Emma and Ting's Wedding

Emma is my oldest friend that I'm still in contact with, having known her since school days, so I was very pleased to hear the news that she and Ting were to get married. I'd met Ting once a couple of years before, and wasn't sure that he recognised me, especially as I was with a different partner! Emma looked stunning in her embroidered silk wedding dress as she came up the 'aisle' in the wedding suite of the Chilworth Manor Hotel near Southampton. Both sets of parents looked very pleased, always a good sign! Noriko, a Japanese lady whom we met on Emma's hen night, had arranged the fresh flowers and Emma's bouquet, and these looked wonderful despite their train journey from London.
Patrick and I were witnesses, so we had to sit quite near the front. It did bring back a few sad memories of my own wedding day of course, even though I was happy for Emma and Ting - an odd mix of emotions. I'm just a hopeless romantic just as it says on my profile.
After the simple registry-office ceremony we were invited outside for some sushi and buck's fizz or orange juice. But as soon as the guests started relaxing and chatting to each other the photographer appeared on the roof and started rearranging us in a more asthetically pleasing way (although we had to pretend to still be chatting)! The photography seemed to take forever, but the grounds of Chilworth Manor were beautiful to look at, and Patrick and I had fun explaining the culture of Georgian English nobility to Noriko. Then it was all single girls to the fore for the Throwing of the Bouquet shot - Patrick laughed as I selected a prime position and posed like a goalie taking a penalty shootout! I managed to catch it quite easily - Emma seemed to have been aiming it straight at me. Don't know what Kevin will say when he sees it though LOL.
Next it was off to Kam's Palace for a ten course Chinese banquet. We all signed a piece of red silk with our best wishes for the couple, which is part of the Chinese wedding tradition, then found our tables. Ting and Emma had generously provided beer, wine and soft drinks. The courses were mostly seafood - the ones I can remember were roast pork, abalone with mushrooms, lobster (my favourite, athough messy), trout, crab's claws (very nice), duck and yam pancake, squid, shark's fin soup and dried scallop with turnip. I don't know why it was mainly seafood - Hong Kong specialities, perhaps? Ting's best man surprised the Chinese guests in mid-feast by making a speech and showing humorous slides from Ting's life story - apparently it's not part of Chinese wedding tradition.
Later Emma changed into a stunning traditional Chinese wedding dress, made with red silk and embroidered with dragons. We had to leave a little early as we had to give Noriko and two other guests a lift back to the station, but Emma cut us some wedding cake to take away and we said goodbye to her and Ting, wishing them a fantastic time on their honeymoon in Florida.
Photos in Valerie's Gallery soon!