Danish Wedding

The main reason for the trip to Copenhagen was really to attend the wedding of a lovely couple named Christa and Miguel. 

The ceremony was held in the most ornate church I've ever seen, the Trinitatis Kirke (Trinity Church) which is at the annex of the famous Rundetaarn (Round Tower), originally built as an observatory by King Christian IV between 1637 and 1642. 

Unfortunately, we didn't manage to tour the observatory, which is famous for the magnificent views of the city as well its unique interior architecture but the church alone was already very beautiful. 

The walls were draped in renaissance gold ornaments and armies of angel statues. 

The ceremony was lead by a female priest (I'm unsure if this is the right term to use?) and was held in Danish. The bride wore a beautiful bustier gown and was radiating as her father walked her down the aisle. All the guests who had flown in from various parts of the world - Singapore, Italy, England - tried our best to follow the hymns throughout the ceremony but were somehow sparked into infectious giggles halfway through the ceremony! We really didn't mean to (sorry Christa!) but for some strange reason a wave of giggles spread across the vibrating pews and we were in red knots trying to stifle our laughter. 

It was unfortunate that the rains were pouring down on us as we walked from the church to the reception at Vartov but once we were all dry and warm indoors, the champagne begun flowing and mingling was in order. 

We sat down to an intimate dinner of no more than 40 guests. (In Singapore, wedding receptions usually serve anywhere from 200 to 2000 people!) The food was delicious and thoughtfully matched with appropriate wines. 

My favourite part about celebrating Christa and Miguel's union was participating in the Danish wedding traditions!

Apparently, whenever the groom left the room, the male guests would gather in a line and take turns to kiss the bride! The same was true whenever the bride left the room! It was so fun that I think I want to incorporate this in my wedding, just for the sheer fun of it. 

Another tradition we witnessed was the bride and groom having to dance a waltz before midnight. All the guests gathered around the couple as the danced and slowly inched closer, crowding the couple so they could not move. At that point, the men took hostage of Miguel, removed his shoes and cut the ends of his socks! Apparently, the girls were meant to cut the bride's veil into pieces but smart Christa didn't wear one to the reception. 

Various wedding traditions can be similar - like fathers walking brides down the aisle - or completely unique and being at Christa and Miguel's wedding prompted me to google for other interesting wedding traditions! My favourite local custom is still the Chinese Tea Ceremony, especially the part when the groom and his mates will have to do all sorts of crazy things in a bid to see and collect his bride. The next portion where the couple serves tea to their parents is one I highly regard as well. I remember crying bucketloads the day my best friend had to serve tea to her parents, as well as her grand parents who proudly flew all the way from Philippines to see their granddaughter get married. 

Choosing a date for the wedding is one of the utmost important things to do when planning. Here are a couple of traditional rhymes to help you decide:

Monday for wealth
Tuesday for health
Wednesday the best day of all
Thursday for losses
Friday for crosses
Saturday for no luck at all

Married when the year is new, he'll be loving, kind and true.
When February birds do mate, You wed nor dread your fate.
If you wed when March winds blow, joy and sorrow both you'll know.
Marry in April when you can, Joy for Maiden and for Man.
Marry in the month of May, and you'll surely rue the day.
Marry when June roses grow, over land and sea you'll go.
Those who in July do wed, must labour for their daily bred.
Whoever wed in August be, many a change is sure to see
Marry in September's shrine, your living will be rich and fine.
If in October you do marry, love will come but riches tarry.
If you wed in bleak November, only joys will come, remember.
When December snows fall fast, marry and true love will last.

Men planning to propose to their brides on a budget can take a page from the Welsh book of marriage proposals and present their brides to be with a spoon carved out from wood, which the woman has to wear around her neck with a ribbon, as a sign of their engagement! How's that for dodging having to pay thousands of dollars for a diamond ring?

You can also save yourself a massive hangover by doing what the Germans do; instead of holding hen and stag nights, they celebrate by bringing old crockery to throw outside the couple's house. It is believed that broken crockery bring good luck and the more pieces shattered, the more luck the bride and groom will have. Cleaning up would be a feat though!

In Australia, the bride tries for good luck by carrying a horseshoe over their arms.

And instead of throwing a bridal bouquet, single ladies in Peru participate in an activity where a charm is hidden in between the layers of the wedding cake. Strings of ribbon stick out of the cake but only one is tied onto the charm. The woman who pulls on the ribbon with the charm is the one to marry next. 

Tomorrow, more on our day trip to Sweden!

iLove: Mariner's Corner Restaurant & Steakhouse

I can't remember ever being as thankful that it's Friday, as I am today.

After what was a heavy week (well, than usual anyway), I am absolutely gagging to knock off and collapse into bed!

On Tuesday night, I had a couple cheeky vodkas and a refreshing magnum Hoegaarden (with a squeeze of tangy lemon!) during the final pub quiz at Turnstyles Holland Village. Their lease is up and have decided not to continue at Holland Village, focusing on the city bar at Boat Quay and their New Orleans concept restaurant and jazz bar, The Big Easy at Resorts World Sentosa.

Funnily enough, in the last 4 years that Turnstyles has been open at Holland Village, I had never attended a single pub quiz. But boy was I glad that I turned up for the last one - I had a ball of a time! It helps if you've got great company to form a team.

Sadly, our team Wizard Sleeves did not win first place, losing out to the champions of the night by a measly half point but on a lighter note, I am definitely more enthusiastic about participating in more pub quizzes at Turnstyles in the City (45 Circular Road) on Tuesdays. If you think you've got a bright bunch of mates, SMS Neil at 96143004 to reserve a table as their quiz nights are extremely popular with the regulars. Winners will receive attractive prizes!

The Wednesday night that followed saw me at battle with insomnia, resulting in 3 hours of rubbish sleep so I was understandably exhausted by the time I sat down to celebrate the official union of Mr & Mrs Cheshire at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on Thursday. I'm not really one for traditional 10 course Chinese wedding dinners but seriously, the Cod they served definitely made a lasting impression. It was cooked to perfection, with a subtle sweet sauce drizzled over the thick chunks of fish.

I have to say, there were a few things that really disturbed me about the wedding reception last night. One of them was about how rude some of the guests were during the best man's speech. Now, half the guests were expats, seeing as the groom is and the other half, as is Singapore, were made up of a majority of Chinese. As the best man, also an expat, was giving one of the best wedding speeches I've ever heard, not only were the tables with the Chinese guests not even paying attention, they were talking amongst themselves and laughing loudly, their silverware clanging sharply on their dishes. It was as if they were there solely for the food than to be a part of a couple's most special event.

Another thing that really annoyed me (and the other guests I'm sure) was that the hotel banquet staff were serving food and clearing dishes while each of the three video montages were playing on the screens, blocking the view of guests of other tables. I've never managed a hotel banquet before but I would think he should have had the brains to orchestrate timely service that would not disrupt the programme for the evening!

So 10 mini servings of food and what seemed like a barrel of Tiger beer later, I stumbled home and snoozed for 4 hours.

(If you've been paying attention, that's 7 hours in the last 48 hours. You can imagine the mega eye bags this morning.)

I was planning to have a nap at lunchtime this afternoon but my colleagues decided forgo our usual kopitiam noodle lunch for a nicer restaurant steak lunch. They took me to Mariner's Corner Restaurant & Steakhouse (120 Cantonment Road Maritime House #01-02) for the most delicious steak set lunch I've ever had!

They offer different selections of main courses for different days of the week but their New Zealand sirloin steak is available from Monday to Friday for set lunch. We were served garlic bread with a bowl flavourful minestrone soup which arrived almost immediately after we placed our order. The staff were not particularly approachable but they were very organized and worked fast.

The steak arrived just moments after we were finished with our soup. The 200g of grilled beef was laid seductively on a bed of roasted potatoes, soft buttered carrots and green beans. The thick, dark mushroom gravy was admittedly the most delicious steak sauce I've ever tasted. I requested for mine to be done medium rare but it arrived more red in the centre than I would have preferred. Nevertheless, it was absolutely delicious and I took my time to enjoy it, which was a good 5 minutes more than everyone else. They were even worried that I was struggling to finish it but like a good girl I eventually did.

We were expecting the dessert to be some store bought spongecake or cheap vanilla ice-cream but were pleasantly surprised when they served us bowls of creme caramel with a light golden syrup coating. My colleagues were kind enough to mention the hidden raisins and I unglamorously fished them out of my pudding before diving into the light, silken custard.

And guess how much lunch cost me? $11.90 inclusive of taxes and service charge!

If you work around the area, I urge you to call and make reservations! With all the typical local fare from the variety of food centres to choose from day to day, this cosy, understated little steakhouse will be a welcome change.

And thank God it is officially the end of my work day and it's time to go home because after such a filling lunch and the air conditioning at full blast, all I can think of is sleep.

Hen Night Planning.

I've officially hit the window where almost everyone around me is getting married and having babies.

I love weddings, I really do. I've spent years taking down mental notes, clipping magazines and compiling them in thick, heavy binders in my mind. I love attending weddings - well, a certain sort of wedding anyway; I've found some to be quite impersonal and void of all the essence that would drive two crazy people to commit to a lifetime together to begin with.

But you really spend your whole life attending weddings, even as a child. You watched your siblings, aunts and uncles, even cousins tie the knot in your sunday best. There's cake and other children to run wild with, much to the delight of the adults who then have some time to socialize with other adults, to save their sanity. What's really new to me is, on the other hand, hen nights!

Planning a successful hen night is just not as simple as that of a stag do. Mapping out a pub crawl for a bunch of rowdy men, wired and ready to drink away their consciousness just won't do. Not to mention, the bride-to-be we're honouring this weekend is much too tasteful for cheap tequila shots and a male stripper! (There aren't any fantastic ones worth the money in Singapore, from what I've heard!)

I actually began writing this post with intentions on researching and sharing with you the quirkiest hen party ideas but as I was googling I found everything much too cheesy!

I went online and found a bunch of games, props and costumes for inspiration. Everything from cheeky shot glasses, bright pink satin sashes dripping in crystals, tiaras, dare games... the works, but nothing was particularly genius.

So, since I've got my dream (future) wedding down to tiniest details, I figured I should probably give my hen night a thought too!

My ideal hen party would definitely have to take place in a gorgeous cliff top sea view villa in Bali.

My darling girlfriends and I will be treated to hours upon hours of pampering body scrubs, relaxing body massages, rejuvenating facials and all the other simple pleasures in a woman's life.

Every evening we would dine at sunset, either on the beach or with a view of the beach. Pina Coladas and Mojitos all around!

And after the 12th dinner cocktail, my entourage and I would adjourn to one of the many night clubs and dance the night away. What's more, we could party comfortably in our beach dresses and flip fops! No sore feet from 4 inch stilettos! (Nothing the masseuse couldn't take care of the next morning...)

Then, repeat cycle the next day! And who knows... I may even stay on to get married in Bali!

Is it inevitable we're back to fantasizing the dream wedding again? (It's a job hazard, having come from an events background, I'm telling you!)

Naaaaaaahhhhhhh! Being young and single is way too fun to give it up... for now. (;