Little brothers grow up as well

The process of ageing is strange.  I don't really feel any older or different to how I felt when I was in my early twenties.  I think that the lack of the "grown up" events such as marriage and children to date have contributed to this lack of any noticeable change.  On the whole, I find that my life from then to now has not dramatically changed all that much other than that the quality of the booze I drink is better and the places I stay are nicer.  Still, as those around me started to move onto the next phases of their lives, it was dragging me along with them.

Seeing my younger brother getting married was definitely one of those events that would help drag me forward a bit.

He and his fiance had been together for years, but now the wedding was happening.  Both of them lived in London, but they had enough family in Australia and specifically around Brisbane to make that the ideal location for the wedding.

They chose a beautiful location in the heart of Brisbane for the ceremony.  It was an imposing and grand cathedral, the type of which I didn't really expect to see in Australia.  During the ceremony, I read one of the prayers, so I walked to the front of the church and stood up at the lectern.  Looking out across the church and all the people seated in the pews, you could really feel the size of this place.

After the wedding, we went to a hotel in South Bank for the reception.  Inside we were able to do some of the more traditional elements of a Chinese wedding as my brother and Vicky did the tea ceremony with the various parents and older generation.  As the older brother, they even served me tea as well.  It was a nice touch to our culture and it was interesting to see all of their non-Asian friends gathering around to watch.  All of them seemed intrigued by the tradition and many of them said they wished they had something similar they could do as well.

As the night went on, the skies darkened and the Brisbane skyline came to life.  We had a lovely view of the lights from the wedding reception.  The later the night went, the more of the older people who started to leave.

After a while, it was only the closest of friends who remained to continue the party.  The lights of the city eventually started to switch off and eventually so did the music.  Some of the committed decided to continue the party elsewhere, but for me it was time to sleep.