celebrating jonathan and priscilla

The rituals for the wedding may have begun earlier, but the first I heard about was the installation of the bridal bed - this occurred during the boat trip on Saturday, with Grandma and aunts going to the couple's house.  Saturday evening, a dinner was held with all attending members of both maternal and paternal sides of Jonathan's family, celebrating his last night as a bachelor.  After dinner, Grandma performed the traditional hair-combing ceremony with Auntie Madeline reading the blessings.

hair combing ceremony

5 girl cousins (queenie, janine, vince, felicia, and me) with uncle fred

Sunday morning I went for a walk, down to Des Voeux Road and back up to Bonham Road.  I discovered that I could get free wireless internet while standing outside of Grandma's building.  Just before noon we were picked up by a chauffeur and taken to Uncle Fred and Auntie Yvonne's house for a buffet lunch.  Much of the family was there, and lunch was followed by the tea ceremony for the Ng side of the family.

waiting for our ride

after enjoying lunch - uncle admond, auntie maggie, grandma, auntie madeline, uncle victor

the all-important couple arrives!

with grandma and #3 (jonathan's parents)

with #4, #7, #8, and #9

After the tea ceremony, we returned to Grandma's so she could nap and I could study for a bit.  Then we were taken to the wedding venue - the exclusive Hong Kong club.  Canapes and cocktails were served, and then the ceremony took place.

saying their vows

cutting the cake

We headed over to the Mandarin Oriental a block away for the wedding banquet - a small, intimate family affair of only 16 tables (more than 160 people!!).  Delicious food was enjoyed by all, and there were speeches by both Priscilla's and Jonathan's parents.  Toward the end, we got a few photos of the cousins together - except Jonathan, since he and Priscilla were busy thanking and greeting their guests.

a photo with the radiant bride

grandma isn't looking, i hope someone else got a better shot

9 of the 14 cousins - alan, vince, joyce, wilson, and jonathan are missing

I left with Grandma to go back to her flat, pack, and get a little sleep while some of the others went out for karaoke with the bride and groom.  I woke up at 5 am Monday to catch a taxi to the Airport Express train station in Central, had plenty of time to catch my 8 am flight.  The return flights were fairly bumpy, but not too bad.  I was even blessed with an empty middle seat next to me on the long flight from Tokyo back to Atlanta, although I was unable to study because I got a headache each time I tried to concentrate.  All in all, it was a wonderful trip, 100% worth the school stress, travel time, and fuzzy-headed jet lag that is currently slowly fading away.  I survived my exam Tuesday and am now back in the swing of things, planning my next hike, preparing for my short-term clinical for two weeks after Thanksgiving, and getting ready to move out and drive back to California in December to spend the first 2/3 of 2013 on the West Coast.