A Malay Wedding

Last Saturday, on the 25th of August 2007, I attended an ex-colleague's wedding at up northwestern, Yew Tee. The local Malay community usually hold their traditional weddings under their flat, at the void deck. However, my friend decided to have hers at a community centre hall near her place. The traditional Malay wedding is usually a two-venue event, where there will be banquets at both the husband and the wife's side. Instead of cramming both banquets in one day, my friend decided that they separate the banquet into two days. We visited my friend, the bride's banquet on Saturday. Unlike the traditional Chinese wedding, Malay weddings are usually held in the afternoon.

Taking the train to Yew Tee has been a weekly routine when I was still in Kranji Camp during my service days. I have seldom been back to that part of the country as I hardly have any business there, nor do I know much people living there whom I'll visit. Between Kranji station where the turf club is, and Yew Tee, there is a heavy industry zone which is separated from the residential zone by a canal.

The banquet was in buffet style with a decent spread of Malay cuisine. In every Malay wedding, it is a tradition for guests to bring back a hard-boiled egg. The egg comes tied to a stalk of intricately crafted flower which came in various colours. I had got green.