My really good friend Ben tied the knot last weekend and I flew to Singapore - where he has been based for the last six to seven years - to attend his wedding. It was a weekend of firsts for me, as I attended a Muslim Malay wedding for the first time (Ben's wife, Laila, is Muslim Malay and Ben converted to Islam.) It was also the first wedding I attended where neither the bride nor the groom were Filipino. In fact, as far as I could tell, I was the only Filipino in attendance.
Their wedding spanned two days. The first day consisted of the legal and religious ceremony, which was held at a mosque. It was fairly straightforward, although since part of the ceremony was spoken in Malay, I couldn't really tell you what was being said. It lasted 30 minutes and when we left the mosque, we headed over to the void deck of a nearby apartment block - this is where the reception on day 2 was also going to be held - for some food.
The second day was more celebratory. Apparently, in Malay weddings, part 2 of the wedding is meant to treat the couple like royalty. Ben arranged transportation to the venue for both days and since I didn't know how to get there, I headed to his apartment. As soon as I got there, the guys were all doing some Gangnam Style-inspired choreography. When Ben spots me, he immediately directs me to the back of the group and tells me I have to join in. It was slightly awkward because everyone else had on traditional Malay outfits and I was in a suit. But well, Ben did ask me to join the group and it was his wedding so I couldn't say no. This piece of choreography was performed during Ben's main entrance. It turned out pretty great, I think, as the Gangnam Style dance moves are universally recognized and enjoyed by everyone all over the world. :) The thing that scared me the most about this was that we were supposed to fire party cannons once the dance was done and I was concerned I would do it wrong or that I'd fire my cannon straight into someone's face. Thankfully, we pulled it off without incident. :)
The wedding was held outdoors so everyone was sweating buckets (I ditched my suit jacket as soon as our entrance was done but it was still hot; after all, we were in Singapore). Ben and Laila actually did one outfit change in the middle of the day. The event lasted from around 1pm to very late afternoon, during which time I actually went to the buffet table a couple of times. The food was really good! There was also a karaoke machine set up during the event and a lot of people had already performed in the early afternoon. At some point, Ben asked me if I had already signed up for karaoke and I said I hadn't. He said I had to do it. Once again, I couldn't say no. The song list didn't really include any of my usual repertoire of songs so I ended up singing "Unchained Melody". It was a different version played at a much lower key, but that was a good thing since I didn't have to worry about the very high note towards the end. It was fairly well-received although I was nervous throughout and my hand was even shaking. Not sure why, I guess it was my first time in a long time performing in front of a crowd I wasn't familiar with.
It was awesome for me to experience my first Malay Muslim wedding. Of course, the fact that it was held in Singapore meant that it gave me another excuse to fly to the and hang out with my good friends who are based here. I got to meet up with Anna, Tim B, Sarah, Kokog, Ina, Orly, Lalai, Lawrence, Hannah, Steph, Tim T, Che, and Paul. I also got to sneak in a couple of trips to the cinema to see Argo and Pitch Perfect (I missed both of them when they were shown in the Philippines so I felt I had to see them in SG while I still could.) All in all, a packed and very good trip.
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