Parents Meeting The Parents

It was time for the parents to meet officially. Not counting the time when they met at the airport when Inspector joined my family and I for a trip to Sydney to attend Sis' graduation 3 years ago. Nor the times when my parents went over to visit the new house and also throw oranges and all. So what other better way can we use other than to let them meet during the food tasting session.

It was a moment I dreaded coz I was worried that our parents would not compromise on the food (like earlier on they commented, "Why 8 dishes only?", "Why no prawns?"), on the setting, on the traditions. And with all the hoo-haas that had been going on lately, I was expecting raised voices and black faces by the end of the session.

It turned out really well after all. The parents were really decent and friendly to each other. There were no shouting about. Everyone gave comments about the dishes while I diligently wrote them down on the feedback form. I was too engrossed into taking pictures of the dishes and the setting that I forgot to take pictures of all 10 of us! Darn! We were given some flexibility during the session, like trying out 6 types of Hot & Cold Seasons before deciding the final 4, 2 different types of preparation for the chicken, 3 types of desserts, etc. They also prepared various types of napkin foldings for us to choose from. We could still decide on other choices of dishes should we not like what we tried. The chef took some time to come chit chat with us, to hear some comments, and to taste the cold dessert when we mentioned that it was slightly bitter. We had so much of food to try that most of us were pretty full after the 4th or 5th dish. *lol* The parents agreed that we could make do without the prawn dish and that we will add in some prawn items for the Hot & Cold Seasons.

Food.. Glorious food!

As for the traditions, they have agreed to deliver a small roasted pig and boxes of 'ka lui beng' to the girl's side. Dowry wasn't so much of a concern there, as long as the girl's side were given a few 'tables'. The girl's side will need to prepare a new tea set to bring over to the guy's side for 'jum char' (tea offering) ceremony. As for seating arrangement and the 'angpows', we have reached a compromise that the guests will be categorized into either the girl's side, or the guy's side. So that means we will have to decide who is my friend, who is Inspector's friend. Relatives and colleagues will be seated accordingly, one side is the girl's, the other side is the guy's. But friends will be seated according to however we want, so we get to mix the arrangement, better that way. I do not want to specify that "you are my friend, so you must sit here with the rest of my friends".

So that's all done. Everyone's now looking forward to the ROM (Registration of Marriage) date which is just next month. After the registration, we will all head over to a restaurant Inspector's dad suggested, and seconded by Mum ("The food there very nice. I went there last month", that was what she said). We have finally purchased the bedroom set, minus the wardrobe though (need to scout around for that again). Invitation cards should be out hopefully by end of this week. I have yet to go shopping for the bridesmaids' dresses, or even confirm my own dresses. *Gah*

By the way, wedding pictures are out already. Yay! We collected the CD last weekend whereby from there, we get to choose 60-100 pictures for the album. It was crazy! We did a mixture of progressive and studio shots, all in all, nearly 600 pictures. We had to copy all the pictures into the computer, categorize them into folders and select from there. I see until blur already. Lucky thing is that, both our families (and a few of my friends and colleagues) are roping in to help us decide which shots to select. I'm really thankful for them. ;)