Chinese Wedding Reception

So, I got to experience my very first ever Chinese wedding reception.  Boy, it was cool.  It was more likely than not a once in a lifetime event for me.  There were a ton of traditions during and leading up to the wedding and ceremony.  Some of them involved pastries, and some involved hair brushes.  I don't know the details of the pastry one but I do know a bit about the hair brush.  According to tradition, the bride has to have her hair brushed by a "lucky woman" the day before her wedding.  The lucky woman (from what I understand) must have 3 generations of her family alive, must be fertile (has children) and must have no divorce in her family.  It really is a hard person to find.

Another Chinese wedding tradition is the tea ceremony.  You can read here more about the tradition .  My Sister and her husband chose to do the ceremony at the reception and involved all of the parents.

One of the more strange, but also more fascinating traditions was the way they serve food.  It brings good luck to serve food whole.  So, we were served a whole chicken and a whole fish.  I was told that the restaurant removed the chicken heads from some of the plates so as to not freak people out.  My sister was kind enough to bring one over for us to see.  I wont ever get THAT image out of my head.

On the top is the chicken.  It is a whole chicken that was sliced, bones and all.  On the bottom is a fish (I don't know what kind) cut apart.  My Mom said that it was filleted but served on top of the bones.  I'm not a fish eater and so I don't know for sure.

The more "American" parts of the wedding was the dancing.  Munchkin started walking full time just 2 days before the wedding and so she really enjoyed running around on the dance floor.  Here she is showing off the eyelet lace dress I made her.

Here's Peanut dancing with another 3 year old at the wedding.  They met at the shower and hit it off so it was great to see them together again.  Sorry it's not the best picture, but the good ones showed their faces really well.

So, if you ever get invited to a Chinese wedding reception do everything you can to attend.  It's something really special.  Congrats to the new couple!!