Mr. Fu's wedding

The wedding itself was a full day.

In the morning, I dragged myself up, strapped myself into the tux and drove down to H's place. I was one of the drivers for the wedding party, yes, in my little red car. Gave her a "The works' wash" at the gas station but the dryer wasn't working and I ended up with little droplets all over! That was one day when I couldn't afford to argue with the attendant, so I had no choice but to hope that the wind dries the car up along the way.

Reached H's place only to find his sister. Everyone else, including the groom had gone for breakfast. He himself had gone to the bride's place to get some stuff. So much for not seeing the bride before the wedding :) J (best man) arrived shortly. I backed the car into a bush, nearly scratching the body and startling a nice old lady who happened to be walking by. We dressed the cars up with little oriental ribbons, harried the groom into getting changed and went to the hotel to fetch his betrothed. In their nonchalant way, H and his family didn't show much excitement at all. It was hard to actually discern how they felt. Kind of a surprise actually. My family, hardly considered emotional, at least emitted an air of anticipation during weddings. H's parents were like, "Oh, our only son is getting married today. Cool. Whee. Very nice wor."

I'm sure they were ecstatic inside.

The usual malarky happened at the hotel. Photographers recording and choreographing every step, the groom and his men marched up to the bride's room and attempted to bash the door down, demanding, imploring, beseeching, cajoling in various tries to enter and "grab" the bride. The bridesmaids, of course, prepared their usual array of soy sauce and vinegar cocktails, extortions, wasabi-laced cookies and various obstacles to allow the groom to prove his sincerity. After several push-ups and gastronomical adventures, the bride finally looked at her watch and said, alright, it's time to go :P

J (best man) was the main casualty, turning green after downing a whole cup of cooking vinegar for us. He was to puke throughout the day, poor guy. The bride and her party, of course, were unrepentant. :P

This is tiring, all this typing. But I have to go on before I forget.... let's see, the church was next. First time for me, experiencing the western church wedding, where the groom and his retinue gathered in a back room with the priest while guests gathered in the church.
Father David was very nice; he must have experienced trillions of weddings and yet he was very patient, guiding us along whenever needed. The organ sounded absolutely out of this world. The wedding vows were elaborate in the Catholic way, very classic. I remember thinking to myself how funny it was that a lot of the people in the church were from another country, another culture. California is an amazing place.

It was over in a flash. Suddenly, we were outside, taking pictures and making way for the next couple to arrive. Standing there, snapping away at H's relatives, I suddenly remembered how many times H & I biked past the church in the past, making fun of newly-weds who were having their pictures taken. Today, it's H's turn.