My Big Fat "Chinese" Wedding

I was given an amazing opportunity to attend a Chinese wedding recently. I found the event to be delightfully different from those back home in the west! This wedding also had a special Korean theme to it as the bride (who was Chinese) had worked in Korea for quite a few years.

The event begins with the bride and groom party culminating in the bride’s house. The bridal party hides in a room while the groom is kept at bay outside the door. As the groom pleads to be admitted, the bridal party demands money in red pockets or that the groom perform a dance to the delight of all onlookers. Eventually, the groom is allowed to enter the room and be reunited with the awaiting bride. The couple then walks hand in hand to the bride’s parents whom they kowtow to and make a speech of gratitude.

The wedding party then makes its way outside the home where everyone hops into the vehicles that have been specially arranged for the wedding. At least five cars follow the wedding vehicle driven by the groom. The motorcade makes its way through the streets towards the restaurant where the wedding ceremony is to be held. For this wedding, the members of the car club were invited. So, instead of a pricey motorcade of rented red cars, at least 20 car club vehicles formed the wedding procession.

When all the guests finally arrive at the restaurant, they gather around the entrance where confetti cannons, sparklers and other fanfare have been set up. Before the bride and groom arrive, firecrackers in the shape of two hearts are set off filling the air with loud popping noises and smoke. Soon, the bride and the groom roll up in the wedding car and enter the restaurant under a rainstorm of confetti.

The wedding party floods into a special reserved room which is bright and colourful, filled with many wedding decorations. As the guests tuck into appetizers, the ceremony begins. The master of ceremony makes many speeches and the bride and groom perform multiple acts that are symbolic of marriage.

Soon, the wedding banquet begins and is consumed with gusto by the now hungry guests. During the feast, it is customary for the bride to changes dresses at least once. At the wedding I attended, the bride wore three different dresses of very different styles! When everyone is full and the banquet almost finished, the bride and groom visit each table to share a drink and cigarettes with their guests. The bride lights cigarettes for the men, using a special red lighter bought especially for the occasion. To add to the fun, the male guests who are having their cigarettes lit play tricks on the bride. This includes blowing out the lighter or flicking their cigarettes from side to side in their mouth, making it next to impossible for the poor bride to light.

After the merriment of the meal is finished, it is time for the younger guests to visit the newlyweds’ house. Here, they watch the newlyweds play Chinese wedding games. These games are intended to help the bride and groom get to know each other even better! One of the games, for example, involved the groom sitting in a chair while the bride tried to feed him cake. The catch of this was the bride was blindfolded! The wedding guests had fun making her task more difficult by directing her spoon in ways that soon caused the groom to be covered in cake. After all the fun and games, it is now late at night and the bride and groom bid their guests farewell. My first Chinese wedding was certainly an experience to remember! I hope there will be opportunities for me to attend other such events which celebrate life in the culturally rich milieu of China!