{"id":2346,"date":"2012-08-02T20:20:56","date_gmt":"2012-08-03T04:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/?p=2346"},"modified":"2012-08-16T20:00:41","modified_gmt":"2012-08-17T04:00:41","slug":"2346","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/?p=2346","title":{"rendered":"Y+N Wedding"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The real reason Sam and I came to Thailand this time was to attend the wedding of one of her closest friends. \u00a0This is the same friend that let us stay in her new condo for the three days preceding the wedding. \u00a0On the big day we got up at 5am, got dressed (Sam in t-shirt and shorts and me in full regalia) and stumbled out the door into (another old friend of Sam\u2019s) June\u2019s car. \u00a0Twenty minutes later we were at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel<\/a>, the most elegant (and expensive) hotel in Bangkok (and perhaps all of Thailand). \"\"<\/p>\n

Above is the lobby, below is the river view from the bar area.<\/p>\n

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The shady path to the pool is below.<\/p>\n

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The ladies went off to do their hair and makeup and I set out to find some food. \"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

Bangkok is a city that sprang up from a millenia of trading posts on the Chao Phraya River<\/a>. \u00a0Even with a GPS enabled map it was easy to wind up in a few dead ends in the gridless sprawling maze. \u00a0Walking onto the grounds of a catholic middle school at ten minutes before the opening bell was interesting. \u00a0Eventually I gave up on finding real food and\/or coffee and settled for whatever I could find at a local T-Mart (a 7-11 clone). \u00a0I spilled yogurt on myself and didn\u2019t notice until half an hour later when I was back at the hotel giving myself a sponge (or more like, \u201clittle square towels\u201d) bath to wipe off all the sweat I\u2019d accumulated from walking the streets.<\/p>\n

Around 9 we were ushered down to a waiting area to mill about with all the other wedding guests.\"\" \"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Then, shortly before the ceremony, we were moved into a banquet hall (in which we’d eat immediately after the ceremony).<\/p>\n

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For the wedding we were ushered into Author\u2019s Lounge<\/a>, in which the wedding would take place in a small two-story open room. The white \u201cchapel\u201d room was well decorated, some florist in Bangkok must of been very happy judging by the amount of flowers and flower petals everywhere. In the wide but short room there were four sections of seating laid out in five rows each about forty seats wide. \u00a0A sprawling double staircase connected the upstairs to either side of the \u201cchapel\u201d area.<\/p>\n

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Sam was one of four bridesmaids (1 of 2 female). \"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

Followed by the bride (Jay):<\/p>\n

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We\u2019d heard the wedding would be massive, but it turns out this was really a description of the reception; the actual ceremony was attended by 200 photographers and thirty guests. \u00a0Wait, reverse that, but I think you\u2019ll agree that thirty photographers buzzing around is still a lot. \u00a0I was reassured that it was a typical Thai wedding and it\u2019s commonplace for folks to be snapping pictures of each other and posting to facebook, not to mention chatting about it, twenty feet from the bride and groom exchanging vows. \u00a0Given Jay\u2019s celebrity status I\u2019m sure some of those folks were liveblogging the event. \u00a0Below is a film of the wedding cut by a pro.<\/p>\n

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Did you catch my cameo?<\/p>\n

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Did you catch Sam’s?<\/p>\n

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The good thing about all this is that it allowed me to play professional photographer for the morning and crane my hand up and over guests to try and get some good shots. \u00a0I never tried to get in the way of the real photographers though, as someone likely paid a lot of money to get them there. \u00a0I was still able to pull off some intersting shots later due to a combination of luck, taking hundreds (about 350) of photos and careful cropping and editing in Photoshop. This was really the first time I\u2019d ever regretting my decision not to get the zoom lens for my camera. \u00a0I was never any closer than thirty feet from the wedding party during the ceremony, and this made for some difficult sharpening, smoothing, etc. in photoshop to get the zoomed and cropped shots to not look terrible.<\/p>\n

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Since the wedding itself was all done in Thai I\u2019m not sure what exactly was said, but it was a christian wedding, so I got the gist of what was happening most of the time. \u00a0I won\u2019t share all the edited photos (hundreds) on this blog (but you can see them on facebook), as the only people I\u2019m sure will read this (hi Mom, hi Dad, hi Aunt Lois!) won\u2019t know anyone in the photos (except Sam). \u00a0Well, that and the fact that putting each photo into these blogs is still a laborious task; apparently the ability to append multiple photos to a blog entry is something WordPress still doesn\u2019t deem important enough to include in their basic code. (yes, I’ve tried the widgets – they don’t work with Google Photos)<\/p>\n

After the wedding there was a short lunch reception in one of the smaller ballrooms in the hotel connected to Author\u2019s Lounge<\/a>. \u00a0The food was a mix of western and asian, and I ate too many mashed potatos. \u00a0After this we were informed that we\u2019d have a few hours of \u201cdown time\u201d before the official reception at six. \u00a0I used the time to start editing down the hundreds of photos I\u2019d just taken.<\/p>\n

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It was also at this time that Sam and I checked into the room that Jay had procured for us for the night. \u00a0The room was without a doubt the most expensive I\u2019ve ever stayed in. \u00a0 The bed, tv, etc. weren\u2019t much different than something on the level of the Green Valley Resort in Vegas, but the bathroom was filled with a very nice looking stone tile. \u00a0The amount of \u201cstuff\u201d provided was also above the level of most hotels (sewing kit, dental kit, shaving kit, talc, etc. etc.) I\u2019ve ever stayed in. The most interesting thing, perhaps, wasn\u2019t any of that, it was the small note left on the desk for us. \u00a0It read:<\/p>\n

Dear Guest, Re: Celebrity Wedding for 900 guests on Wednesday, 1 August 2012. <\/em><\/p>\n

I would like to inform you that there will be a wedding reception of one of Thailand\u2019s most well known celebrity couples on Wednesday, 1 August 2012. \u00a0The creme de la creme of Bangkok\u2019s high society and celebrities; high profile personalities as well as media are expected to show up in full force. We anticipate very busy \u201ctraffic\u201d in the Lobby<\/em>…. (and so on)<\/p>\n

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This was a little taste of what was in store. \u00a0To get to the reception every guest had to walk through the lobby, up the stairs and through a \u201cforest\u201d entrance. \u00a0After the entrance was a line of greeters and a line to get your picture taken with the bride and groom. \u00a0This was all immediately adjacent to a massive ballroom with a \u201ccocktail party.\u201d \u00a0The little cocktail parties that my office throws at our symposium in Vegas looked like an elementary school slumber party compared to this spectacle. \u00a0 The room was lined with top cuisine from several parts of the world as well as having a full bar and hors devores stands in the center. \u00a0Sam and I wanted to sample everything, but after about an hour the place was so packed that we were never able to navigate to the far side of the room. \u00a0For all we know, in addition to the American, French, Japanese, Italian, Chinese and Thai tables there could have been another table representing every country in the world. \u00a0It is also worth mentioning that Jay gained some of her fame from hosting cooking shows on Thai TV. \u00a0She must have had her personal approval on all of the food available as it was all top notch. \u00a0I think Sam and I went back to get chocolate crepes at least three times. \u00a0There was very fresh and good sashimi and sushi (and many other dishes I won\u2019t mention).<\/p>\n

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Eventually we broke off (as many of Sam and Jay\u2019s friends did) and went down to the lobby for a breather. \u00a0Getting there was a minefield. \u00a0As soon as a guest would step outside the sardine can of the ballroom every third step would be \u201cin the way\u201d of a celebrity photographer. \u00a0We would be walking along and suddenly a school of cameras would circle us like ants around a chocolate bar. \u00a0We\u2019d have to duck out of the way of an oncoming celebrity on their way to the ballroom. \u00a0I\u2019m sure parties in Hollywood (after the Oscars, etc.) are very similar to this; however, since these were all Thai celebrities I couldn\u2019t tell famous from non-famous and got caught off guard quite often. \u00a0It was also funny to see a celebrity finish an interview and turn around and say hi to their \u201cold college buddy\u201d Sam.<\/p>\n

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Several of Sam\u2019s friends are celebrities in Thailand and some have greater reach than that, being spotted in LA when we go to eat with them. \u00a0It didn\u2019t really crystalize for me until this night how \u201cbig\u201d Jay in particular was. Of course part of me had been reluctant to believe she was really a huge celebrity because, well, celebrities are supposed to be narcissistic jerks, right? \u00a0I guess that\u2019s only true in America (Wolfgang Puck and your \u201cI won\u2019t sign two books for two people at my meet and greet\u201d I\u2019m looking at you). Throughout our four days in Bangkok Jay was always apologizing for not spending more time with us and asking how things were. \u00a0As if having a wedding with 900 guests wasn\u2019t distracting enough. \u00a0As if letting us stay in her new condo AND booking us a night at the best hotel in Thailand (AND booking transportation to Trat the next day) AND picking us up at the airport the night before the rehearsal AND giving us a Samsung Galaxy III to use while we\u2019re here wasn\u2019t enough. \u00a0I\u2019m probably forgetting more things she\u2019s done for us on this trip, but you get the idea. \u00a0Having got to know her a little bit before the wedding it was a jarring contrast to suddenly see her (and her groom) at the center of the celebrity spotlight, as all our previous interaction was of a decidedly more personal and \u201cdown to earth\u201d flavor.<\/p>\n

After an hour or so we left the lobby to check out the view of the river.<\/p>\n

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We then retired to our room to get some sleep. \u00a0How many of the other guests (including the newlyweds) stayed up until 5am at the afterparty I have no idea.<\/p>\n

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In the morning we met with three of Sam’s friends for the breakfast buffet.<\/p>\n

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It was possibly the best breakfast buffet I’ve ever had. \u00a0 I ate until it hurt, and then tried to eat more.<\/p>\n

Even the river catfish enjoyed a feast.<\/p>\n

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Before checking out we stopped by the bride and groom’s penthouse on our same floor. \u00a0The room had a great outdoor patio with a view of the city and river. There was evidence of many other things that had came with the room the night before. \u00a0One thing remaining was a long tail boat made out of white chocolate.<\/p>\n

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After chatting with the newlyweds for a bit we were on our way to Sam’s hometown, Trat via a driver arranged by Jay.<\/p>\n

(not in these BMWs)<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The real reason Sam and I came to Thailand this time was to attend the wedding of one of her closest friends. \u00a0This is the same friend that let us stay in her new condo for the three days preceding the wedding. \u00a0On the big day we got up at 5am, got dressed (Sam in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2346"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2371,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2346\/revisions\/2371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}