The Wedding Banquet

Finally, after months of anticipation, it was time for Tyler and Nova's wedding banquet. They married in the US over the summer and decided to have a banquet in China to celebrate with their friends here.

Having nothing to wear (all I had made last year were "teacher clothes") I was excited to have an opportunity to get something fantastic made. Which I did. And which everyone commented on.

Kent was even flying in from Taiwan for the big day. Remember Kent? Yep, the friend I went to India and the Tiger Leaping Gorge with. He moved to Taiwan this year to get a job that paid more and be with his girlfriend.


I took a cab to the hotel. I started to panic when we almost got stuck at a light for the second time. My driver assured me we would get through in true Chinese fashion. And we did. I'm not sure how many illegal moves were required to do it, but who's counting? I explained that I was going to my friends' wedding and he seemed pleased that I could tell him that much. He then cracked open a walnut on the car door and offered me half. I declined.


And we arrived. We handed our red envelopes to a table full of people willing and eager to help us. In Chinese culture, for wedding presents it is customary to give money of even numbers in red envelopes, rather than going out and buying something. Oddly, I feel better about it than choosing coasters off of a registry. They put my envelope in with the others on a neatly arranged tray the size of a large pizza.

In the room already were Kent, Fearless Leader, and of course, the happy couple. Nova just glowed with happiness and Tyler was beaming from ear to ear. Kent walked around with Tyler's camera taking candid shots of everyone while I posed with both Tyler and then both of them.

We then found seats at round tables covered in red table clothes while Nova and Tyler took to the stage to thank us all for coming. They gave a special thanks to Kent who seemed embarassed by the attention.

Out came the food. More food than would fit on our table. They removed plates and exchanged them for smaller ones when we ate food. They still had to stack dishes on top of one another. I was pleased I could eat most of the food. Lots of seafood, lots of vegetables, and COOKIES! I was very happy for the cookies, especially when, after numerous pokes by the children, it was determined that only the frosting on the cake was real.

After the dinner was well underway, Tyler and Nova went around to each table toasting people and thanking them for coming. At one table in the back, the guests decided that it was time to embarrass Tyler. They tied a string around his waist, and to the end of it, they tied a chopstick. Then they put him on a chair and turned him around, so the chopstick was behind him and he couldn't see a thing. Then they told him he had to get the chopstick into an empty wine bottle that was placed on the ground. I wonder what it is that they're hinting at...

Fearless Leader got a little bored at the end and took what remained of our plates and fruit platter (a traditional Chinese dessert) and created a masterpiece. When Nova and Tyler went on stage to take more photos, they got distracted by Fearless Leader's masterpiece and couldn't stop laughing.


Less than 4 hours later we were finished. We'd eaten, we'd drank, we'd toasted. I hailed a cab and rode home in silence. This driver didn't offer me walnuts.

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