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.

Our Ben Huck's Night.

Music: "I got a feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas

You can watch the video to see what happened during our Ben Huck's Night or if you like, read on and check out our photos. Better yet, why not do both? Enjoy!

What do you get when you put a Buck, a Hen, some Malaysian relatives, Cairns people, Veterinarian nurses & kids together? The most awesome "Ben Huck's" Night, that's what! A certain young lady by the name of Miss Sharl Kehoe (aka my sister) coordinated the fun-filled evening. Armed with her boyfriend, Chris, she organised us into two teams to participate in a series of PG-rated fun games. While she did forget to organise the catering (being a typical 18 year old), we were able to source out a casual meal of pizza, so all was good.

The first game involved passing balloons from one team mate to another, with the quickest team to finish being the winner. There was a lot of cheering, awkward fumbling with the balloon and even a little bit of illegal handling! However, my team was declared the winner so we were off to a great start. We also had to play a dress up race where my team had to dress in a men's jacket & bowtie while Craig's team had to get themselves into a bridal dress. Seeing the boys trying to fumble themselves into a dress was absolutely priceless while the girls really struggled to clip the bow tie because it was really fiddly!

Other games involved "Pass the ring" and a version of the "Pin the tail on the Donkey". However, a definite highlight was Bingo! My sister had drilled me for odd facts about me and Craig, which ended in a lot of laughter as it revealed bad episodes of drunken escapades & personal bad habits. However, halfway through the game, the room was suddenly dimmed and my 7 year old brother, Aidan, and his friend Noah did a really hilarious number to the song "I'm too sexy" by "The Hit Crew". Needless to say, we all had tears in our eyes after seeing those sparkly red & blue shorts. Unfortunately, I've yet to get my hands on some photos but they're still nowhere near as good as being there!

We wrapped up the night a little literally. Craig and I had to be models as our teams used a supply of newspaper, paper towels, tape & various things to create our bigger and better wedding outfits. Sadly, I think my team may have needed a little bit more coordination. Craig's suit however was superb. Have a look at the piccy below and judge for yourself! And yes, that is a newspaper "garter" that Craig has in his mouth.


But don't think Craig was the only one who got to eat newspaper. They insisted that I eat the "biscuit buttons" on his suit, which was completely covered with a layer of tape. Only for the sake of entertaining you lot, did I agree to do so. Here's an action shot. And yes, those are crumbs falling from my mouth.


So that's all for the moment. I'll upload more photos from the evening so you can be part of the madness.

Lots of love,
Demi & Craig.

Craig's Adventure as a Chinese Tourist.

The first day of our holiday was not exactly as relaxing as we'd hoped. Then again, it didn't really help that we had to wake up at 5:30am in the morning so that we could drive down to the Gold Coast to pick up five of my relatives. My mother's eldest sister, brother and cousin were arriving with their spouses. Craig and I were to drive them up to Brisbane so all seven of us could catch a flight up to Cairns to begin wedding celebrations as a family.

Getting down to the Gold Coast was no drama. What Craig and I didn't know was that my relies' flight from Kuala Lumpur had been delayed. We were hoping to be out of there by about 8:30am but by the time my relatives got through customs, it was well and truly 9:30am. Our connecting flight to Cairns wasn't until 12:00pm but we still had to drive from the Gold Coast to Brisbane airport. We got going quickly. During the drive, I did a lot of catching up with my relatives and got to practising my rusty Cantonese. It had been a good 5 years since I'd last seen my relies so there was a lot to share between us. During all this, poor Craig only got little bits and pieces of the conversation, only when I remembered to translate!

As we got closer into Brisbane, Craig and I decided to take the new motorway, thinking it would be faster than going through the main city. This was all good and well, except that because it was our first time using the new motorway, we missed the exit! It was 11:00am by now and check-in for our plane was due to close to at 11:30am. Needless to say, Craig and I were more than a little bit anxious. We were able to get off the motorway and head back towards the airport, only we took another wrong turn and missed our exit yet again! Craig was barely containing his angst at this point and I was doing my best to try to keep calm, and avoid any wrong words that might just cause him to implode... Meanwhile, my relies were all cheerful and happy, oblivious to impending disaster.

We finally go onto the right road and as we approached the airport, I casually informed them that we might have to be quick so that they didn't missed their plane. I gave poor Craig the responsibility of checking in my Chinese relies as I returned the Tarago we'd rented. Since it was in my name, it had to be me returning it and not Craig. Poor Craig had barely parked the car, put the handbrake on when he realised that we'd all completely deserted the car. My relies had done exactly what I'd told them to and instantly cleaned the car of their luggage & baggage! By this stage, I was already running towards Thrifty's with the car keys!

Luckily, fortune shone on us. There wasn't a single person queing at the Thrifty's desk (I'd been dreading the hordes) and I hurried explained that I was late for my flight, didn't have time to refuel the car and was really, really sorry! Thankfully, they were really good about it and said I could leave it as it was, they would just charge me a fee for filling up the tank. I raced to join Craig and my relies, much to his relief. I don't think he was looking forward to the prospect of checking in my relatives when he barely knew a word of Chinese!

We checked in without any dramas and with 5 minutes to go, boarded our plane. What a relief! Despite the stress and craziness, I couldn't help myself but be amused. It's easy to laugh about the bizarreness of the whole ordeal, now that it was behind us. But all in all, Craig didn't do too badly for an Aussie travelling in Chinese style. Needless to say, it was the first test of his nerves, hehe. But we've gotten to Cairns safely and my mum was over the moon to catch up with her relatives. So far so good!

Hope you enjoyed the read. There is definitely more to come!

Yours truly,
Demi & Craig.

The Buck's Night

Craig celebrated his Buck's Night yesterday. From what I've gathered, there was a lot of tom-foolery but the whole event can best be summed up by the words: Casino, a disabled toilet and infamous face-off with a certain Tabasco cocktail. Needless to say that when he stumbled home in the wee hours of 3.45am, he was completely wasted. Was it a success? Yes it was!

He woke up this morning in a daze, but within seconds, the hangover hit him. Watching his expressing was something akin to watching a storm roll into Ipswich. Poor sucker... but the torture didn't end there. After I weaselled some details out of him, at which point, it became apparent that a lap dance had also occurred, (*sigh* well I suppose it's not a true Buck's Night without one) he also confessed that he nearly got into a fist-fight with some poor uni students at the Casino. Something about Dan preparing to back him up if needs-be but thankfully, a security guard intervened and the situation was narrowly diffused...

Oh dear.

Unfortunately for Craig, we had an appointment with our wedding Celebrant, Janet. Luckily, I'd moved the appointment back (the chances of Craig making a 10am appointment had seemed pretty bleak) and I was under the impression it was just a 15min run-down of last minute details. What I didn't realise was that Janet also wanted us to do a quick rehearsal!

So visualise this scene for me: Craig, trying his best to look respectable but so blatantly hung over as I "walked" down the aisle with my imaginary "father-of-the-bride". We had to exchange our vows and Janet, being her enthusiastic self, was spurring Craig to "maintain eye contact, speak loudly, and bring the feeling of love to his vows." Needless to say, I nearly lost it as I gazed into Craig's red-party eyes while listening to his hoarse Tabascoed-ravaged voice. Janet wasn't overly impressed with his performance, giving him points for maintaining eye-contact but failing him in the areas of audibility and "feeling"! Priceless.

I only hope to God that I don't break out into a fit of giggles as we exchange vows on the day...

So in summary boys, a job well done! Thank you to Brett, Mat, Coridyn, Dan, Thomas, Zach and Al for making Craig's night so memorable.

PS Matt - Aren't you glad I gave you that handy tip about Craig being willing to do anything crazy when he's pissed? Muwhahahhahaaaaaa....

Why bother with a wedding?

When the word "wedding" comes up, it's usually accompanied by as many groans as there are women going "awww...". It can be really hard to find sanity in amongst thoughts about possible venues, dresses, table decorations, car hire & the mounting costs! Which really brings us back to this core question: Why all the fuss? Isn't it easier just to fly to Vegas, get married by Elvis and waste all your hard-earned cash on the roulette?

Okay, yeah eloping sounds fun. There wouldn't be any juggling of wedding meetings, delicate negotiating with various parties or hours spent shopping for plain & simple "olive" ties which none of the shops seem to stock. And while the messing around would be significantly less, here's the thing...

I can't wait to get married to Craig :D

We met when we were both poor uni bums, with absolutely nothing to our names except a HECS debt. It's been a few crazy years of jumping on public transport to see each other on weekends and fitting each other in between assignments and exams. Even when we did finally move in together, there was a lot of renting & furniture moving that was more painful than amusing. And while we had a lot of great times eating spaghetti for whole weeks on end, we were even more grateful when we both got jobs. Finally, we could see a movie without feeling ill for the next fortnight because we'd be having nothing but grilled cheese sandwiches.

This is why I'm really looking forward to the wedding. Everyone there will have seen us at our best and our worst. It's a celebration of the past, the present and also, the future unknown. I want to see all our family and friends, the living patchwork of our experiences. And I can't wait to see Craig's face when I walk down the aisle in (hopefully!) the nicest dress he's ever seen me in. I hope it was worth him waiting 8 years, hehe!

In the meantime, I'll keep paying those incoming bills. I figure it's an investment of sorts, so let's see if it pays off.

Yours truly,
Demi.

PS - Craig is on his Buck's Night as I type, so we'll see how he fares.

The "Bad Taste" Hen's Night

I had the most awesome Hen's night! Before I start ranting about the highlights of the night, I'm sending out a big Thank You to my friend, Meggles. You're an absolute legend and no girl can ask for a better friend. I know you went to a lot of trouble to make my Hens happen so have a huge hug!

We wanted to avoid the "cliché" Hen's Night. You know what I'm talking about - feral man-strippers, drunken lewd tasks that involve dildos and hunting down single men, etc etc. And when Lindsey suggested "bad taste Bride's Maid dresses", it was a total winner. Which is how we ended up looking like this! I raided my Mum's wardrobe and after digging through some lovely shoulder-numbers, found this lovely lacey frock. I think I would have made Madonna proud. Meggles picked me up from my house but she wasn't alone! My friend Lisa flew all the way down from Rocky to join us, despite the imminent threat of tropical cyclone Ului. It was such an excellent surprise and I only wished Vicky could have joined us. Sadly, she was having too much fun in Argentina!

From there, we headed to Meg's pad in Hawthorne where we were joined by the other girls for drinks and party games. In amongst Twister Dance, 'Pin the accessory on the Bride' and amateur dress making, there were a lot of laughs and fun. Even babies were getting into the madness and tolerating all the shenanigans! One of my favourite highlights was Baby Skye vs Nurse Lorraine in our very own "Who could be Australia's next cutest model". Oh and Emily won a copy of the Princess Bride by pinning the bouquet perfectly on Poster-Me. Nice one!

6pm rolled around pretty quickly so we chugged around the corner to Ahmet's Turkist restaurant at Balmoral. We were fashionably late and by the time we arrived, the Greenslopes party were already waiting and so was my very own Mum! She was in heaven when Baby Cormack was passed into her arms.

Meanwhile, the rest of us tucked into Turkish bread and dips while trying an assorted mix of cocktails. Meg picked me up a lovely Turkish Martini and not only did it smell delightful, it tasted scrumptious. Soon we were inundated by various casseroles, meat platters and turkish delights! But then the Belly Dancer manifested and naturally, she made a B-line for me. To be fair, I was kinda an unmistakable target with my flashing Tiara and Wand.

I figured, what the hell? How often do you get the opportunity to embarrass yourself in front of all your friends and colleagues? So I crawled my way out of my side of the table (I was kinda marooned against the wall at this stage) and upon making my way onto the dance floor and in public view of the restaruant, made good worth of 10 years' worth of dance training. However, I was thrilled when the Belly Dancer asked who else I wanted to dance and at this point, I immediately dobbed in my mother. She's always complaining about how she doesn't have a dancing bone in her body but she did a fabulous job! Go Mum, shake your booty!

Only five of us (Meggles, Lisa, Farenn, Amanda and myself) made it out to BrisVegas afterwards for a session of bad Karaoke but we sure did have fun at Strike Bowling. And they even had props to go along with the songs of our choice! I had to admit, the pixelated tiger that accompanied the hit, "Eye of the Tiger" brought back memories from the time of Pac Man and Space Invaders! But it was a lot of fun and I think we may have converted Amanda and Farenn, who had seemed a little doubtful at the onset. I have no pictures from karoake as yet and I'm sure there are some crazy photos floating out there... so we'll all have to wait and see. In the meantime, the full scope of our crazy adventure can be glimpsed by visiting here.

In summary, an excellent excellent Hen's night. And do you know what the best part is? I haven't even had my second Hen's yet! I'm due to have another Hen's with my little sisters Sharl, Erin & Siobhan so they can share in my madness. Can't wait! Oh and Craig is having his Buck's this weekend so I'll be sure to report on his side of things. Hope he has a great time! Till then, take care of yourselves.

Demi.

Bugger! My dress still isn't finished.

Last week, I was high as a kite because I picked up my dress from the Posties. I saw my Bolero and tried it on and it's absolutely gorgeous. However, the only other person around the house was Craig and I was damned if he was going to help me into my wedding dress. Somehow, I don't think that's in the groom's job description! Luckily, my mum came down from Cairns last night so it was a chance for us to see the whole kit & caboodle.

But that was when we discovered that the dress was still too tight... >.<


Luckily, I still have three weeks before the wedding so there's still time for alterations. I was a little disappointed but hey, I'd been having such a smooth run that a hiccup was long overdue. And seeing how ridiculous my back looked did make me smile. I'm just grateful that we didn't find out on the day of the wedding! Imagine the scene as I glide gracefully down the garden path, exchange vows and a passionate kiss with Craig, only to turn and flash him my second cleavage! The look on his face would probably have been priceless, haha! Anyhow, the dress is making its way back to Cairns (by now, it probably has more mileage under its belt than the average Australian) and hopefully will be all ready to go by the 11th of April.

And it's not all bad news. The bolero is simply divine and I can't wait to wear the whole thing on the day. Here's a sneak peek of the Bolero.


Oh and did I mention it's my 1st Hen's night this weekend? I get to have one Hen's night with my friends in BrisVegas and another with family and friends from Cairns. But that's another blog altogether! You'll just have to wait till Sunday to hear about the antics.

Getting ready to party,
Demi!