Damon's friends from work invited our family to their wedding, it was very different than weddings in the United States. The couples here go through many different steps before the big wedding reception, which is what we were invited to. Months before the reception the couple gets "legally married", where they sign papers, like in a courthouse. At another date, they take photos for hours, in places around the area, by the beach, along roads lined with gorgeous trees, in front of pagodas and other beautiful places. We have seen hundreds of couples get their photos taken since we have lived here. The brides change dresses many times for these photos, the dresses are rented out, and they change in a van. These photos were taken last summer. If you look closely, you will see a guy with his shirt pulled up. This is very common here, when it is hot, just pull up your shirt to feel the breeze.
The invitation we received had 10:30am for the time. We arrived about 10:15am. This would be about right in America, but here in China, we were in an empty room for quite awhile. Other friends of ours arrived just after us, and were worried they would be late. The actually ceremony didn't start for over an hour. We were at a table with mostly foreigners, and also Damon's co-worker who is from Shanghai and her family. It is an honor and considered good luck to have foreigners at the wedding, and this couple is lucky! I think there were two or three tables with expats, all of us learning and experiencing a new culture. I think many of us felt privileged that we were invited.
The bride and groom had a grand entrance as they pulled up to the hotel where the celebration took place. The huge archway in front of the hotel had the couple's picture on it, and in the hotel lobby there were red banners with their photos too. In front of the hotel, man hole covers were covered with red material, (red=good luck). The reason? So the bride doesn't fall in, but she actually can't really fall in since they keep the real cover on. (There must be more to this, I don't understand). There are LOUD firecrackers let off, to get rid of the evil/bad spirits. The videographer and photographer were both there, swarming the couple.
When the couple is in the hotel, they go into another area, and the crowd gets settled into their seats. A very nicely done video was shown with pictures of the couple growing up, and then meeting, and traveling together. The display was on a big white sphere, about 10ft high. This was like a huge plastic balloon. When the video finished, the balloon "popped" and the couple was standing inside of it! It was such a surprise.
The bride looked absolutely gorgeous. This entrance into the room happened around 11:30, and then the couple got married at 11:58am. Damon's co-worker told us specifically this time, because they must get married before 12:00 noon, for good luck. While the couple said their vows it was mostly dark, there was a bubble blowing machine making tons of bubbles, and strobe lights going. Throughout the ceremony, there was music playing very loudly, competing with the man who was yelling into the mic. He seemed a bit like a game show host, or an auctioneer. I couldn't understand what he was saying, it all was a bit overwhelming.
The bride changed dresses three or four different times throughout the ceremony. She was a very busy girl! Everyone at the wedding is greeted by the couple, and the bride lights a cigarette for each man. While she is lighting the cigarette the people close by are suppose to try to blow it out. This is because fire=good luck, and the more times she has to light the match, the better. Sometimes this was pretty funny! The groom also has a toast with each man. For the women, the bride opens an individually wrapped candy, it was a delicious caramel, YUM!
While the couple is greeting everyone, this is when you give them their wedding gift. Tradition is to give money, in a red envelope (remember, red=good luck). I think this is a fantastic tradition, we didn't need to go purchase a gift, and they can use the money how they would like to! In America, so much time and money is wasted on useless wedding gifts! When giving money, you need to make sure you don't give an inappropriate amount though. There are many rules, but the most important one is that you must never give any amount that has a number four in it. This is because the pronunciation for the number four, also sounds like the word death. So it is unlucky.
There was SO MUCH food at the wedding! Our table didn't eat even a quarter of the food placed there. The waiters just piled the plates on top of each other, I was worried that they were going to topple over. In China, they eat almost every part of the animal or fish, so there were heads of all sorts, here are photos of our fish head and chicken head. Some of the food was delicious, some however, I politely declined.
We had a lot of fun, and I am glad I got to experience such a joyous occasion. It was something I will never forget.
Here I am biking in Beijing. The alleys were interesting, and really fun to bike through.
Since I was moving, this one is a little blurry.
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