Mandy's Wedding

This was our first time attending a Chinese wedding (though probably not our last because another co-worker of ours is getting married in October) and it was such a trip.  Not to speak ill of the culture, or of our friends, but it was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever witnessed.  It was like being in the audience of a game show.  We got there around 11:15 because the invitation said it started at 11:28 (lucky time).  But it didn’t actually start until 12:00.  It took place in a restaurant within a hotel:

 Everyone sat at tables instead of in rows, and there was already food waiting there for us:

Cheesy décor:

Nervous groom:

A little before 12:00, Sophie took me to see Mandy in her changing room:

Then we all went back to the main room.  There was no magical meeting of the bride and groom for the first time, they just stood under the heart arch while hoards of people took pictures.

As they walked down the aisle together to music that sounded like the score at the end of an epic movie, confetti was shot at them from both sides three times at the beginning, middle and end of the aisle.

 When they got to the end, sparklers were lit.  No joke!  And there’s more cheesy décor:

And that picture also explains why I didn’t get any good pictures.  There were always people standing in the way taking pictures throughout the entire thing.  Maybe they don’t trust the professional photographer to get good enough shots?  Anyways, instead of having an ordained minister/justice of the peace guiding the couple through the ceremony, there was an emcee.  And it was seriously like they were contestants on a game show.  He asked Mandy if she was satisfied and she said no, so Jiang Lu had to sing her a song.  After that she was still not satisfied so he got down on one knee and said he loved her in the local language.  Then she was satisfied.  There was another section where they poured wine into a small tower of wine glasses:

Then they cut the cake, and immediately after it was cut, people started rushing up to get pieces.  They came back with the biggest pieces of wedding cake I've ever seen, easily three or four times the size of a slice cut at an American wedding.  But the cake was nothing special, plain white cake with boring whipping topping, so it's not like they needed to be stingy with it.  Then the emcee had them kiss while everyone counted to 7.  It all happened very fast and it just seemed like a bunch of random traditions mish moshed together with no flow to it.  They didn’t even walk down the aisle together at the end of it.  And lunch started being served before the ceremony was over.  And as you can see from the pictures, most of the guests were not very dressed up.  A lot of people were wearing jean shorts and other things that you would wear on any other normal day.  We were definitely the best dressed there, besides Mandy and Jiang Lu.  Oh, and I should also mention that the guests were all talking loudly throughout the entire thing, just carrying on conversations amongst themselves as if there wasn't a wedding going on.  It seemed very disrespectful to me, but what do I know? 

Mandy changed into a cute red dress for the second half:

Then the emcee sang a song, which was very beautiful.  But then Mandy asked if we would sing a song and I was like “noooooooo!”  I was not warned that this might happen!  I was unprepared!  I really didn’t want to disappoint her, but without a karaoke thing telling me the words and no backup music, there can only be disaster.  Fortunately Adam had been drinking baijiu with the other Guilford men that were invited so he was drunk enough to rise to the challenge.  I don’t have any pictures of this, but Adam sang “Happy Trails” while I danced very embarrassingly in front of 250 Chinese people that were just eating it up.  It was very bad.  I don’t know why they keep insisting on making us sing.

Then people started leaving around 1:10.  It was the shortest wedding ever!  Before we left, we gave them a hongbao (red envelope with money in it).

It sure was a whirlwind experience.  Can't wait to go to another one to see how they compare!