A Night of Masquerade Mania

I did it again; I have donned on that mask again for my annual dinner and dance this year after the last masquerade party in my company.
This year, in this company, they also decided to choose the masquerade theme for their yearly function.
I don't get it, what's with the masking effect where you can't even show your face to the public?

On a lighter note, I am intrigued by the fancy dresses and costumes inspired by this theme since the Renaissance period and who will not think of the Phantom of the Opera when the word masquerade is mentioned?
Made popular by the movie and the mystic feel of this theme, it has been widely used as the themes in most parties and even corporate functions!

In the earlier months, our HR has already circulated emails to seek the opinions of all the employees on their favored themes for the upcoming annual event. We were required to vote from 3 themes:
1. Masquerade Mania
2. Carribean
3. Exotic Hawaiian or something like that

No prize for anyone who guessed the finalized theme; since I've already revealed it in the post title.
I was stunned for a while when they announced the results as last year, yeah, just last year, I went through the Masquerade night as part of the organizing team!!
Yeah, I was sort of the theme style-design choreographer in my organizing team and was in charge of the deco, posters, layout and even tickets design!
Needless to say, I was definitely in the know about this theme.

I was looking forward to something more new, exciting and interesting; something which I've never experienced, oh well, I just decided why not, go ahead and let's see what they have in store this year.
After all, new environment, new people and I am not even in the organizing team!

For a change, it's back in my hometown this year where I have my beloved family members to give their opinions on my attire, etc and I can give my wardrobe a big hug, something to cheer about, eh?:)

I arrived on Thursday night; late night flight as the following Friday morning, there was another scheduled event in another hotel.
We even get to go off at 3pm to get ready for the dinner and dance!
(That was actually the cool part; although I doubt that we'd have enough time to prepare for the dinner; especially the ladies...hairdo, make-up, dressing up, etc etc)

Great for me, this year I didn't want to waste my money and time on all these; as I dread the horrendous traffic should I get stuck after all that wonderful work.
Furthermore, my 'sisters' are not around so half the fun's gone!

I had plenty of time; and I was on time despite the matching of my shoes, bags, hairdo, etc to snap a picture of myself before I headed out the door.

It rained rather heavily that evening; kinda dampened my spirits a little....remember that song sung in Grease?
~ It's raining, on prom night...my hair is a mess... It's raining, it's raining...oh oh oh~~

Yeah, baby, exactly how I felt at that time, although I wouldn't want my hair to be a mess!
Due to the heavy downpour as well, the traffic was rather bad! Bummer


I arrived there on time and was greeted by wonderful environment; which made me feel like a princess.
After all, this is Mandarin Oriental; one of the 5-stars hotel in the capital city!
I walked up the spiral stairway which was covered with red carpet all the way; wow, talk about extravagance!

I was considered the early birds; judging by the crowd at that time.

I was led to the registration table; and the deco were so cool, isn't it?
I love the way they formed this magical gifts tree; which they used to hang all the door gifts on it.
Great idea; noted...

They even have a hall of fame!

You stand behind this make-up backdrop, which was lined with red carpet(again!) and you get your picture taken by a professional photographer and you will get the hardcopy of your photo printed and embedded within a memorable photo frame later.
FOC!!
Talk about stardom; this is ultimate Hollywood-nism man!

A peek into the Grand Ballroom; admittance was restricted before the start of the function



Taking a good look around, there were so many interesting costumes around!!

These people are really into the theme huh; I bet they spent $$ and time on their make-ups and attires.
I am impressed by the good sports in these people, who took the effort to appreciate the theme!


The Mask of Zorro!

And his friend, Sor Lou? (No pun intended; and no offense)

I applaud the cool factor in these gentlemen; for dressing up for this event.
I could cry tears if I was the organizer to see so many theme-abiding folks this year; compared to my last party.

Look, I spotted another cool guy who donned a Renaissance costume; kinda like Francis Light/Stamford Raffles or those Victorian styles back then (as my bro said)


This is what I call STYLE!


I couldn't resist taking a pic with this German guy who was obviously the center of everyone's attention!


And I love this girl's mask, which was DIY from the white mask frame given by the company!



They even had a magician; a rather amateur one but nevertheless an entertaining guy who makes an effort to keep the crowd happy:)


And this is our President; a sporting guy who also made his own black and white mask:)


Some random pics of my colleagues; we traipsed through the red carpet and also cam-whoring everywhere!






Finally, the start of the event at about 8.30pm
The ballroom doors were opened and there was a loud chiming of the opening beats of the Phantom of the Opera song!
(That was the idea I proposed to my team last year! But it was banned, saying that this was such a sad tune:(
I am glad my idea was rather creative after all; I should be an event organizer, huh?:)

Lovely lovely.....I loved the settings

We marched into the ballroom; and the ladies were greeted by costume-fitted servers who handed us fresh roses from their baskets (the roses had slightly wilted; but I was still thrilled by the extravagant welcome:)

They had a big mask on the stage; which was also the same thing I thought of my annual dinner last year; and I even used that for our opening ceremony!

Lightings were dim, and laser lights were beamed around the room

There were light scented candles with petals of roses on our dining tables; which were arranged in long tables


They even had an amplified voice of the Phantom which gave the opening boom and the orders that everyone is to have fun and nothing but fun for the whole night!


Did I mention how much I was enjoying the night?
The deco, the settings, the music, and the food was buffet style; and they had the courtesy to let the ladies to the buffet line first before the gentlemen.

There were so many performances and games that night; and the lucky draw prizes were cool as well.
Only bummer; I didn't win anything despite the beautiful number I had on my ticket:(


Oh well, they had additional draws the week after, and I still won something - consolation prize:)
So, better than nothing.

This was definitely a night to remember!
*But please, no more Masquerade themes*

I was told that this event was partly organized by an event planner and I was thinking, hey, most of the ideas were similar to mine....hehe, am I qualified or what?
Just some wishful thinking:)

An Indian Engagement

Following the invitation of our fellow colleague who also happened to be one of our good friend in our GPTW fun gang, we headed off to Ipoh last Saturday in 4 cars ferrying the troop of 16 of us to attend his engagement ceremony and also to take the opportunity of touring Ipoh town.
Although only half of the gang arrived earlier for the Ipoh tour, the rest of us made it to join them for a meal at Old Wong Bean Sprouts Chicken later in the evening.

Led by Jlo, our tour guide who hailed from the same state though from different town, we found our way to the Hindu temple which was located in Tambun.
To me, it was totally a new experience since this was the first time I attended an engagement party. I have attended an Indian wedding ceremony before; one of my Standard 1 and my favourite teacher of all time when I was very young:)

We almost lost our way there but finally we reached the temple after passing by a church, a mosque and even a Buddhist temple!! But undeniably, we did go on a mild goose chase following our guide!

We reached there at a good time; just right before the commencement of the ceremony:)

The view of the temple



At the main entrance of the hall next to the temple; the place where the engagement ceremony will be taking place.


The main temple


And this is our friend; Shiva the groom :)

He was definitely beaming and truly elated as he greeted us with such a welcoming smile upon our arrival:D
We were definitely the only group of Chinese and Malay at his engagement:D

There was a crowd which gathered at the main hall of the temple as well


Of course, we headed there to check out the commotion as well:)


I was fascinated by the sight of the glittering items greeting me as I approached the side of the concourse area at the temple.

It seemed that these items were gifts which will be presented to the bride and are offered by the groom as part of the engagement process prior to the wedding.

The engagement ceremony is one of the ceremonies to be held at least a few months preceding the wedding and during this time, the bride and groom will exchange gifts with each other.

It is still a common practice in the Indian community to seek arranged marriages; where the parents will still intervene in finding their life partner and deciding on the right person for their offsprings. The boy and girl will then be allowed to meet and if they like each other, the date of the engagement and wedding will then be set.
According to the Indian custom, there will be a few prevailing ceremonies prior to the wedding but the engagement ceremony will be viewed as the most important since it marks the initial point of the marriage.

Gifts from the groom can mount up to 51 items as the maximum.

These include gifts in the form of sweets, chocolates, garments, accessories or whichever items deemed appropriate by the groom to be presented to his future wife.

The gifts will be placed on trays which will then be carried by the groom's family to be blessed before the presentation to the bride.

The groom's family and relatives are now getting ready to proceed to the hall with the gifts.


Led by the sounds of the drums and also musical instruments,the troop from the groom's family formed the line of congregation who will slowly march towards the hall for the presentation of the gifts followed by the groom.



At the entrance of the hall


The groom's family presented the gifts and placed them on the stage centre where a holy man sat and chanted prayers over the gifts.



Towards the end of the prayers, the groom will make his way up to the stage to await the arrival of the bride; or his fiancee.


The bride appeared soon after; to receive the gift of the garments upon which she will return to the room again to change into the new garments given to her by her fiance.

She was a stunning beauty who had such beautiful and delicate features:)

During this time, as the bride left the stage to the changing room, there will be servings of the sweets and goodies from the groom's family to the guests as a token of appreciation for their attendance.

The first one was this Sweet; coated with peanuts and sugar...according to my friends, it was REALLY Sweet!:p

This was the sweet glutinous rice in brown sugar:)



How can they resist taking photo of themselves to steal some limelight from the focus of the night?:p


The bride; fully clothed in the new garments and also with garlands, descending from the stage.

The bride joined the procession from her family to head to the stage to join the groom again to acknowledge the gifts presented and also at the same time, for the exchanging of the gold rings.




After the exchanging of rings, the elders from both families will take turns to anoint them with their blessings. The married elders will then mark the pottu (dot) on their foreheads; the red ones to mark their union.


And we also took the opportunity to convey our heartiest congratulations to the new couple on their engagement...

But of course, since all of us were singles, we are not allowed to mark the dot on the couple's foreheads.

The gifts on the stage


After the ceremony, the guests were invited for the dinner banquet prepared by the hosts.
It was truly an eye-opener for me as I learnt much more about the Indian customs in marriages.
It seems that there are 16 ceremonies one must go through in their lifetime and marriage happens to be the 13th. In this important ceremony(engagement), the bride and her family will be taking charge of the logistics and also the arrangement of the entire ceremony. The groom will only be handling the gifts and presentation.
Therefore, it is no wonder that the crowd at the engagement ceremony was made up of more than 60% from the bride's relatives and family compared to the 20-30% from the groom.
However, the wedding ceremony would command an equal attendance from both sides.
An interesting knowledge gained which again, highlighted the colors of the multi-cultural society:)