This is my third Chinese wedding but the first time I am the best man on a Chinese wedding or any other wedding for that matter. Chinese wedding always start early in the morning by decorating the car convoy. The idea about the car convoy is that it needs to be nice cars driving in a row with roses or other red things on the (because red means happiness) car. We drove around town for a few hours before going to the brides place and there is a camera-crew in the front car filming everything.
Eddy, a rather nervous about to get wed groom
The convoy
A red pocket
The first stop with the car is the brides house. A traditional thing to do here is that when the groom enters the house of the bride he has to give her friends "Red Pockets" which contains money. After giving the red pockets to the friends and singing some songs and telling her friends how much he loves her they will let him pass. But there are 3 doors more to pass and loads of red pockets need to be given to many people. After about 1 hour of struggling to get to the door where the bride is and a few love songs we get in and its time to look for her shoes that her friends have hidden. The groom always need to look for the shoes before he can carry her out. We find them behind the curtains (last wedding I was in the were put out hanging of the window).
Giving red pockets, singing to friends and finding the bride!
And the ring has found it's right bearer
After the whole red pocket giving and getting into doors there is something new I had not seem before. Money time! There is a list of all the people invited and their names are shouted in turns and they all give a red pocket to the bride couple which contains money. There is a person shouting how much each person gives. If you give too little everybody will think less of you so it's good to give a fair amount of deal...Wow this would be fun in Finland :)
The "money" ceremony
Streets were filled with fireworks, smoke, shouts and people
After the money session we go back to the grooms parents and have a cup of tea and take some pictures before the evening ceremony. No games or anything funny at the grooms place, just relaxing and nice talks and a chance for everyone to relax a while.
At grooms parents
The evening ceremony is like in the movies. There are over 400 people invited and the hotel is filled with noises, lights, cameras and noises. It really was an awesome show with loads of good food!
Click on picture to see how the whole ballroom looked
Speeches for Eddy
And the bride and groom are engaged!
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