As soon as I set foot in the North Hall of Cempaka Cheras, the smell of orchids and lilies hit me. It smelled wonderfully fragrant and I began to feel that the whole evening was to be an extraordinary one. The whole hall was decked out in flowers, themed in yellow and white.

What caught one's attention first, however, was Datin Freida. She flitted from table to table, straightening every flower to perfection, smoothing out the tablecloth just so. Tonight, she was not Datin Freida, chairman of Cempaka Group of Schools. Tonight, she was Datin Freida, mother of Raphael Hamzah, the bridegroom. She was everything you would imagine a mother to be the afternoon before her son’s wedding. Of course everything had to be perfect!

As expected, the entertainment was exactly right as well. Had you looked into the hall at any time between 4 to 7 pm, you would have found Julie Chan, Veronica Chia and Leon Ang performing a catchy upbeat tune or two, Jes Ebrahim serenading a delighted audience of CPAC teachers, or maybe Ng Jo Anne singing a slow, sentimental love song accompanied by the Cempaka Strings Ensemble. Considering this was just the rehearsal, there was no doubt that the actual performances would rise magnificently to the grand occasion that was the wedding.

The bride made a grand entrance into the hall, being led by a group of violinists playing ‘Air’. The bride and groom seated themselves on the ‘pelamin’ and the traditional rites were performed. Guests were then treated to a scrumptious dinner of various ethnicities. The performances started soon after, and true to expectations, they certainly left a great impression on the guests.

Then, Dato’ Hamzah stepped up to the podium to say a few words as the father of the groom. With his wife beside him, he delivered a heart-warming speech and even managed to crack a few jokes – mostly at his own expense – that left the audience chortling. When it was Datin Freida’s turn to address the guests and the married couple, there were several teary eyes in the house as she advised her son and new daughter-in-law. She told them that as long as they loved each other truly, no other obstacles would prove too difficult to overcome together.

The evening was definitely an astounding success. The performances were pulled off without any glitches, speeches were heartfelt, and outside the hall you could hear one lady commenting on the exquisiteness of the bride’s dress, or one of the teachers singing praises about Annatasha Saifol’s performance. The event would definitely be the wedding that people looked back on to say, “That’s exactly how I want my wedding to be”.

Congratulations, Encik Raphael, from all of us!