Part 2

So if you remember, we had 2 wedding dinners in Penang and Ipoh respectively after the wedding reception in KL. These dinners required the traditional Chinese wear as well.

Choosing a dress for Penang was easy. The close family friend who lent me the dresses also had in his repertoire a traditional chinese "kua" (a wedding costume). It was modest and very pretty - and we even got Shaun a matching Chinese male shirt that he can now wear every Chinese New Year. I also got to wear my favourite flat shoes!

Choosing a dress for Ipoh was a bit more challenging. My parents requested for a traditional Chinese "change of dress" in the middle of the dinner. Since it was the biggest event of the three, (my dad had invited so many people), we reserved the two most "glamorous" ones for Ipoh.

We used this white one for our pre-wedding shots

And this, well, we didn't even get to use.

We hung up the dresses in the dress bags in our living room in preparation for that weekend. Somehow, as we were traveling up to Ipoh for that weekend, we brought the wrong dresses to Ipoh.

It was about two hours before the wedding dinner, when i decided to unzip my dress bag, to take them out to hang, when I realized, they were not there. In that dress bag - were some old dresses.

Shaun and I stood there, a little speechless, a little humoured. We told my mom, whom I thought would throw a fit, but started laughing as well. We all had a good laugh, even my dad.

What do we do? With just 2 hours to the wedding dinner and nothing to wear. All my clothes were in KL.

My mom smiled and pulled me to her room. She said, in a small voice, "You know, I don't know for what reason, last week I was impressed to buy this dress. I thought it was for myself, but after I brought it home, I decided I didn't want to wear it. I don't even know why I bought it. I already had the dress that I wanted to wear for your wedding dinner. Maybe God knew it was meant for you."

And then, my mom pulled out a lovely silver dress out of her cupboard for me.

She then pulled me to another cupboard and said in another small voice, "Here, this is my cheongsam. I wore it only once many years ago and brought it from China. You can wear it."

And she brought out her red cheongsam that I always knew she had but never wears because it's so special to her.

And then out of her cupboard came another item - she gave me a very special old shawl of hers that she kept since her days in Ireland where my parents were dating - to cover up my shoulders.

That night, as we went for the wedding dinner, there was a lot of laughter and tears. There was a lot of walking, moving, and failing to open bottles.

And now looking back, I know why God let me bring the wrong dress bag.

• God had prepared something even more modest for me! (Shaun and I had talked about how my previous dresses were too bling-bling and resembled jewelry, but we didn't know how to get around it)
• God also knew how much I needed to move around that night
• God was trying to teach me, to trust Him even in the clothes that I wear.

I never can repay and thank those family friends (Uncle Daimler, Auntie Vivienne, and Valerie) who not only watched me grow up but also gave so much to our wedding, from the dresses, to the decor, to the planning.

But, I also know that there is just something so special about being able to wear your mother's clothes during your wedding dinner - because you know your mother loved you even when you were in her belly, to now when you have left her home.