The first weekend here in Harbin, I was eating lunch with my team and two new friends at the Bumble Bee Restaurant. As we were waiting for our meal the lady sitting at the next table over offered me some stinky tofu. After talking to her for a while we exchanged emails in order to meet up at some point in the week. Next thing I know I am being invited to join her for a wedding the next weekend. It was amazing being able to get to know the lovely lady who invited us (Sarah and myself) and learn about local wedding customs.
Sarah and I joined the wedding party at about 9 am: first we stopped by the grooms apartment where we were given candy for good luck. Then we headed over to the hotel where the bride was getting ready.
Friends and family of the bride watching the process.
Where there was more food for blessings and good luck for all who partook in the splendor.
When the bride was all ready she sat in the middle of the bed for pictures with everyone helping/watching her prepare.
She then turned around to face the wall and all of us single ladies sat around her on the bed. All of the married ladies tried to hold the door closed as the groom tried to force his way into the room. It didn’t take long for him to make it into the room. What I could see from my spot was that after he put money under the door as a bribe he was through 😀 Next he went around the bed and completed challenges from the single women on the bed. Some of the challenges were telling us ten nick names he has for the bride, reciting a poem, promising to do the cleaning and dishes, singing to her and whatever else could be thought up. After completing each challenge he then gave the lady an envelope with money and she would get up. And the bride continued to face the wall, till after the groom professed his undying love for her down on one knee begging her to turn around.
After faking him out, she finally turned around where he lit up with a gigantic smile, before starting on his next task of finding the hidden red shoes (one was found by one of his friends in a bag that Sarah was holding).
Next a bag of half yuan (coins) was poured on the bed representing gold and prosperity. The bride then took the biggest handful that she could and put the money in his pockets. When they were done all of the guest in the room were to take a few coins to join them in prosperity.
Pictures with the brides parents.
Then we all headed outside to wait with exploding flower canons as they exited the hotel to take more pictures.
We went to a beautiful location on the river where there were more brides than I could count getting their pictures taken. Kitty told us the reason why there were so many brides was because not only is that the best place for pictures in the city but it was the 20th which is a lucky day to be wed.
Here in China the traditional dress color is red but many brides have picked the western custom of white to signify purity. The brides here don’t just have one dress either, they have a few, for the wedding that we were at, the bride had four. The white one that she wore at the beginning and for a number of the first pictures, the one that she wore to lunch (Sarah and I were able to join the friends of the bride for lunch), the dress she was married in then finally the dress that she wore for the party with just close friends after the wedding.
Here are her last two dresses for the day…
While we were waiting for the ceremony Sarah and I joined in on a game of Killer (and yes most of the game was in chinese), which is a lot like what we call Mafia back in the states.
The ceremony had about 450 guest that were dressed in anything from sweats to formal wear. During the ceremony we were served the meal that was on a lazy suzan and eaten family style.
Before the bride entered, the groom started singing, the doors opened, and then the bride joined him on a duet. The duet was brought to an end as the two met in the middle of the isle under the archway of roses. Vows were taken, and the newly weds made their exit.
