The night before the wedding, we had a short meeting where all the 2nd generations of Goh were involved (aka all my cousins). Almost all my cousins were present, except the one in England doing pharmacy.. Roles and responsibilities were allocated and details ironed out. I was the overall coordinator.. My sister was the bridesmaid (and my helper/adviser) and my cousins being the best man and chauffeurs..
We even decorated the bridal car ourselves, with wedding bears that my sister and I went around several shopping centers in Penang to hunt for... We bought the sticker that is to be pasted on the bridal cars and cars that were going to pick up the bride..
The florist that we booked the bridal bouquet gave us some tips, and we bought some of the pink cloth-type ribbons from her.. With the help of some of my aunties, the end result was not too bad.. :)
On the 3rd day of CNY, the tea ceremony was held in my uncle's place. My brother had his in-laws over from China to join us.. And they all stayed in a famous hotel nearby.. So instead of the bride's house, my brother was to go to the hotel to pick up the bride.. Thus off he went, with all my paternal cousins as his entourage... :)
While they were gone, I was busy with the arrangements at home.. including making red-dates-longan-tea for the tea ceremony.. and preparing the tea set that we bought after searching high and low for it..
Soon enough, we could hear the loud honking of the car's horns.. they were here! :) Together with two of my aunties, I was forbidden to meet the bride at the door as we (those born in the years of the Tiger) were deemed to be too "fierce" (煞气重) and would cause "misfortune" to the bride if we meet face-to-face.. Once the bride came into the house, everything was okay.. First was the prayer to the ancestors, as my brother need to "report" to our (Goh) ancestors that he is getting married and setting up his own household from that day onwards.. After a brief rest, the tea ceremony began..
In summary, the tea ceremony is for the bride to pay/receive respect to/from everyone in the family, including all the elders, peers and juniors of the family that she is marrying into.. First to receive the serving of tea from the bride was my parents (aka her in-laws). Usually, gifts of jewelries and/or red packet (with cash inside) are being given to the newly-weds as a token of blessing and acknowledgment by the elders when served. The serving of tea was then repeated for all my 8 uncles and aunties present.. After all my uncles and aunties, it was my turn as I am, after all, the elder sister of the groom.. :p
After getting another red packet from another cousin who is older than my brother (& his wife), it was time for their juniors to pay respect to the "new member" of the family.. starting with my sister... and followed by all our other younger cousins.. they each received a red packet from the bride as a token...After a quick and casual lunch of KFC and Domino Pizzas, my brother with his wife and her family retired to the hotel to get ready for the wedding dinner later that evening..
So ended the first half of Round 1 of his wedding..
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