Crazy Rich Asians

Since Nick left early in the morning to help Colin get ready, Rachel is in a car with Malcolm, Alexandra, and Victoria, listening to them gripe about the security checkpoints on the way to the church (there are important politicians in attendance). When they arrive, photographers start snapping pictures. They briefly pay attention to Rachel, but then Eddie, Fiona, and their kids get out of the car behind Rachel’s and the photographers and newscasters ask Eddie what he and his family are wearing. Looking around, Rachel sees that the wedding really is about showing off one’s clothing. While Nick’s aunties are wearing old, matronly, and even black and white dresses, many other guests are dressed fashionably in Parisian fashions or traditional saris or kimonos. Rachel is in an ice-blue dress with a matching blazer.

At the doors, an usher asks Rachel and Nick’s aunties for their names so he can show them to their seats. Victoria scoffs that this is her church and she’ll sit in her pew. But inside, the older women are aghast and disoriented: the brick, stained glass, and wood pews have been covered up or traded out for light wood chairs, silver lattice walls, and young aspen trees suspended from the ceiling. Nick’s family aren’t the only people ignoring the seating chart, as Annabel had no idea how to manage the “old-guard families” and their rivalries. Rachel joins Nick’s family near the front and soon, Oliver and his grandmother, Rosemary T’sien, join them. Oliver slips in next to Rachel, compliments her outfit, and then quietly tells her who everyone in attendance is.

Across the aisle, Daisy, Nadine, and Carol whisper that Annabel Lee has certainly made it: the Lees were nothing when they arrived in Singapore, but now, the president, prime minister, and Cassandra Shang are here. The ladies watch Alistair and Kitty enter the church and excitedly wait for the Young family to reject such a “shameful” addition to the family. However, the couple joins the family without issue, and Daisy sighs that Rachel looks like “the Blessed Virgin” compared to Kitty. Just then, Eleanor enters the church and notices how expensive Rachel’s dress is—she must be draining Nick’s accounts. It annoys her too when Rachel says that she and Nick went “home” early last night; it’s so presumptuous for Rachel to refer to Tyersall Park that way.

Just then, the church goes quiet—but it’s Astrid and Ah Ma coming up the aisle, not the bride. Oliver, shocked, tells Rachel that people go to see Su Yi; Su Yi doesn’t go to people’s events. When a woman curtsies to Ah Ma, Oliver explains that Su Yi’s family saved the woman—who is the prime minister’s wife—and her family during World War II. He also notes that Su Yi’s dress is made of rare, expensive lotus-flower fabric that’s normally reserved for monks. Su Yi joins her daughters, explaining to Alexandra and Victoria that she wanted to see Nick as best man. As if on cue, Colin, Nick, Lionel, and Mehmet appear at the altar and the wedding commences.

First, around 100 small blond boys—the Vienna Boys’ Choir—sing, and then the 16 bridesmaids enter as the orchestra plays. A virtuoso violinist plays as Araminta and her father walk down the aisle. Araminta shocks everyone by wearing a custom dress by Valentino, which is modeled after dresses European princesses wore (this makes her look like a “proper young wife from a very traditional, old-money Asian family”). Annabel Lee is thrilled; this wedding is a triumph. As this is going on, Astrid is relieved nobody notices Michael’s absence and Nick smiles at Rachel. He realizes, suddenly, he wants to marry her. He whispers “I love you” to her, and Eleanor sees this—time is running out. Araminta, meanwhile, notices Astrid’s dress: “that damn bitch” didn’t wear a new dress to her wedding.