In October of last year I had the opportunity to go to a Singaporean Chinese wedding reception and I was really impressed. The food was incredible. Everyone was dressed well. It was formal and elegant. It was also a sharp contrast to the Malay wedding reception we went to. Not in a bad way of course.
I suppose the best way to put it is to say that the Malay wedding reception was more lively. There were drums, bright colors, dancing and the atmosphere was much less formal. I felt a bit overdressed in my fancy slacks and button up shirt.
We arrived just in time to see the groom arrive. In fact, we were kind of lost and when we heard the drums I said, “I wonder if that’s the wedding?” So, we walked quickly over and saw a group of guys wearing red shirts playing drums, with a guy in a light purple garment walking at the front. Sure enough, we’d found the wedding reception.
The music was really, really cool. I tried to take some video of the event. You can see it embedded below. I had a problem where my camera didn’t want to focus properly and I think it has something to do with the shade of red that was being worn by the drummers, and the red cloth that was hanging behind the bride. My camera uses a reddish colored light to focus its picture. Regardless, it’s worth watching if for nothing more than to hear the drummers.
In the beginning, the video shows the groom’s retinue approaching the reception hall. Then, it shows the groom sitting on the opposite side of the hall from the bride, with one of the drummers doing a ceremonial dance. It looks almost as if the drummer passed something off to the groom. The last two portions are when the groom is already seated beside the bride.
Here are a few photos of the event:
Bradley Farless 