Last Friday, I was invited to a Chinese wedding dinner of the art teacher at our school.
Never having gone to a Chinese wedding related anything I for sure had to go!
As is custom, the bride wore red! Red is one of the most popular colors here in China! I can see why! Against her ivory skin and black hair, she looks awesome!
In Chinese culture, there are tons of wedding festivities.
These two had already had two weddings, one in his home town and one in hers, as well as other wedding dinners.
This dinner was a "thanks" dinner especially for their current and previous coworkers.
They had 6 rooms, one for each job they've had. 3 rooms full of his previous & current colleagues and 3 for hers.
Teachers at our school.
In our office only 2 of us decided to go because as is also custom, you must bring a red envelope.
And in China a red envelope equals money.
The standard for a single person is about 200 yuan.
But of course the better job you have, the closer you are to the couple, etc.
the expected amount goes up.
Red envelopes are given for most major holidays and events.
Ka Ching!
There was a box at the entrance, where the bride and groom stood, greeting guests.
The red envelope I slipped into the box felt like our "ticket" to get in.
Dinner was great, of course.
We had tons of Chinese dishes to pick from on the lazy susan in the middle of the table.
Supposedly a famous Qingdao dish. A gelled something.
Beef and hot peppers.
More goodness.
The bride and groom stayed on their feet the whole night, going from room to room, given toasts and being toast. {ya? being toast? Being toasted?? }
They probably were "toasted" from all the drinks they had to drink in the process!
Every time they entered we all had to stand to receive and give toasts.
The girls made a "Congratulations Punch" for the groom made of beer, wasabi, oil, and any kind of juices they could get off the plates of food.
Deciding wether or not he should drink it with a spoon.
Being a true man he gang be'd {bottoms up!} the whole thing.
The group of us from Grand School!
Catherine came as my date, instead of Zachary, who was a bum and didn't want to go.
Can you spot her??
We had a good time at our first Chinese Wedding dinner!
Oh, I forgot!
When we got there in Chinese everyone has to say,
"Have a baby quickly!"
Like as a blessing or a well wish.
This is the customary thing to say to a married couple in China.
Hahaha.
Can you imagine?!
If people said that to me on our wedding day I would have freaked!
I love finding all of these fun cultural differences!
Have an awesome weekend!
2 comments :
So interesting. I love reading about all the differences in the cultures. How fun that you get to experience so many new things!
This is all so neat :). Love reading about all your unique adventures!
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