A Chinese Wedding= Truly Remarkable Event!

May 1, 2013-

About six months ago one of Mark's co-workers (Chen Chen) asked if Ava could be a flower girl at his May wedding.

A chance to see a real Chinese wedding????

Ummmm…YES, PLEASE!!!! 

What could be cooler than seeing a Chinese wedding??!?

The date for the wedding: May 1, 2013.  

As the date drew closer and closer Chen Chen first asked if Mark would say a few things at the wedding….which turned into giving a speech (all in Chinese!).  Ava got to pick out her favorite dress and shoes from a selection of very beautiful flower girl outfits that Chen Chen and his wife had chosen.

Now, let me explain something to the best of my understanding – Chen Chen and wife, Yu Zheng are ALREADY MARRIED.  Even though they've been legally married they weren't acknowledged as having been married until they go through the full family and friends Chinese wedding.  So, it was a bit confusing speaking to Chen Chen last year as he kept referring to his bride-to-be as his wife.  Turns out they were already married!   And here I thought he was just confused….LOL!  Turns out I was the one that was confused!!! (ummm…okay. So that's not the first time that's ever happened! …. I mean me being confused.)

May 1st is a public holiday in China- it's either called May Day or International Workers' Day (Labor Day).  Actually, this holiday is celebrated in many countries around the world.  Here in China the workers get the day off- perfect time for a wedding!

The day before the wedding, we drove to Chen Chen's hometown- Zunhua, China.  As we were driving I realized we were going in the same direction as we would go to the Tianjin section of the Great Wall….until we turned and went down a different road.  It was about a four hour drive and the city is mostly East and a little bit North of Beijing (roughly 200km away). Chen Chen had already arranged a hotel room for us AND for our driver, Mr. Li.  

A *very* Chinese hotel!  One thing I will say- they had WESTERN-STYLE TOILETS!!!  {insert sigh of relief}

Chen Chen gave us a few minutes to get settled and then it was off to the wedding rehearsal.  Yes! Chinese also have wedding rehearsals. 

 Outside our Chinese hotel:

Going through the rehearsal:

They ran through the wedding procedures twice.  Parts of it seemed like a cross-over from our traditional western/Christian wedding and parts of it seemed very different.  They did have an MC (Master of Ceremony) but there wasn't anybody that seemed to be officiating the wedding- or not at least in the sense we're used to.  It felt more of a stage production- music, flashy things on the giant screen than a wedding (at least the weddings I've been to…granted, that isn't a lot so perhaps we have weddings like this too???). I just remember seeing the color red EVERYWHERE.  The lights were red, the roses were red, the carpets were red and the table clothes were red. Oh, and it was LOUD!!!!

Ava and David (he's a ten-year old Chinese boy who spoke EXCELLENT English) are the flower children. Their job is to gently toss rose petals as the bride and groom's processional walk to the "altar".

 Mark ran through his speech – twice.  And both times the Chinese seemed to understand what he was saying and laugh in all the right places.  Score!!!

After the rehearsal Chen Chen took us back to our hotel and we ate dinner in the hotel restaurant with Chen Chen, three of his friends and our driver.  A teeny bit of surprisingly drinkable baijiu was involved.  I thought it tasted like bubble gum but Mark likened it to ethylene glycol (vehicle coolant).  Huh… There was some toasting involved- Chen Chen and our driver both thanked  us.  Chen Chen ordered a lot of different dishes including ….pigs ears.  

Say what?

So, they wouldn't tell us which dish was what so we tried them all.  Every dish was interesting and most of them were quite delicious. 

This was the pigs' ear dish. It was …gelatinous? It had a dipping sauce with it. I won't say it was bad but I can't say that I liked it either.

Thanks for a fun dinner!  

Time to head back to the room and get some sleep.  Oh, and we're in TWO rooms.  Remember how I've mentioned that hotels in China can't/won't accomodate families with more than one child?   Chen Chen was kind enough to book two rooms for us.  Annika and Mark were in one room and Ava and I were sleeping in the other.  

We spent some family time chatting in Mark and Annika's room.  The rooms all had computers with internet – all in Chinese.  The girls figured out how to get on the internet via Internet Explorer.  They were trying to find children's movies to watch online.  They were playing around and I thought nothing of it UNTIL all of a sudden I look at the monitor and realize we're watching a water birth!  Somewhere on the internet there's a movie clip of a mother-to-be giving birth in a shallow pool of sorts! What the heck!?!?!?!?!  WOW!  Did we really just see that?????  Honestly, it wasn't very graphic and the girls wanted to watch it again….well, I guess it's okay.  Like I said, it didn't show everything (thank goodness!).  So we let them watch it again.  Naturally that night Ava had a TON of questions about babies (thankfully not quite the birds and bees talk- not quite ready for that one).  I tried answering her questions accurately and scientifically.  Oh my.  {thank goodness the topic was dropped}

Good morning sleepy heads!  Did you sleep?  I had a little trouble sleeping on this hard Chinese bed.  I guess I'm just a very soft American- I like soft beds!

Ava isn't quite awake yet:

Wakey wakey!

 Time for breakfast….

The breakfast was nearly identical to the one we had in Inner Mongolia last summer. Hard boiled eggs, man tou (steamed bread), greens, soups and a few hot dishes. Ah, and hot cow's milk.  Umm…I thought the Chinese don't drink cow's milk?!?

We've got about an hour before we need to head to the wedding.  Want to go out for a short walk and see a tiny bit of the town?

Here's a massive tools market we stumbled upon.  Mark wished he could have spent more time here:

Apparently the town is a well known town for mining (I think iron? for steel production?) and it's also apparently a wealthy town.

Time to go back to the hotel and get dressed up for the wedding!

Okay…so Chen Chen and Yu Zheng have been up for hours as they had pre-wedding events to perform (Chen Chen picking her up from her home and having to pass some tests given to him by her family members and friends AND then she having to do the same with his family and friends at Chen Chen's family's house- I think).

People gathered in front of the wedding hall waiting for the arrival of the bride and groom. Naturally lots of fireworks (firecrackers) were involved!!!!

Chen Chen and his bride drove up:

So, that car has the bride and groom…there is a procession of cars following them (friends & family, I presume).

Taking photos before entering the wedding hall:

People watching is loads of fun!  Too bad it's a bit complicated trying to communicate them.

Here's an interesting thing we probably wouldn't find at a wedding in the USA:

Cigarettes for the wedding guests!?!

OH! By the way, did you remember to bring ear plugs?????  IT IS LOUD, LOUD, LOUD!!!!!!!!

and a photo of me….

See? I can dress up and put on make-up. ….sort of. 😛

At one end of the stage was a gazebo-looking structure and at the other end was a giant, wall-sized screen:

Wedding photo of the beautiful couple!

 Speaking of wedding photos, that's something that is done a little differently here than what I'm used to.  The wedding photos are a BIG, HUGE ordeal here.  They're also done BEFORE the wedding (like months before!).  The photo shoots can include interesting/scenic locations, props and several costume changes.  WOW!  So, that's kind of neat but I'm glad Mark and I didn't have to do that!!!!!

The MC got the party started, or so to speak.  They showed a video of friends and coworkers sending the bride and groom happy wishes.

Afterwards, Chen Chen started singing – he was first in a corner of the large room.  I'm not sure everyone realized it was him singing until he got on to the elevated stage.  His bride was standing at the other end of the stage; waiting in the gazebo. He strolled down to her while singing.  Chen Chen has a magnificent singing voice! 

Chen Chen singing in the corner of the giant room.

 awwwwwwwwwww…..so sweet!

After the singing came the wedding procession : the flower children going first, tossing rose petals on the floor and then the bride and groom.  I'm not sure who the people walking behind them are (best man?  maid of honor?).

Ava, remember to smile!!!

Do  you see the MC on the left-hand side?  He's dressed in red.   

Lighting candles together:

Mark came walked down the elevated stage and went through his speech – all in Chinese!!!  Too bad I didn't take a photo of his written speech….as it was all written in Chinese characters!  Yep!  Mark is doing a phenomenal job learning the characters.  (most expats learn what's called pinyin.  It's sort of the anglicized version but most Chinese, especially elderly, don't know pinyin).  Here's something I may have failed to tell you….there were about

………………………………………………………………….

SEVEN HUNDRED GUESTS at this wedding!!!!!!  

Holy schmoly!!!!

Did we know this?  Nope.  I had no clue this wedding would be SO BIG!

I was so impressed with Mark's Chinese speech!  Everyone laughed in all the right places.  Oh, and as soon as he started speeking in Chinese (he was introduced as Chen Chen's American boss) everyone cheered LOUDLY!  His speech was about four minutes.  I recorded it- let me know if you're interested in watching it!

The couple saying their vows in front of everyone:

Ava-the-ring-bearer walked down the aisle to deliver the rings on a single white rose stem:

exchanging rings:

The beautiful couple shared a special tea with their parents.  I wish I knew more of the details of this – like what kind of tea they drank, whether or not this is an old Chinese tradition, etc:

After a few other things- the parents of both the bride and groom came on to stage and said a few words.  Then Chen Chen and his wife linked arms while drinking from wine glasses:

 Next they poured two different colors of sand into this glass jar. Not sure if this is traditional Chinese but it is symbolic of a wedding in any culture (or at least the cultures that I'm aware of):

Dishes nestled on top of other dishes. That's A LOT of FOOD!!!!

SO MUCH FOOD:

I wonder what will happen to all the left over food????

A family photo with Chen Chen and Yu Zheng: