Monday 21 December 2009

Joyful Christmas

We throw a pre-Christmas festive party for my family, altogether 10 of us..Woww, we had roasted pork instead of traditional turkey with potatoes, parnips, cauliflower, broccoli, sweetcorn and peas.

We bought 2.805kg pork from our local farm at St. Alban, simply roast the pork with pinch of salt in oven at 220C for 30 minutes, then 160C till cooked (add 30 minutes cooking time to every 500g of meat). We peeled 2.5kg potatoes and 1.5kg parnips to roast in goose fat (yummy and smelling really nice).

Our dessert, Woodland fruits strudel with Vanilla and toffee ice-cream served with blueberries.

We enjoyed our food very much and compliment to the chef, Tim. We did the traditional bit by pulling Christmas cracker crossed hands, decorating our first Christmas tree and a White Christmas meal :-)



Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow (Frank Sinatra's song playing in my mind, feel very X'masty) Looking forwards for White Christmas :-)

Kissing Under Christmas Mistletoe

There are several stories to explain how the tradition of kissing under the Mistletoe began.
It is said that it began from the Greek festival of Saturnalia.
It has also been seen that Mistletoe was used primitive marriage rites, as it was believed that Mistletoe had the power to confer fertility.

Thus, another belief associated with the Mistletoe is that it is blessed with 'life-giving' powers. This belief has certainly been derived from the legend of Balder and Frigga. Scandinavian people regard Mistletoe to be a carrier of peace and thus, people coming under it, had to make up or declare ceasefire, at least temporarily.

However it was in 18th century in England that the concept of 'kissing ball' was introduced. Since then, it was made a ritual that if any young lady was caught under the ball of Mistletoe, she could not refuse to be kissed. This ritual is still prevalent in many European countries and even Canada. Kissing under the Mistletoe is an art in itself and thus, you need to be well prepared for the have to catch or you are caught by, someone under the mistletoe.

It is about a healthy exchange of love and good wishes, so if you are apprehensive about it, you can simply refuse.

Friday 18 December 2009

Wedding Reception


Bohooo........... everything went beautifully as planned. Everybody like the idea of "bubbles" (cheerful and happy vibe all over the air) and "surreal" rose promander entrance.





We have a modest reception at Thai Fusion, with live broadcast to Malaysia.
Like the children facial expression while skype online!
My lovely niece, Rachel and mom
We have lots of compliment on our food selection and everybody enjoyed the meal with jazz music background.









There was a tiny hole on my floor skimming wedding gown hemline, therefore I changed to modern Chinese Cheong-sam.












This is our lovely decorated three tiers cake. The roses and butterflies complement each other well.


We followed Chinese cultural tradition by giving red packets (ang pau) to the children and unmarried sibling. The western kids were very amused and grateful for the "ang pau". Most of them "show and tell" at school.


Here, come the guest .......

We had the most grateful and wonderful day of our life. We would like to thank you all our guest for taking extra miles to travel early in Saturday morning in order to witness our church ceremony. Lovely to see them at our wedding and thank you very much for their helps and kind gifts.

Tuesday 1 December 2009

Signing of Marriage Certificate






Wooden mantel clock at 11:40am, signing 5 copies of Marriage certificate. We need two witnesses to verify our signatures.






Mike Ffrench Lynch (Best man)

David CW Chin (My elder brother)

Wedding Ceremony



Its all happened so fast, after all we are ready to say our wedding vows and exchanging of the wedding rings as husband and wife. Service started at 11:15am and finished 12 midday.



The Entrance : Jeremiah Clarke (Prince of Denmark's March/Trumpet Voluntary
I hardly noticed the background music while walking down the aisle and trying to slow down. Unfortunately, we marched through quietly without peeping at the guests standing for our entrance.

Saying our marriage vows : Charles announced "Tim and Siew Fun, I now invite you to join hands and make your vows, in the presence of God and his people"

“I, Timothy Niall Ffrench Lynch, take you, Siew Fun Chin, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part; according to God's holy law. In the presence of God I make this vow”

Vice-versa on my side, saying our vows to each other strengthen our love.



Tim placed the ring on my fourth finger, holding it and declared: "Siew Fun, I give you this ring as a sign of our marriage. With my body, I honour you, all that I am I give to you, and all that I have I share with you, within the love of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit"
Holding Tim fourth finger I suddenly feel clumsy and blurted: "Tim, I give you this ring as a sign of our marriage. With my body, I honour you, all that I am I give IT to you, and all that I have I share with you, within the love of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit"
So, who care if I said it my way and Tim thought this add a little character to our vow.




We remain kneed while The Reverend Charles blessing our marriage in front of God, witnessed by families, relatives and friends.

Charles anounced the dismissal and we marched slowly down the aisle as husband and wife.

The Recession : George Frideric Handel (Water Music/Hornpipe)

Honestly speaking, I like both scroll of music we chosen and the readings mean so much to us.

Wedding at St. John's Church, Harpenden 24-10-2009




















Curate The Reverend Charles Burch, David, Madeline, Christine

Traditionally, bride is not suppose to be seen by others before the wedding ceremony. Therefore, I've been hiding in the church hall. On our way to main church and seeing my husband-to-be (Tim) as well as families, relatives and friends for the first time.

Madeline, my lovely flower girl scattered red rose petals while we were walking down the aisle.
My elder brother, David Chin giving me away at the church ceremony.

It was a raw drizzling rain in the morning of Saturday, 24th October, 2009.
There is an old saying that rain on your wedding day is a lucky omen. The Italians even have a saying for it, "Sposa bagnata, sposa fortunata", which means that a wet bride is a lucky bride. In the U.S., it is commonly repeated that rain is lucky.

Although it was drizzling and raining in between, we enjoyed and survived the day beautifully. Everyone have a wonderful time and mingled along well till 5:30pm.

Rain is also considered to be a good wedding omen in Germany, Sweden, and France. This is possibly because rain is associated with a bountiful harvest, and thus, fertility. Some believe that the rainier the wedding day, the more children the marriage will produce. Blessed!