Zhejiang Province 2

 The wedding-mobile

 Busting into the bride's quarters

 Groom putting bride's shoes on before leaving

 Bride and groom with Gogo's parents (groom's aunt and uncle)

 Tables in the banquet hall

End of runway with light-up, water-filled pillar things (eloquently put, I know)

The exceptionally ugly stuffed dog I was given as a prize for getting up and speaking -- my roommate thinks it's adorable 

Too much food 

Badminton shuttlecock factory where 10 million shuttlecocks are produced annually 

Attaching feathers to the base 

Birdies awaiting the next step of production 

Work 

Gogo's parents playing badminton on the factory's badminton courts 

Gogo's maternal grandma outside of her home 

L-R: Gogo's dad, Gogo's uncle, Gogo's cousin and his new wife, me, Gogo's aunt, Gogo's mom

The previous post covers the travels of the Friday after we arrived, which brings me to Saturday's wedding. It was in some ways very different than typical American weddings, yet had noticeable similarities. The events of the day started around 2 pm with the groom and all of his family invading the bride's house. I say "invading" because that is certainly what it feels like. In all Chinese weddings, the groom must struggle into his bride's house and fight his way into her bedroom (with the bride's family resisting and pushing him away), where he will find his bride dressed in her gown and waiting for him. While pushing his way inside the house, he must throw out candy and red envelopes (红包) full of money to members of her family in order to "win them over." The whole routine is, of course, done out of tradition, and is not completely serious. Nevertheless, it was extremely crowded, lively, and loud at this particular wedding, as I suspect it is at all. The groom (Gogo's cousin) was laughing most of the time, as were his friends. 

When everyone is ready to leave the bride's house, the bride must be carried out on the back of one of her uncles. This is symbolic of the time when brides had to be carried out of their villages against their wills to be married into families elsewhere, and apparently has become tradition at all weddings. From the bride's house, everyone made their way to the hotel banquet hall where the wedding ceremony and reception were being held. The mode of transportation is another interesting aspect of Chinese weddings. Cars are rented to carry the bride, groom, and family members to the wedding. In this particular wedding, the bride and groom's car was a Bentley, and the following cars were Mercedes -- all black. I've seen other "wedding brigades" in Beijing with red cars as well, but I must say black is sleeker. When we arrived at the hotel, we were told that the small fireworks that were supposed to go off when the wedding cars arrived were not yet ready, and that the brigade of cars should go around the block and come back. Haha. By the time we came back, they were ready.

Upon entering the banquet hall, there was a sort of dress rehearsal of the wedding (a bit last minute, no?), then the bride and groom headed to the entrance to greet guests. We waited in the banquet hall as 200+ guests arrived. Most began smoking immediately upon entering, and soon the room was a giant, foul-smelling grey cloud. Skipping ahead to the actual ceremony -- the lights to the entire hall were turned off so that the room was pitch black save for the stage and runway, both of which were made of plastic and lit up. This made for the feeling of being at a concert. To further the concert-y atmosphere, the ceremony began with the bride and groom walking down the runway singing to each other, each holding a microphone that carried the sound far and wide (and loud). They then kissed and proceeded up to the stage, where the vows began. Now is a good time to mention that the whole ceremony was hosted by a hired MC -- a young guy who did all of the talking and even sang a few songs. Throughout the vows, many people were talking and eating, which made for an interesting atmosphere. After the vows, everyone began eating in earnest, and the bride and groom went around to every table to make toasts. Eventually I was asked to get up on stage and introduce myself and give my best wishes to the bride and groom (in between performances by the MC and some 8-year old dancers). Gogo's mom wanted me to speak in three languages, so I used mostly Mandarin but threw in a sentence of English and a sentence of the local dialect (not easy to learn, FYI). It was another nerve racking experience in front of a large Chinese audience -- how do those keep happening?

The wedding ended early (there's drinking, but no dancing), and we were in bed by 10 pm. And that is that. Because I won't have time to post about the rest of this trip, I have included pictures of our tour of the Hangyu badminton shuttlecock factory as well (Owner of the company is a distant relative of Gogo's mom's). I have much more to post on (Frank's visit to Beijing and our trip down to Shanghai and Hangzhou, etc) but am leaving for the South of China and the Philippines on Sunday and won't be returning until February 17. May try to get one more post in before leaving, but if not, look for a new post in about a month!