One of the Chinese teachers at school invited the other Chinese teachers and foreign teachers to her wedding. Like everything in China - their weddings are very different from our weddings. We met at school at 8am on a Tuesday morning. I was surprised to see the bride there. She got up at 5am that morning to get her hair and makeup done and make the journey from her parent's house to school to pick us up. She was still coordinating people and rides at school. They hired two vans to drive us to the wedding.
First we went to her parents' house. This was the first time I'd been in a Chinese family's home. I hadn't met Lyla's fiance before and I didn't realize he was the one pouring us tea at her parents' house until we got to the wedding. I was still in the Western way of thinking where the groom doesn't see the bride on the morning of the wedding.
Lyla's bedroom was decorated. Complete with a 'wedding photo' above the bed.
The wedding was in a banquet hall at a hotel and lasted only a couple hours. We were at the VIP table.
In China it's standard at a wedding to bring a red (for good luck) envelope with 100RMB to give to the bride and groom. This is Crystal with her envelope. On the back she wrote a poem for them.
There was sooooo much food. At the end there was an unbelievable amount left over. My Chinese friends asked what we did with all the left over food after our weddings. I had to explain that this is not the way we normally eat at weddings. Everyone has their own plate of food and usually you know exactly how many people will be coming. The number of guests at this wedding was unknown until everyone had arrived.
The ceremony was like a game show. Just take a look at the 'host'.
The wedding pictures were taken months before the wedding. I think the photos are an excuse for them to play dress up - which the Chinese LOVE to do. None of the clothes in the photos are theirs and the photos aren't taken at the actual wedding.
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