Tying the Knot

The other day, Scott, Annie, and Juliet were able to attend a wedding. It was really a great opportunity to get immersed in the local culture.

The wedding itself wasn’t too different than a Western ceremony – with the exception that there was no “officiant.” Instead there was really what is best described as an emcee that walked us through the proceedings – including offering his commentary during the one of the solos – which was a very good rendition of Josh Groban’s “You Raise Me Up.”

One of the more embarrassing moments for us was during the second solo – which was another great vocal performance – this time of “Amazing Grace.” About two stanzas in, all of sudden Annie and Scott looked at each other because the accompanying vocals in a low voice were coming from our 5 year-old. The giggles were difficult to contain as we tried to shush her, but the song is in her soul and she just insisted on humming along. As people began to do a “half-turn” in our direction we tried to obtain forgiveness by claiming she was a long lost cousin of the bride, but for some reason no one was buying it.

The reception was the typical Chinese meal with the lazy-susan rolling around with a good assortment of local cuisine. Juliet, who was not in adventurous mood, tried two things. After having to spit out “Cheesy Lobster” and “Some Kind of Salad” into Scott’s napkin, we decided she should just stick to Sprite.

The highlight of the evening occurred when they asked the guests to complete a small card offering well wishes to the bride and groom. Little did we know (because our Mandarin is not that good yet) that by completing one of these, we were giving ourselves an opportunity for fabulous prizes in the night’s “Lucky Draw” giveaway. Scott was really kicking himself that he had failed to complete the card after seeing one guest take home a toaster oven and another take home a blender.