Weddings and venues

Wedding occasions usually present an opportunity to meet relatives and friends. In this day and age, especially in the urban areas, people tend to have wedding reception in public places by invitation only. Several venues are used instead of the house. A hotel ballroom, an organisation's function room, a convention centre, a sports club, a restaurant are among such venues.

One major advantage of not having it in your house is of course, the dispensation with the big preparations and tiring cleaning -up after the event. It is fine if you happened to have a lot of willing friends and relatives to help you. Still the stress would be too much for most people.

Today I went to a wedding held at a house. The road leading to the house was narrow and by the time we came, the cars had been parked on both sides of the road! We managed to park in front of our host's neighbour's house after asking for his permission. The compound were already teeming with people in all their fineries and the wedding dais had been erected right there as well. There was hardly any space to move though our host graciously guided us to the lounge which had several tables for their special guests. The weather was also humid but thanks to the fans! The company was good and the spread was delicious. As more people were coming in, we decided to leave before the ceremony started so that other people could sit down. We thanked our wonderful hosts and were given a beautifully carved wooden fan each as a gift.

The previous Saturday, the wedding we attended was held at a beautiful resort. The parking was less congested and someone was there to guide traffic.The guests were mingling around the spacious compound with lovely background music. Special guests were seated in the air conditioned function room away from the wedding dais set up in the garden but were called by name through the microphone to bless the couple. We met friends,old and new, who we would not have met so soon otherwise and exchanged stories. It was a pleasant afternoon and I was given a quintessential crystal container for attending and a lovely "batik sarong" for blessing the couple as we managed to stay on till the ceremony ended.

A wedding? And the venue?..... a lot depends on your budget. I have attended many a grand wedding at five-star hotels, at one of them, the flowers alone cost about RM25,000! I suppose if money is not the problem, splurging it would not matter. As for me, I am more at ease with moderation.