The guests were all their friends only. No relatives other than the immediate family were present. The weekend before a lunch was held at “Asian House” Chinese Restaurant for the relatives. My bloody brother Derek sporting an ear piercing was approached by one of our cousins, “I didn’t know you had an ear piecing?”

Oh yeah have had this for a couple of years. Des has a tongue piercing and Dennis has a penis ring!

The cousin was in a state of shock. Later she approached me, “I didn’t know about that, you know?”

“Oh yeah, its been two years now”, little knowing she was referring to Derek’s lie and I thought she was talking about something else.

The wedding party consisted of both sets of parents only. Because of limited numbers that could ride in the balloon, only the photographer and celebrant were present during the vows which were read a few thousand feet about Byron Bay.

Upon their return, we were all waiting and celebrated their union with a Champagne Breakfast. Both Mary-anne and Vaughn looked stunning and proud parents had huge smiles on their faces. Later the wedding party and families headed to Vaughn’s parents place out near Lismore for a lunch.

Later that night, a huge party was held at the beach house at Fingal Heads. It was informal, yet the house was setup nicely with white tables, fairy lights and a vast array of beers, wine and champagne. Most people arrived via a bus organised by Mary-anne and Vaughn. The bus picked everyone up from various properties around Kingscliff and later would drop them back after midnight.

Catering was provided in the form of a huge BBQ feast which went down a treat with the guests. Two bar staff were also hired to mix and pour cocktails and other drinks.

“Our Journey” wedding slideshow presentation

After dinner, a slide show presentation of the wedding in the balloon and a special clip (see above) on photos of Mary-anne and Vaughn at various stages in their life from an infant to their current lives together. Towards the end of the clip photos depicting all their guests was displayed one by one. Some loud cheers were heard when embarrassing photos were shown.

The party went on til just after midnight when the bus arrived. The timing was perfect too, all the food and drinks had been consumed only half an hour before allowing guests to move on much easily.

Congratulations and best wishes to Vaughn and Mary-anne Hunter!

Afterwards, the tour took us to the Royal Selangor factory where we all had a chance to make our very own pewter bowl. This involved engraving our names on a tin metal plate and then bashing into a shallow bowl. I would have had more success making it into a metal ball. Adrian power hammer throws put a hole in the bottom of his bowl. The factory workers patched his bowl up with a bit of soldering work. Jenesse’s bowl looked better than mine with not so many dimples and dints. The best handiwork was from Liyan, a perfectly smooth bowl. This little pewter workshop session was entertaining and I would recommend it. You get to keep your piece of pewter art and a souvenir workshop apron.

By early evening we had diiner at a Chinese restaurant where we had a banquet and Liyan’s dad offered his wine for the tables. The chilli crab was the highlight, however I found it was too much effort crunching the shell for the prize meat.

That night after the bus dropped us off at the Prince Hotel, some of us went out to the Sky Bar at the Traders Hotel. During the day, this is a swimming pool and recreation area on the 33rd floor. By night it turns into a swish night club. The view of the Petronas Twin Towers is awesome from this vantage point. Despite the high drink prices (expect to pay about 38 ringgits for a beer) the experience is worth it. Because Jenesse and I were lacking sleep from the previous night (I only had 2 hours), we had a drink and excused ourselves.

The next day we woke up late and didn’t bother about trying to make it for breakkie in the hotel. We did a bit of shopping during the day, but the highlight was receiving a 20 minute fish spa, where these little fishies nibble on your feet! It felt like pins and needles and the little buggers tickle the hell out of you. We took a while to stop giggling, but finally got used to the hundreds of fishes swarming around our feet and eating the dead skin.

Shane & Liyan’s wedding reception was at 6:30pm in one of the Prince Hotel’s ballroom. Over 250 guests gathered to celebrate their KL wedding. The banquet was mostly seafood, which included some exotic dishes such as Shark fin soup, Abolone and Sea Cucumber. I liked the Shark fin soup, wasn’t fussed on Abolone and the Sea Cumcumber was almost tasteless but the wobbly jelly looking food was off putting for Jennese and I. The best dish was the Australian Groper, it was cooked to perfection and was very tasty. Other  wedding celebration highlights included a seven tier wedding cake, 3 piece band, an impromptu Chinese style of toasting where the in laws lead the crowd into a sort of two tone cheer but for as long as the toaster can cheer for in one breath.

The next day, Jenesse and I woke very early for our departure from KL. The flight home was uneventful which was good. We arrived back home in Brisbane after our transit from the Gold Coast Airport at 11pm on Sunday night. Jenesse had the next day off, but I had to return to work.