"Traditional" Wedding Planning in Singapore.

Like most of the Singaporean, I have the same problem when asked about our tradition and culture in Singapore. Most countries can easily talk about their traditional practices, costumes or even food. But when I try to point out some of the stuff, it seems to me and many others that most of those items mentioned actually belongs to some where else.

This is Miss Sweden.

This is Miss Japan.

And this is my very good friend Miss Singapore but I have no idea what is she wearing as well.

I am not complaining and neither do I not see the fact that Singapore has it's own flavor in the art scene as well as certain heritage sites, moreover we can't deny the fact that Singapore is just a very young country - just celebrated it's 47th birthday in fact. Of course we will always joke about Singapore's culture being Kiasu and the national language of Singlish. 

That being said, I realize that many Singaporean has drifted apart from a lot of traditions including myself. There are a lot of things that we will "bo chup"( not give a damn) about especially when it's too troublesome.

One of the biggest thing that I have been trying to "siam"( Avoid) is the traditional wedding ceremony. I have this crazy idea about the fact that we do not need big "wayang" (Opera, putting up a show) just to entertain family members and what not. And especially the very painful morning pre-tea ceremony gate crashing.

It suddenly dawn upon me that we have no idea what is this "tradition" all about. When asked about why must we do certain things like the typical "酸甜苦辣“ the most common answer I got was actually "It's standard mah." so who started this "Standard?" And funny enough my mum mentioned how much she really hated this as to her is that on a wedding day it is suppose to be a happy occasion and why must they "吃苦"? So clue one to me was apparently it didn't go THAT much of a way back since my mum from the 50s didn't really agree to this act?

I did a small survey on my "public" facebook of a "very public" sample size of 1.2k and I've gotten some really interesting replies.

Most of my friends were saying that it's silly, humiliating and really just to put up a show but of course on the other hand I do have some very interesting and sweet replies too.

According to Jacky, it's to remind the couple so to cherish their r/s.

To summarize my brother's wall of text : It used to be meaningful but now it has evolved to a stage where people lost the tradition of it and just trying too hard to top each other. And I pretty much agree what he is saying here.

I like how Tristan talks about it. He makes the whole ceremony feels really sweet.

My favorite reply goes to Melvin. He shows so much positive energy about this whole thing. He actually can't wait to go through it. I wish I had some of his positive energy. And nope, I am not being sarcastic for once.  And this picture was from his pre-tea ceremony/gate crashing games. He looks really cool actually.

Singapore Nerf Wedding!

Other than Melvin, I remembered I have stumble upon some really outstanding wedding gate crashing pictures on facebook before thus I did a little research for the purpose of this blogpost.

From Oneeyeclick,wordpress.com

Singapore Star wars Wedding.

In my opinion this is one of the best looking one.

From http://www.melvinho.biz

Singapore Slam Dunk Wedding.

One of my favorite comic ever but this outfit? erm...

From http://weddingtweets.com.sg/

Singapore Super Hero Wedding.

Erm... I wonder how many of the brothers can they remember ten yrs down the road. 

And Finally, the most recent spawned on facebook:

Counter Strike Wedding.

And my favorite quote for this pictures goes to @CTham with "I do not negotiate with Terrorist."

I stop and ask myself, did social media plays a part in this gatecrashing game "tradition"? Didn't gate crashing use to be something very simple? Did Singaporean get more creative or did their ego got bigger and they just wanted to top each other and be featured on facebook or STOMP? 

This is definitely on the top of the pyramid no? 

I know, some people out there might say things like "comon, it's just a morning of games, grow some balls and just do it.", "You are just a cry baby." Especially for the girls, easy to say "just do it man." 

So my question is very simple: 

Turn the table around, u girls reached at 4am to realize that we the boys have reached at 3.30am to lock u girls outside. In order to go in to help your sister makeup and all.. you have to play 5 games which includes jumping around, wearing a bra outside, eating some nonsense that your tummy can never take it, other sister grabbing your tits and licking another girl's where ever. How steady will you be to help your friend get married?

I am not saying I will never do it, neither am I saying I am a fan of it but I just can't get pass myself as of now to be doing it very happily. What's your thought on this tradition of gatecrashing games? 

Mr.Smith, I will find the time machine and then find the bugger who started this.