The Wedding - Part Two

Craig and I chose April for the date of our Wedding, partly because we were hoping for a higher chance of sunny days and also because it was close to our anniversary day. It rained both before and after our Wedding day but on April the 11th, we weren't the only ones dolled up. The Aussie Sun was out in full force, determined to make the most of this opportunity. So in true Australian style, we had a hot, sizzling Ceremony.

Craig and Brett before the Ceremony

Meanwhile, Mum was driving us all in with the Bridal Bus. However, we made a bit of a miscalculation with the lack of Sunday traffic and arrived at 2:00pm, before most of my guests! I felt a bit embarrassed to arrive so early but I was even more worried that Craig would see me before I would even get a chance to walk down the aisle! Luckily however, Meg came to the rescue. She quickly helped to usher the boys away while Boulevard Gardens took me inside where to my sheer relief, air-conditioning was waiting for us. The boys however weren't so lucky. Craig, Brett and my brother, Mickey, were still outside in the heat, having their photos taken! In amidst all this, most of the guests had made their arrival. My family quickly took advantage of the umbrellas provided by Boulevard Gardens, to shelter them from the sun.

My Wonderful Malaysian Family!

Friends from near & far

My Mum waiting for us to walk down the Aisle

It wasn't long before 2.30pm came around and it was time to walk down the aisle. Aidan, Siobhan, Erin & Sharlene were the first to head down the aisle as part of the Bridal Party. Aidan was so shy, he almost didn't blow his Butterfly Bubble Gun, hehe. But you can kinda understand why. This poor eight year old had been all suited up, been forced to smile for photos and now he had to walk down in front of lots of people, many of whom were strangers. I thought my kid brother did pretty well. My Dad walked me down the aisle and that was something special. I was more excited than overwhelmed, and I couldn't help beaming as I saw the faces of my friends, mostly because I hadn't seen so many of them in so long!

Dad walks me down the aisle

What can you say, when your Dad walks you down amongst all your friends & family, to hand you over to your husband & friend? Words can't really describe the happiness of just being amongst all these people, who had come together to support Craig and I. And I was truly happy that day, despite the hot afternoon sun and various hiccups of the day. None of that took anything away from our Wedding Day. We just roll our eyes and laugh as we remember those odd moments that in the end, made the whole day more memorable.

Sharlene said that she struggled not to cry but when she asked me how I went, I confessed that was I too busy trying to lick the melting lipstick off my teeth, for fear that it would be caught on camera! Meanwhile, Craig was trying to subtly wipe the sweat that was beading on his face, not for fear of saying his vows but because it was so bloody hot! In hindsight, it's all somewhat hilarious. Despite all this, it was soon fixed with a kiss. Well... maybe not just one kiss, hehe.

Turns out Craig is romatic after all!

Not about to let the Australian sun cramp our style, it wasn't long before we were off having more photos taken and better yet, having some beer & Champagne. Once all the formalities were all over and done with, we got straight into the reception, let down our hair and took off our shoes. There are so many crazy photos of all the things people were up to, that it tells a story in itself. I don't know about the rest of our guests but I sure had a blast and loved every moment of partying with Craig. It was a great day and I'll surely remember it for the rest of my life.

Our Parents

Craig and I with my Family

So a big Thank You to everyone who has helped and supported us all this time. We really appreciate everything you've done for us, especially in terms of your generosity and kindness. We're absolutely overwhelmed by all your wonderful gifts and for those who weren't able to physically join us on the day, I hope that this blog helped you to catch up on all that happened. And all that note, this Wedding Blog is pretty much done and I hope you enjoyed reading.



Lots of Love,
Demi & Craig.

The Wedding - Part One

I woke early the morning of my Wedding and while everyone was still sleeping, snuck into my meditation room to start the day. It was really lovely to begin the day with some morning prayers and sitting practice. By the time I finished, I was grounded in the knowledge that the wedding would be about my friends and family coming together in a celebration of love. I reminded myself not to fuss about the things that would inevitably go askew but to go through the day as mindfully as possible. Today would be a great opportunity to care not just for Craig and my family, but also my colleagues and friends who'd looked after me all these years.

Hayley & Erin having breakfast

Little by little, the house came alive as people emerged from shift-made beds. We exchanged stories and jokes over a breakfast of pancakes, Chinese jook & tea. It wasn't long though before us girls headed out the door for the "Bridal Bus" that my siblings, Hayley & Noah had decorated the night before! With Mum as the designated bus driver, we headed for Urbane Hair Design who would be doing our hair for the wedding. Helen, who was doing our make-up, would also be meeting us so in short, it was all happening!

Tomboy Siobhan putting up with all the fussing

Setting my hair

The girls at Urbane hair got started on my sisters, as my hair was being set. I really enjoyed watching my sisters' hair get done as we had opted for each one to choose a hairstyle that would suit each one, rather than the girls all having the same hair style. It was also a powerful reminder that my "little" sisters went quite so little now! At the ages of 13, 15 and 18, they were growing into young women and I just felt so proud of them. During all this, mum was busy taking photos of us girls and chatting with Hayley. But they weren't just allowed to observe. They were getting dolled up too!

Hayley gets some TLC

Mum preparing to look beautiful

With all our hair done after a long hour and a half, we headed back for the house so Helen could finish putting on our make-up. It was lovely sitting on my balcony, chatting casually to Helen as Aidan & Noah relaxed inside playing PS3. It sure didn't feel very stressful at all! And the funny thing was, Mum would sneak by and drop off plates of curry puffs and watermelon, which I had to try and eat without disrupting Helen's beautiful make-up! It was all good fun.

Trying to behave myself for Helen.

But time flew quickly and suddenly, it was time to put on my dress (without messing up the do or the face) and get ready for the photographers. However, there was one little treat before the photographers arrived! Arlene the florist arrived with the flowers! Originally, I'd asked Arlene to something along the lines of a photo I'd seen. In the shot, the bridesmaid each had one bouquet of one kind of white flower, while the bride had a bouquet that consisted of a mix of all the white flowers. Arlene had really taken to this idea but suggested that we try it with colours instead. I really liked this as to me, it represented the vibrant personalities of my sisters and how I had a little something in common with each one. As you can see below, here are the beautiful results. I love Arlene's choice of colours and how it really conveyed a sense of ease and relaxation. So if any of you brides out there are after a friendly, sincere and professional flowers, Arlene is the lady you need to call! I'm 100% happy with her work and I felt her prices were really reasonable.

We didn't have long to savour the flowers. Dave & Karen (from Paton's Photography) arrived at 11.45 and started taking some happy snaps of my family. It then became apparent that April the 11th was going to be a very warm, hot day indeed! Even though we had the air-conditioner going, it was still pretty warm and us girls were taking turns standing in front of the air-con. Never the less, we endured and even had a few laughs as we watched each other getting our photos done. It was really heart-warming to see my family all dressed up and (hopefully!) having a good time.

The boys: Mickey, Aidan & Dad

The girls: Siobhan, Erin, Sharlene, Mum & Me.

After they were satisfied with their shoot, Dave & Karen left for Boulevard Gardens, where Craig and the boys were waiting for their turn. This meant we could have a little break and chill out for a few moments, before it was time to head there ourselves. In accordance with Chinese tradition, I was lead out of the house in a Chinese red umbrella, to protect my marriage from any possible bad luck. You can see Sharlene here doing the honours while Erin helped to mind my train.

Sharlene is shielding me from bad luck with a red umbrella.

Mum had the hardest job, because she was taking the whole Bridal party in a 12 seater bus that we'd hired. The kids had decorated it the evening before and it was now show-time! Mum was a little bit nervous, mostly because she wasn't used to BrisVegas roads or its maniacal drivers. But needless to say, she did a marvellous job and got us there safe and sound, even if it was a wee bit early, hehe. So this is the wind up to the Wedding. Go ahead and read Part Two to find out how it all panned out and also to see more photos!

The very awesome, Chan Bridal Bus.

The Night Before the Wedding

The night before the Big Day was probably the most stressful, not because we were about to get married but because my house was an absolute mess! Craig and I had spent so much time working and organising the wedding that the few bits and pieces I needed to do never ended up getting done. Luckily, my family & friends came to the rescue! At the time, my immediate family (mum, dad, my 3 sisters & baby brother, Aidan) and Hayley and her son Noah, were staying with us. Everyone was quick to pitch in!

Early that morning, my mum and dad attacked the bushes that were trying to overgrow the house. Meanwhile, the kids and teenagers were being roused out of their beds and prodded into having breakfast. That night, Craig's family would be meeting mine for the first time. So Mum and I put together a menu that wasn't too difficult to cook, but still satisfy a lot of hungry tummies. The hardest part was finding room in my tiny fridge for all the groceries. Even our extra bar fridge wasn't much help, as it was being stocked with beer & wine. Mum and her oldest sister, my Aunt Ah Yee, did a fair bit of the chopping and food preparation. Hayley and my sisters were busy creating a delicious fruit punch while I did a lot of running around, making sure I'd covered all the bits & pieces that needed to be done.

I was especially nervous about my family meeting Craig's family. My family are from up north in Cairns, while Craig's were from down south in Coffs Harbour. This hadn't provided many opportunities for meet ups but with everyone gathering for the wedding, they would finally have the opportunity. I wondered what Craig's Aussie atomic family would think of my big Chinese-Irish one! Despite the nerves, I was really excited about the whole thing and looked forward to seeing everyone under the one roof.

To true Aussie hospitality, Craig and I visited Bunnings for some firewood. Our house had a brick BBQ and for the first time, we were going to fire it up! It took a while to get the fire going as we were both new to the whole thing. Mum was especially handy here as she helped Craig set up the grill, which soon provided a steady fire. Meanwhile, my sisters helped with the last minute cleaning and decorating.

It wasn't long before the Thear Family arrived. This consisted of Craig's Mum and Dad (Olga and Graham) and his older brother, Brett. We were also joined by Craig's sister, Kali and her partner Paul and 3 kids. My good friend, Meg also joined us, as that same night, we would also have a quick wedding rehearsal. Soon we were all mingling and chatting, the men talking sports while the women talked Wedding preparations. It didn't take long for the kids to start running around and entertaining themselves. In other words, I worried over nothing! Everyone got on like a house on fire.

After having a bit of tucker and drinks, we dug into the lovely chocolate cake Meg had brought over. We also had a very casual wedding rehearsal but at least everyone had a vague idea of what would be happening the next day! We also caught Craig's family up on what had taken place in Cairns and showed them the video clips that my sister Sharlene had made (to see these, visit my earlier blogs). But we weren't done with the Chinese traditions just yet!

Mum, Hayley and the kids headed straight for our bedroom. Part of the marriage ceremony involves 'installing the bridal bed' with new, clean sheets, preferably in the colours of auspicious red. Auspicious Chinese characters meaning 'Happiness' were also used to decorate the walls, light and door of my room. Hayley also brought these lovely Red Bridal Chinese slippers from Hong Kong which were so cute!

My Mum's sister-in-law is also a very skilled seamstress, and she hand-made this 'Happiness' bed cover for us. It's really intricate and every time I look at it, I'm just reminded of the kindness of my family and friends, and all they've done for us!

After the bridal bed was officially installed, they rounded up the children of the house to invite them to jump on our bed! The reason for doing this is to promote the couple's fertility and it's a very typical Chinese tradition. When my cousin, Ving Ving, got married, they got my sisters to jump on his bed and they actually ended up breaking it! So maybe that means he'll have loads of children! To entire the children onto the bed, lollies were thrown onto the bed and basically, the children had a fight for the lollies in amongst all the encouraged jumping. The best part was, Craig's nephew (Mitchell) and niece (Chelsea) took part in this so they got to have a taste of our crazy Chinese ways, hehe.

With the bed jumping taken care of, Craig was then sent packing with his family. They were staying at a motel and since it wasn't proper for Craig to sleep with the bride before the wedding, he had to go. The funny thing was, he was so happily drunk, I had to pack his overnight bag for him. Oh well. At least he wasn't sweating and having second thoughts! This left me to sleep in my bridal bed alone. Since this isn't awfully auspicious (this is somewhat taboo and believed to lead to her bad health), my little brother Aidan joined me to counter it with more hopes of children! If you haven't guessed yet, my Mum loves babies and is very keen to have some grandchildren. So we'll leave you here. It's just a few hours till the Big Day and somehow, I'll try and get some sleep!

Cheers,

Demi.

Chinese Traditions: Picking up of the Bride

You can watch the video to see what happened during our Traditional Bridal Pick-Up or if you like, read on and check out our photos. Better yet, why not do both? Enjoy!

My mother's Chinese family have always maintained strong traditions and customs, despite migrating to Malaysia. Therefore, it was only natural that these traditions and customs came with us in our migration to Australia. Since it's not often that a Chinese wedding occurs in the land of Oz, I thought it would be nice to go through some of our family traditions.


The evening before a Chinese wedding, there are normally two separate parties; one at the home of the Bride's parents and another at the home of the Groom's parents. The day of the wedding, the Groom formally picks up the Bride, which signifies her passage from her parent's household to that of the Groom's. This is why Craig had to fly up to Cairns to formally pick me up from my parent's home. It was also a great opportunity for our friends such as the Cairns Chinese Community to have an awesome party!

The night was kick-started by a Lion Dance performance, in which all 5 of my siblings were involved! They made up the lion team as well as the musical ensemble, which made it all the more special. Craig and I were truly honoured by the special performance and I think my Mum's guests enjoyed the show just as much as we did.

After a meal of not-so-traditional Roast Meat & Vegies (which was absolutely scrumptious by the way!), I was whisked away and locked up in our family home. Craig was then challenged by each one of my siblings to respectively test his Stamina, Style, Strength, Brains, Skill & also his Dedication towards me.

Craig had to contest my youngest brother, Aidan (aged 7) in the area of Stamina. This involved racing each other around the pool and at the finish line, using a bowling ball to knock over as many pins as possible. Craig was very crafty though and at the very start of the race, picked Aidan up and carried him around the pool as he went! By the time he put Aidan down, Craig had enough time to get to the bowling ball and knock down the pins. Therefore, Craig was declared successful in the first challenge. For his efforts, he was given a 'letter', which would be a clue as to where the key to the house was being hidden.

The next challenge was against my sister Siobhan (aged 13), to see who had the best sense of style. This was going to be an interesting contest as Siobhan is renowned in our family for her Tom-Boy ways and lack of style. Two volunteers were selected from our guests so Siobhan had to dress Rachel, and Craig had to dress Noah. Despite their rather interesting choices of "style", the guests declared Craig the winner with loud cheers! At this point, it became quite clear that the guests were going to be favouring Craig, hehe. Thus, he won the second letter of his clue. Meanwhile, I was eagerly enjoying the entire spectacle through the kitchen window & the security screens of our front door!

The third challenge was undoubtedly one of my favourites. Craig had to vs Erin (aged 15) in the area of strength. To do so, they had to battle each other doing push ups. This was never going to be easy for Craig because Erin is physically very petite and light, yet strong in her upper strength. She was capable of doing handstands, back-flips, and up to 20 consecutive push-ups. Much to my dismay, Craig only got as far as 10 push-ups!

For failing this challenge, Craig was made to eat one of his most hated foods: celery. Needless to say, he wasn't thrilled! However, it wasn't an entire loss. After eating the celery as punishment, Craig was given another letter to help him solve the clue.

So Craig was up to the fourth challenge of Brains, which was a game of Connect 4 with Sharlene (aged 18). However, Sharlene has a reputation in our family for being Queen of Connect 4! Craig sweated a bit through this one and even had trembling hands, although he claims it was because of the push-ups. The guests eagerly helped him with his strategy but Sharlene proved too hard to beat and Craig lost! So with much regret, he had to eat more celery. Poor Craig...


Next up was Mickey (aged 21), who tested Craig in the area of skill. They had to get as many shots into the basketball hoop with a time limit of 60 seconds. It was here that Craig really shone, beating Mickey 6:5. The guests were eagerly cheering both boys on and it was really fun to watch. By this point, Craig had challenged all 5 of my siblings but my family wasn't finished with him yet. He still had to prove his Dedication!


For the challenge of Dedication, strips of coloured paper were passed around to the guests. My mum gave a demonstration of how to fold the strips of coloured paper, into an origami paper heart. The guests had to help fold as many origami hearts as possible, so that Craig could fill up a little champagne glass. If my family deemed it suitably filled, then Craig passed the test of dedication. The guests were very enthusiastic and keen to start folding. It didn't take long to fill the glass and that's how Craig won the last letter to the clue.

Craig was swift to solve the clue, which happened to be the fridge. After much searching, he was able to find the key to the house but wait, my family wasn't done with him just yet! My three sisters barred the way to the door, demanding bribes before he was allowed to pass. This is very common in Asian families so Craig had to fork out some $$. However, he wasn't about to hand money over for free! Craig had a variety of Chinese Red packets, in which some had $20 notes while others had fake money or gold scratchy tickets. This highly amused the guests and the Aussie sense of humour was much appreciated. After bribing my sisters, he was finally allowed to open the door to the house and release me!

This concluded the formal process of picking me up from my parent's home. That same night however, we also had a "hair-combing" ceremony, which signifies the Bride officially entering adulthood and leaving her parent's household. So I had to have a shower and wear a fresh pair of pyjamas for the hair-combing ceremony. My hair was combed four times, signifying for example the parting from my parents. A flower comb was also placed in my hair.


Following this, we also had the official tea ceremony. Craig and I served sweet date tea to my parents and the elders of my Mother's family, as a sign of respect. Sweet date tea is served, as it symbolises the hope that the couple will have a sweet life together. After serving tea to our elders, it was then my siblings' turn to serve tea to Craig and myself, since we were their elders. In this way, the family welcomed us as a new couple.


As you can see, there was a lot happening that night! However, we had a lot of fun and by the end, Craig was still grinning. Phew! It was really lovely, especially when the night concluded with the making of a Chinese dessert. We rolled glutinous flour balls and filled them with rock sugar, which were then boiled and served with sweet syrup. It was a true family reunion and our thoughts were with all our family, from Ireland all the way to Malaysia, and throughout all of Australia. So despite the length of this blog, I hoped you found it fun to read and maybe even interesting! It certainly made our wedding journey truly special, unique and unforgettable. For more photos of the evening, just visit this link.


Yours truly,
Demi & Craig.