A Hong Kong Wedding

Last Saturday Honey and I went to a real Hong Kong wedding. It was a friend of the family who got married. Let me tell you how I experienced the wedding. 

The wedding started at church where Honey's mom works. It was all in Cantonese, including the printed program for the ceremony, so I was merely there to watch. The couple who got married met in church, and they made that a big deal for some reason. We were around 150 people or so at the ceremony. The bride had five or six brides maids, and the groom had just as many grooms men. During the wedding ceremony we sang hymns, then the priest talked for a bit, then the groom's father (also a minister) talked for awhile. There was a choir singing. Then the couple said their vows, both said Yes and while everybody was watching they signed the marriage certificate. Then their fathers signed as witnesses, and the couple could now kiss as husband and wife for the first time. They walked down the aisle with the people around cheering and applauding. Once the wedding couple reached the end of the aisle they turned around and walked back. The groom started thanking everyone who had helped with the wedding, he thanked so many people. Then the bride thanked her family and friends. They kept thanking people for about 15 mins. (Honey translated for me the whole time). 

When this was over there was picture taking in the church with the couple. There was a list printed in the program of when each person should approach the couple for picture taking. The list said for example "Family", "Close friends", "Groom's co-workers", "Bride's co-workers", "Friends from Church" etc. Simple and clear. We got in the picture together with "People who work at the church where the wedding ceremony is held" (Honey's mom works there). After we took the picture and congratulated the newly married couple we went back home to chill for a while. 

At night we went to the wedding banquet, a traditional banquet. We arrived around 8pm. It was a big banquet hall with a stage, a registry where you pay the traditional 500 HKD banquet fee per person. Yes, you pay the couple to eat at their banquet. There was 29 tables, each table seats 10 people, so pretty darn big wedding banquet. We were seated with co-workers of Honey's mom. They served a 10 course meal and free drink refills of your choice. The food was traditional Chinese food and not too impressive. Apparently it is rare with good food at a wedding banquet. 

While the food was served the couple had two MCs that ran a small show on the stage. They showed videos on big screens about the couple, and they showed videos from earlier during the wedding day. The couple showed up in different outfits during the evening. The groom, also a musician, sang a song to his bride. That was probably the best thing all night. It was real nice. 

We did leave before the end of the dinner, which Honey and his parents said is very common. I never got to taste the desserts, the thing I actually looked forward to on the menu... 

After having experienced a traditional Hong Kong Wedding I am very happy that we won't have a banquet at our wedding. It just felt dull. Honey said that is how it is. The banquet is almost more for the parents and older relatives, so it's not so much party. Actually, no party at all. I'm not saying that parents don't like to party, I know my parents do :). But party is not really what Christian Hong Kong parents are famous for... However, I am very happy to have attended a traditional Hong Kong wedding!