When living overseas and meeting so many people from so many places, opportunities arise to see and do things that are just not possible when living in Australia. One such opportunity came to us when a prior work colleague of Mikes ( now back in Boston) invited us to the wedding of their son to a Chinese girl in Anji near Hangzhou. We could have very easily said it was going to be hard to do with so many things going on in Hong Kong for us at the moment, but I'm very happy we made the effort and travelled to Anji on the weekend.
The groom, Tom, and bride, Audrey, come from very different backgrounds but were so happy to be united in marriage in front of many friends and family. The wedding wasn't traditional Chinese or western but, like them, a fusion of cultures.
The wedding was held at a small resort in the bamboo area outside a Anji and was a garden wedding. The dress code was casual and, oh dear, the Chinese know how to do casual. If I was getting married in China, I think I'd opt for a formal dress code and hope that guests switched their tracksuit pants for jeans !!! Seriously, bright orange Nikes with tracksuit pants, Havanas, denim overalls.... I felt quite overdressed in a little black dress and heals!!
The bride looked stunning in a beautiful white gown alongside here dapper groom in a tuxedo. The ceremony was conducted in both Mandarin and English, with the chinese guy making the wedding sound like an episode of Iron Chef!! So so loud and yelling like it was a WWE wrestling competition, not the romantic union of two people.
Even with both bride and groom saying vows in Mandarin and some special words in English, the emotion was not lost in translation and I have to admit to having shed a couple of tears.
A humorous, and rather odd, moment in the ceremony (not the reception but at the alter) was cake being smeared on the grooms face for the bride to lick off. Apparently, it signified that the Chinese don't waste anything.....strange and rather messy and greasy for photos still to come.
There were quite a few children at the wedding, so why not have a clown?! He wandered around through the crowd making balloon creatures and then entertained at the reception. The boys thought a Chinese clown was pretty cool, especially when he started giving out gifts. They both came home with soft toys as a memento of the day.
The reception room was like any typical Chinese restaurant I've been to with large round tables and the endless delivery of wonderful food. It was traditionally Chinese with frog dishes, duck tongue, bamboo shoots, goose feet, crab, eel.... No sweet and sour pork here!! I can not tell you how much food came to our table..... It was ridiculous, and so over the top I cannot begin to describe it. I wished I'd counted how many dishes came out but but it would have been at least 35!! The boys weren't too impressed after hearing some of the dishes and decided to stick to a secret stash of crackers.
After the bride and groom had a costume change (Audrey into a stunning red dress) the real fun began. A couple of introductions and formalities and then it was 'game time'. Yep, the 'Iron Chef' host started playing games with the crowd. He would call out a 'label' and if anyone met the description, you got to go on stage and select a prize (stuffed toy)
Longest hair
Oldest man
Tallest man.... Yep, you guessed it, Mike won that one!! Too funny.
The MC then started asking for people to come to him with odd denominations of money like 85 yuan in 4 * 20's and 1 coin...if you had it he would give you 100 yuan. This went on for quite some time and 90% of the crowd thought it was great.
The mother and father of the bride then started handing out gifts to the guests. There were tons of chocolates and cans of peach juice.... Rather odd watching a man break open a case of cans and pop them on each table. Then he found all the children and gave them a gift - 50 yuan in a beautiful red envelope. Our boys were thrilled - $10 for doing nothing !!
The final entertainment was a friend of the couple singing for us. An obvious karaoke fan, she belted out Beyonce's 'Halo'.... I'm not really going to comment on her performance, apart from saying her love for the couple was very obvious.
It was a lovely afternoon full of fun and laughter, and I am sure Tom and Audrey had a blast. Weddings of all cultures still result in beautiful unions.
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| On the bus to the wedding |
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| Chinese wedding attire ?? |
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| this is a third of the food....... |
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| the boys and their money |
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| Mike getting his 'tallest man' award ! |
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| and the prize |
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| the boys didn't leave empty-handed |
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| this was the entrance to the wedding |
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| Cupcakes pre-wedding. The boys thought that was 'excellent' ! |
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| The beautiful bride Audrey |
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| Tom, the handsome groom |
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| every wedding should have a clown |
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| Frank, Tom and Kelly (proud parents) |
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| the boys were a bit of a novelty - a few people wanted photos of them with their kids |
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I cannot quite understand these pants (that are VERY popular with the Chinese). My photo doesn't
show it too well, but there is a split in the back for the child to just squat where and when he needs...... |
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| Last minute details being made :) |
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| Audrey and her dad |
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| The rings |
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| confetti, as you arrive, not as you leave ! |
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| Proud parents |
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| Mr Iron Chef himself !! our MC. |
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| vows in both English and Mandarin |
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| Lucky the cake tastes nice, because he's about to wear it ! |
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| and there it is for Audrey to lick off. |
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| brothers and sisters-in-law |
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