a wedding!
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-seven years and one million words
This evening we attended the wedding for which we'd come to Hong Kong in the first place.
It was a surprisingly simple affair, despite drawing over two hundred guests. There was an exchange of vows, a speech by the officiator, and one ro two brief speeches by members of the wedding party. And that's it! I know there were some ceremonies held behind the scenes, and that the bride in particular had to go through various rituals. But for us guests it was engaging and just about the right duration.
The two big highlights of the night were the fantastic dinner buffet, and the ceremonial throwing of the groom into the pool.
The food was of seemingly inexhaustible variety and supply. I don't know how many plates full of food I had in an attempt to sample it adequately, but I'm sure the number was disgraceful. Let's call it six. The various meats, salads, sea food, desserts, other meats, dips, soups and meat dishes were numerous and delicious, made to perfection. And the wine provided by the groom and his best man was probably the best I've ever tasted. I'm not a wine afficionado, but it was one of those red wines that just seems to fulfill the entire premise where so many don't.
I'm sure that someone was bankrupted in putting that buffet on for two hundred guests. This wasn't just anywhere, either: it was the Grand Hyatt!
As for Andrew winding up in the pool, well, I deny any culpability. I didn't take place in any before-hand planning, nor in the execution. I certainly didn't make sure that the groom wasn't wearing his jacket ("hey, can I try on your jacket?") or carrying any electronics, nor was I in fact one of the four individuals heaving him by a limb into the pool. Nope. In fact, as I recall events, it was all Éva and Yaguchi-san's cunning plan and the people carrying it out were Michelle's grandmother, two waiters and um, my son.
I'm sure that Richard, Tom, Jon, and Kieran would agree.