Welcome to China and you are cordially invited to the wedding of Sebastian and Vivian.
Our first day in China and Nich and I have found ourselves sitting on a couch at nine in the morning with the wedding party of a wedding we were invited to only 10 hours earlier. Getting invited to a wedding is not a common first day experience, so if you’re planning on coming to China do not expect to arrive and then to be immediately invited to a wedding. There were only three other Americans at the wedding, a couple and their seven-month-old baby. We had already met them the night before at the airport when they picked us up. They work for the same company as us and are finishing their second year in China. Sebastian, the groom, also works for our company as a handler of sorts for the teachers coming to China.
We were picked up at our hotel at 8:30 in the morning to get to the wedding. We both found the time quite odd, but we were told that it’s actually a very normal time and that in the Northern part of China this would be considered quite late since weddings there start at 3 in the morning. When we heard that I am pretty sure both us were really thankful that we were not in the Northern part of China. Before going to the wedding we were also given the advice to have a light breakfast because there would be lots to eat. That was not a lie. Right as we sat on the couch in the room they reserved to get ready, visit with family, and do some of the traditional wedding ceremonies, we were offered fruit, tea, nuts, and other snacks. The room was the most adorable thing I have seen and while I might say that about a lot of things in China in realty I am lying about all other things that are adorable this beats all adorable things.
The room was decorated with red everywhere, the families come and decorate the room with flowers red stickers, pictures of the couple, and the character 囍. It’s the character xi, which means happiness, but when you look at it you can see it’s two of the same representing a couple. This character was everywhere, stickers were found on the light switches, plant leaves, picture frames, on pillows, as wall hangers, on the windows, literally everywhere. The room was not quite overly decorated either, it looked really nice.
One part of the wedding consisted of the bride going to her “home” which was another hotel room for timing purposes. The groom comes to pick her up to go to the wedding, but is not allowed in until he answers questions that the bridesmaids ask. The girls ask; what is the bride’s favorite color, her favorite thing to eat, favorite song and then tells him to sing it, and other questions to gauge his knowledge of the bride.
Then the groom offers gifts to the girls so that they will let him into see his bride. This ceremony traditionally will last a half hour or so. Then the wedding officially started at 11:08am for the ceremony and lunch. Eight is a lucky number in China, hence the 11:08. The ceremony was somewhat traditional, but the wedding as a whole was more of a show. There were story-telling moments, the couple shared words and moments, but this was all done with the knowledge that there was a huge room of people there to watch.
Then there was lunch, which left me afraid I would never be hungry again. There was so much good food to eat, but what I didn’t realize was that was just the beginning. Nich and still had dinner too.
After lunch there is a two-hour break and then the wedding continues with a dinner. We ended up leaving the wedding early because we were feeling the strong effects of jet lag.
The wedding day lasted about 10 hours and every moment was entertaining and filled with delicious foods.
isn't it a beautiful day 