... attending the Wedding.

 

Well, the Wedding itself was finally a lot less exciting then I imagined it to be.

 

The celebration consists basically in a big feast, which starts around 8pm and finishes roughly three hours later. There was no ceremony, as we know it from most western weddings.

The couple already registered the marriage during the week. So the „ceremonial“ part of the evening consisted of the couple entering the hall, everybody applauding,them walking up to the stage - which is decorated with their names in shining letters and a huge Wedding cake - them speaking a few words and cutting the Wedding cake.

The Wedding cake was the biggest and most beautiful thing I have ever seen... the wired thing was only that we had already eaten the cake, during the apero, before the couple even arrived... our colleagues explained to us that the wedding cake - obviously, as all Wedding cakes - is fake. It is only supposed to be beautifull and symbolically cut. The real one never leaves the kitchen in one piece...

 

After the this „ceremonial“ part, you eat yourself through a chinese set dinner, including abalone (a first for me and not as bad as it looks) and the unescapable sharke-fin soup, I personnaly dislike... but politness oblige to have at least a few spoons of it (at least, if you do not prefer to eat the goose feet instead and I still prefer sharke-fin soup to goose feet).

 

One small sensation of the evening was actually caused inintentionally by me and my Canadian colleague. We both decided to get a chinese dress and to wear it for the occassion of the Wedding. We did not forsee the effect this would have on our Chinese colleagues... they were completely delighted.

Not only that we were the only people in the hall that were wearing Chinese dresses (what I kind of forsaw), but it also gave them the occasion to be the Chinese person framed by a black and a white foreigner in chinese dresses.... they were queuing to take pictures with us. At some point we had the feeling to be more in demand for photos than the married couple... By the way: the bride changes three times her dress during the evening. There is one photo with each dress of the couple and the two of us in our chinese dresses. One of them, is the photo above.