One thing about the ceremony/vow-sharing practices. There is a lot that goes on throughout the day before the banquet with all the guests. In the wedding that I saw in detail, the bride and groom were married the night before, where the bride comes over to the groom’s family and they pray in front of the ancestors shrine (”great grandma, great grandpa, this is our new family member. we hope you approve and like her.”).

The next day family members and then the bride and groom’s right/left hands are around to help out with the morning activities, which consist of the groom prepping to drive to pick up his new wife. A group of cars drive in a line and toss firecrackers out the window. The bride is at her parent’s house, where the groom is to go in and have tea with the parents until the bride comes out. For a fun twist, this is the part where in some weddings the bridesmaids come in, guarding the house and making the groom prove his love by doing things like push-ups and serenades.

The bride and groom then receive the blessing of the father of the bride, who says goodbye to his little girl (in most cases the girl really does become much more involved in the groom’s family, living with his parents) and they drive off together.

Where do they go? Back to the groom’s house, where they pass the time until the banquet in the evening.

All of this is dictated by time in accordance with the Chinese way of dividing the day into different segments, such that if you’re too early in picking up the bride, you just hang out and wait on the side of the road for a while.

Anyway, that’s the part that goes on before the banquet. Congrats to the newly married couple.

Dale
Taipei