by a series of dry runs, briefings, and coordinating with the other helpers for the wedding banquet. Wow... One maintains a attitude of high tempo and high energy, picking on everything and all things, checking on this schedule and that detail, to ensure that nothing will go wrong for the wedding banquet, and before you know it, the first guests starts to streak in.
The Typical Wedding Banquet
I had always attended wedding dinners and to a certain extend, felt that wedding dinners comprises of a lot of waiting. Arriving at the scene, one's first mission is normally to scout for friends or other "not that familar but still can strike a conversation with" people to group and start conversations with. Nobody will ever want to be caught in a situation whereby the poor person arrives too early and ends up as the only lonely soul sitting at the assigned table, sipping wine or tea alone, while eagering awaiting for some fellow table mates to arrive and blend in with. No way.
Then it is the long long wait for the wedding couple to march in, and finally, ah... one can open the flood gates and let off the much deprived gastric juices and go all out for the opening dishes. Normally the timing of the first few dishes seems to be quite well spaced out.
By the time of the 2nd march in by the wedding couple, the guests should be pretty well familarised with the other familar, and unfamilar, faces sitting at the same table. At that moment of the 2nd march in and toast to the couple, the attendant should be serving either the 4th or the 5th dish, depending on the speed of the banquet. The tempo of the wedding dinner will by then, slow down considerably. And most of the guest's appettite should be satisfied to a certain extend by then. Not so much for me actually. By that time, normally my apettite should be just kicking into the 4th gear.
And by the time of the 2nd last dish or the last dish, everybody would have turned rowdy, "social ettitque" or table manners (if there is any to begin with) will by then, be reduced to a small puddle that one can hid under the tea cup. Nobody will be worrying about saying the wrong things or yelling at the top of their voices, cracking hoarse jokes about each other, or toasting each other in a never to be seen manner. There shall be napkins on the floor, and beer and wine splashes all over the place. Somebody from every table will be trying to toast the couple with all sorts of mixed up liquor cocontion when they turned up at the table with the normally, highly experienced photographer, for their pitiful turn to take a photo shot with the guests at the table. The highly experienced photographer shall by then de able to detect any traces of danger coming from the guests from the next table and initiate a flanking maneuver to another route.
Such is the familar ritual that I had gone through for countless times, at some other people's wedding.
On the Other End
And I finally have a chance to savour the once-in-a-lifetime chance to sit on the other end, playing the role of the much tire-out couple. We were kind of worned out by the time of the banquet, but nevertheless we still enjoy ourselves pretty much.
When you are the one doing the planning and rehearsals, time seemed to fly by pretty fast, and before I had the time to turned around for a sip of refreshment to calm my nerves, the first stream of guests starts to arrive.
Entertaining the guests is quite a memorial experience. You get so happy and excited to see your friends and relatives coming in and sharing your big day with you. Naturally, the parents and the in-laws were pretty hyped up and excited as well, and everybody played the host pretty well that day. :) Coordination between everybody was superb.
It seems so fast, but halfway through entertaining the guests and friends, I received the prompting from the banquet manager, 90% of the guest are here. Time to get started. Wow! Time really flies. I went up to fetch the bride and we stand by the door, and got ready for the march in....
We were so happy that day.
The Typical Wedding Banquet
I had always attended wedding dinners and to a certain extend, felt that wedding dinners comprises of a lot of waiting. Arriving at the scene, one's first mission is normally to scout for friends or other "not that familar but still can strike a conversation with" people to group and start conversations with. Nobody will ever want to be caught in a situation whereby the poor person arrives too early and ends up as the only lonely soul sitting at the assigned table, sipping wine or tea alone, while eagering awaiting for some fellow table mates to arrive and blend in with. No way.
Then it is the long long wait for the wedding couple to march in, and finally, ah... one can open the flood gates and let off the much deprived gastric juices and go all out for the opening dishes. Normally the timing of the first few dishes seems to be quite well spaced out.
By the time of the 2nd march in by the wedding couple, the guests should be pretty well familarised with the other familar, and unfamilar, faces sitting at the same table. At that moment of the 2nd march in and toast to the couple, the attendant should be serving either the 4th or the 5th dish, depending on the speed of the banquet. The tempo of the wedding dinner will by then, slow down considerably. And most of the guest's appettite should be satisfied to a certain extend by then. Not so much for me actually. By that time, normally my apettite should be just kicking into the 4th gear.
And by the time of the 2nd last dish or the last dish, everybody would have turned rowdy, "social ettitque" or table manners (if there is any to begin with) will by then, be reduced to a small puddle that one can hid under the tea cup. Nobody will be worrying about saying the wrong things or yelling at the top of their voices, cracking hoarse jokes about each other, or toasting each other in a never to be seen manner. There shall be napkins on the floor, and beer and wine splashes all over the place. Somebody from every table will be trying to toast the couple with all sorts of mixed up liquor cocontion when they turned up at the table with the normally, highly experienced photographer, for their pitiful turn to take a photo shot with the guests at the table. The highly experienced photographer shall by then de able to detect any traces of danger coming from the guests from the next table and initiate a flanking maneuver to another route.
Such is the familar ritual that I had gone through for countless times, at some other people's wedding.
On the Other End
And I finally have a chance to savour the once-in-a-lifetime chance to sit on the other end, playing the role of the much tire-out couple. We were kind of worned out by the time of the banquet, but nevertheless we still enjoy ourselves pretty much.
When you are the one doing the planning and rehearsals, time seemed to fly by pretty fast, and before I had the time to turned around for a sip of refreshment to calm my nerves, the first stream of guests starts to arrive.
Entertaining the guests is quite a memorial experience. You get so happy and excited to see your friends and relatives coming in and sharing your big day with you. Naturally, the parents and the in-laws were pretty hyped up and excited as well, and everybody played the host pretty well that day. :) Coordination between everybody was superb.
It seems so fast, but halfway through entertaining the guests and friends, I received the prompting from the banquet manager, 90% of the guest are here. Time to get started. Wow! Time really flies. I went up to fetch the bride and we stand by the door, and got ready for the march in....
We were so happy that day.
posted by Pencil at
12:45 AM
1 Comments:
I have attended a lot of wedding dinners and normally each dish only come after waiting for 20-30 minutes. But it was real fast in your wedding dinner! I like the most! Besdies, the game and prize session was hilarious and I would say it is special to appear in a wedding dinner.
Nevertheless, wishing you all the best as a married man, finally! :D
By
Wealth-Maker, at Wednesday, June 28, 2006 12:00:00 AM
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