Chinese wedding

An affair that is a curious combination of East meets West. The wedding couple take millions of photos before the wedding in full wedding dresses then, on the big day everyone meets at the husband's home to smoke, eat fruit and eat sweet things. Guests cannot say no to anything, of course.

With the bang of firecrackers the couple arrive at the house with cameras flashing and the groom carries his new wife into his bedroom that has been decked out in red and double 'xi' 喜喜 everywhere. After photos of the couple on the bed and in the house (the whole wedding really is about photos!) everyone goes to the nearby hotel for the wedding lunch to give a red envelope of money to the couple upon their greeting at the entrance. More sweets, more cigarettes and then the celebrations begin.

The wedding I went to is a colleague of mine... you can imagine that charity workers are not the richest, so it was no fancy shanghai 5 star hotel or anything (more like a 2 star, but still looking nice); in fact my other colleagues who went, and are not from the local area the bride is from, could not really understand the local accent. Me, well i had no chance :)

Everything seems informal as no-one dresses up for the occasion apart from the couple themselves and bridesmaid/best man, kids run around screaming, cigarettes/nuts/Sunflower seeds litter the floor in seconds and nothing seems well organised; but of course this is China so everyone takes it in turn to go on stage and wish the couple well (in the mean time the cold dishes sit on the table untouched, which is remarkable!); they both go around the tables drinking with everyone and the parents do their utmost to keep order!

Once the eating has finished, everyone ups and leaves with another quick photo and thanks and then the bride, groom, bridesmaid etc go back into the dining area to finally eat! With wedding invites sent out just a couple of weeks before it is quite different from the very big deal we make of weddings in the West. Though the wedding dress, wedding music and honeymoon are all imitated here; there are a number of traditional Chinese customs, such as red everywhere, 'xi' everywhere, speeches and drinks etc. Overall a rather strange experience, and somewhat anti-climatic, but still pleasant and the bride, Li Na, looked incredible!