The other day I went for a Malay wedding feast (walimah) at the void-deck. I’ve always sensed people giving me the stink-eye or rolling-eye whenever I say that “so and so is having her wedding feast at the void-deck”. At this stage, I'd like to also clarify that the invites you get for under-the-block events is NOT the wedding (nikkah) - it is the walimah, the FEAST only. The bride and bridegroom will come and show face for a while only. They would have been married somewhere else nice and jazzy earlier.
Anyway, back to void-decks - I tended to agree with these naysayers most of the time. The void-deck is not the best place to hold the most important feast in your life. But after attending many wedding feasts, I can see why the void-deck is probably a very practical option.
Malay (or Muslim for that matter) wedding feasts are not restricted to invited guests – all are and should be welcome. In the true kampong spirit, everybody in the community is welcome to attend the feast. The food is served for a long period, not just from 12pm – 2pm or whatever. No one is turned away and everyone is invited to join in the food, no matter who you are.
So when you do this, there are some trade-offs. Most of the cost will be the food – there will be a large quantity of food required for a long period. So the other cost centres have to be reduced – location is a prime target. The void-deck is perfect as it’s affordable and accessible to the cook, with his massive barang-barang like pots and pans. Further, you are not likely to get lost if the location is at the void-deck – it’s a HDB estate and not some ulu place (like say, Fort Canning?).
So the void-deck is a practical venue in terms of cost considerations. But it is not to say the persons involved cannot afford more than a void-deck – that’s a supremely wrong perception. People who have weddings at void-decks spend good money on the wedding décor and the food, mind you. It’s just that resources are limited – the average dudette/dude doesn’t have a Madoffian bottomless wedding budget. With limited resources, you need to put in the moolah where there’s most bang for buck.
The downside of the the void-deck is that there may have been funerals held at the same location. This one I leave it to the individual to decide – some are bothered, most aren’t.
But the void-deck is a good location for a wedding feast. The wedding or nikkah can be somewhere posh of course, because that’s where the real action is.
I had my nikkah at the Masjid Bencoolen function room, and the wedding feast at Leng Kee CC. Perhaps if I was prepared to accept the void-deck as the location, I could’ve invited everyone I knew to the void-deck for the feast. Alas, I couldn’t think practically – I wanted a very classy nikkah and wedding feast. The ballroom was out of the question, too atas. So we decided on a CC and made the whole set-up look grand. Higher cost than void-deck, so the number of guests had to be “controlled” – we had to make difficult choices in coming up with the guest list. So there's always a trade-off somewhere
But the one thing that stayed with me during the wedding I attended the other day was the food – such exquisite briyani! Truly awesome. I used my hand to eat, savouring its full flavour. The other reason was that the utensils weren’t properly washed!
Malay (or Muslim for that matter) wedding feasts are not restricted to invited guests – all are and should be welcome. In the true kampong spirit, everybody in the community is welcome to attend the feast. The food is served for a long period, not just from 12pm – 2pm or whatever. No one is turned away and everyone is invited to join in the food, no matter who you are.
So when you do this, there are some trade-offs. Most of the cost will be the food – there will be a large quantity of food required for a long period. So the other cost centres have to be reduced – location is a prime target. The void-deck is perfect as it’s affordable and accessible to the cook, with his massive barang-barang like pots and pans. Further, you are not likely to get lost if the location is at the void-deck – it’s a HDB estate and not some ulu place (like say, Fort Canning?).
So the void-deck is a practical venue in terms of cost considerations. But it is not to say the persons involved cannot afford more than a void-deck – that’s a supremely wrong perception. People who have weddings at void-decks spend good money on the wedding décor and the food, mind you. It’s just that resources are limited – the average dudette/dude doesn’t have a Madoffian bottomless wedding budget. With limited resources, you need to put in the moolah where there’s most bang for buck.
The downside of the the void-deck is that there may have been funerals held at the same location. This one I leave it to the individual to decide – some are bothered, most aren’t.
But the void-deck is a good location for a wedding feast. The wedding or nikkah can be somewhere posh of course, because that’s where the real action is.
I had my nikkah at the Masjid Bencoolen function room, and the wedding feast at Leng Kee CC. Perhaps if I was prepared to accept the void-deck as the location, I could’ve invited everyone I knew to the void-deck for the feast. Alas, I couldn’t think practically – I wanted a very classy nikkah and wedding feast. The ballroom was out of the question, too atas. So we decided on a CC and made the whole set-up look grand. Higher cost than void-deck, so the number of guests had to be “controlled” – we had to make difficult choices in coming up with the guest list. So there's always a trade-off somewhere
But the one thing that stayed with me during the wedding I attended the other day was the food – such exquisite briyani! Truly awesome. I used my hand to eat, savouring its full flavour. The other reason was that the utensils weren’t properly washed!
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