Too many things on this newlywed’s mind, so they’d become, forgetful, and, it will surely, become a great story to tell in the future, translated…
“Do All Taiwanese Hold Weddings in These Sorts of Places?”, Mr. V Told, of How Out-of-Breath He Was, Standing in the Middle of the Paddy Field, with Nothing Around Him, Only an Old-Style House Close by…
A Marriage Banquet, in the Middle of a Field?
As I received the wedding invitation from the Dutch girl, I was truly happy for her, her fiancée, Mark was from Wales, extremely good looking, I can’t wait to see how he looks in his suit, such a sight for sore eyes he is…ahhhhhhh, my bad, they’re more than blessed, to have found one another.
from the papers…
The day before the wedding, the Dutch girl invited me to stay over at her home, to help her with her wedding final touches: baking over a hundred cupcakes, but, I’m no good in the kitchen, so all I can do, was to help put on the whipped cream topic, but, I still couldn’t manage to squeeze out the acceptable-looking toppings, so, I was told, to do some manual labor instead.
I’d helped Mark loaded up the items needed for his wedding into the back of the car, he’d slammed the trunk down hard, then, I’d heard, a very loud yelp. He’d, slammed the trunk on his own five fingers! So awful, how was he, to fit into his wedding band tomorrow? Gladly, all of his swollen fingers, his ring finger didn’t suffer that much damage, it’d, scared me, half to death.
That very morning, the bride was getting her hair done, the groom was on something else, I’d gone to sightsee with the bride’s family at a nearby park, planned to return to the hotel by one in the afternoon. Although, it was just a regular park near the hotel, but, it’s so huge, it felt like a forest instead, the dozen of us were in high spirits, chatting and walking along, when we’d come to, we were, totally, lost! And it was, 12:30, is this, the time, to get lost? We still need to show up for the wedding! If we can’t find our ways back, then, the bride’s parents, sisters, along with aunt, uncle great aunt, great uncle, dad’s best friend, mom’s best friend………thankfully, we’d, bumped into a kind soul, led us back to the parking lot, and, we’d made the wedding, cutting it too close.
photo from online…
The dinner was a buffet, I’d carried my plate, saw that mountain of cupcakes I’d helped out with, I’d looked for the ones I’d made—all went to the bottom, used as the base, ha!
There was one more experience, that I was at the wedding of my dearly beloved Mr. S’s laboratory coworkers in Taiwan. Those who were invited were friends from all over, like, Mr. V, was Mr. S’s close buddy, they’d known one another at work, and personally.
The location was outside the urban area of Taoyuan, it took us a long cab ride to get there. But, as we all showed up, Mr. V was nowhere to be found. We’d called him, and heard, that he was, panting by a rice paddy field, with nothing close by, only a small house, “Do all Taiwanese people hold weddings in this sort of a place?”, I was shocked, asked how he got there? Mr. V insisted that he’d handed the correct address to the cabdriver. “Where did you get the address?”, “From the grad student in the lab.”, I’d turned my head around, asked that grad student, “What address did you give Mr. V?”, he’d replied, matter-of-factly, “the address of the sender of the wedding notices!”
Ahhhhhhhh, you mean, the home address for the bride?
Reconfirming the location, Mr. V told, that Google Map showed, that it’s going to take him another whole hour to get there, told us not to wait for him. And still, just fifteen minutes since we’d entered into the banquet place, we saw Mr. V, with messy hair, sweating all over, arriving, his rarely ironed shirt was, without a dry spot.
Didn’t he say it would take him another hour? Mr. V said, gloating, as he was running fast down the rice paddies, there came honking from behind him, he saw a black car following him, with the bride, the groom, inside, waving at him………
A Guest Who’d Been Forgotten One Time Too Many
Recently, it was, Langkawi in Malaysia, to attend another wedding of Mr. S’s.
It was a hard-to-come-by opportunity, we’d relaxed for a few days in Malaysia first, then, checked into the five-star hotel where the wedding was supposed to be, Mr. S hugged onto his cell so tightly, fearing that he may miss any messages sent by the bride. But odd, there was, no news, didn’t we “hear”, that we’re all going to get together for a meal? Didn’t we “hear’, that we’re getting together for drinks and chat? So, it was, just the two of us, to the beach, for our romantic seaside supper first.
the rehearsal dinner, photo from online…
As we’d walked into the hotel lobby, there were, a group of foreigners, gathering around, walking closer, it was, the bride and groom! As the bride saw us, she’d started screaming from excitement, said she didn’t know when we’d arrived, then asked Mr. S if he’d received the message. What message?
The bride told us, that they’re going to get some dinner first, then, at nine, we should all head over to her suite to chat and drink. Okay, no problem!
And still, we’d, waited until ten thirty, Mr. S’s glare was about to break through his cell, no news. Oh well, forget it, let’s go to bed then, at least, we know, that we are to meet up in the lobby at four in the afternoon tomorrow. But I couldn’t help but mumbled, “Odd, these sorts of international invitations are usually of friends who are meaningful to the bride and the groom, how come we don’t know a thing, and are, forgotten?”, Mr. S who’s usually even tempered spoke too, if we were forgotten again, then, he will only wear his swim trunks to the wedding tomorrow!
The second before we drifted off into dreams, the phone ring, the bride called to invite us to her room to drink and chat, remember, it’s room 4032!
We’d waited, outside 4032, rang the door bell until it was about to break, nobody was there. As we’re, giving up, the bride rushed towards us, from the other end of the hall, and asked us with that look of question, why we’re there? Ahh, she’d told us wrong, it was, room 2032!
As we entered, everybody Mr. S knew was there, everybody was about to plan the games to torture the groom and the bride at the wedding tomorrow, the items needed for the celebration. Everybody was happy, holding conversations, making fun, looking at the mess inside the bride’s room, I’m sure, that the wedding tomorrow will be, fun!
The next day, I went out with Mr. S, at two thirty in the afternoon, we started changing clothes, getting ready. All of a sudden, the bride called, asked us how come we’d not shown up for the ushering in of the bride at eight in the morn? I saw Mr. S’s jaw dropped, said that we didn’t even know. The bride told us, oh, that’s fine then, I’d forgotten to tell you about that, but, I’ll see you at the wedding at five then.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm, we were, forgotten, again.
The wedding was held on a beautiful beach, simple, romantic, and majestic. Finally, the most important moment was here: the newlyweds are about to, exchange rings, everybody had their cameras, cell phone, video recorders, zooming in.
But the ring? What ring? The newlyweds looked at one another, there wasn’t, any ring!
The wedding planner rolled her eyes, went back to the hotel, to look for the wedding bands, at the same time, Mr. S lowered his voice, said to me, “If they’d forgotten about their own wedding bands they’re supposed to exchange, then, it’s no big deal, that they’d, forgotten us.”
Yup, he’s, absolutely right!
So, maybe, it’s, due to the stresses of the wedding, the excitement, that this newlywed became, forgetful, but, forgetting their wedding bands, that’s just too, out there, but hey, it’s a wedding, where anything goes, and everything unexpected can, happen, and, it’s a pretty good way, to start off your lives together, with these sorts of funny things…………
Life, the Obstacle Course 