Wedding Feasts

Attended a colleague's wedding dinner tonight (Coincidentally, it was at the exact function room where my junior had his wedding dinner a couple of weeks back). This was also the first wedding banquet I attended because I am a colleague of the bride.

Personally, I did wonder about throwing such feasts in terms of its reasons. It is definitely a status symbol for the couple to give notice of their marriage and show off in terms of the location of the banquet, the quality and type of food served (eg shark fins, abalone etc), who is attending the banquet (I heard of a tale where this couple managed to invite the President of Singapore to attend their banquet in his personal capacity) and the number of tables. It is also seen by some as a measure of how much the groom dotes on the bride, with the more lavish a banquet, the more the bride is 'pampered' by the groom. There is also a tradition by some that the banquet is paid for by the bride's parents as part of the dowry.

Then there is also the 'economic' factor by some who see such banquets as opportunities to get some extra money via the red packets given by guests.

For me, I believe that there is this pampering factor in throwing such banquets to tell the world "Look. [insert name here] is mine. This is how much I love her. For the rest of you all and the world, you should be happy for both of us." Other than that, I actually find such events bordering on an intrusion of privacy, given the obligation to invite guests beyond relatives and friends as a matter of courtesy.

I believe that a wedding is a sacred and private event, and for me I like things simple and quiet. Being someone who keeps his official and his private life distinctly separate as far as possible, it tends to be awkward to have such a congruence of both, even if the norm so far is for people to eat, extend congratulations and then leave.

Well, this is still nothing but a mooting point for me for the moment...

DreamCatcher