Taiwnaese wedding

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While staying with Cynthia her cousin got married so I was invited to go along to the wedding with her and her parents. 'Invited' isn't really the word as they don't really have a guest list so Cynthia's family just bought me along. There also isn' a table plan so you just sit where you like - I was between Cynthia and a little girl who was 9 years old and kept chatting to me in Chinese, she didn't seem to mind that I couldn't answer her!

The bride at a Taiwanese wedding has, wait for it... 8 dresses in total! Can you imagine having to find (and change into) 8 different wedding dresses? They are all different colours and lengths and each has a different hairstyle and makeup to go with it so most brides have a 'wedding secretary' to assist them with all the changes!

There are also up to three different weddings - one for his family, one for her family and one for work colleagues. The wedding photos are taken before the wedding itself and the first five dresses are worn for these. The photos were then played on large screens from projection equipment at the wedding. The wedding was held in a Taipei wedding centre, basically a large building with a number of rooms all set out and hosting different weddings. The guests for the different weddings all used the same bathrooms so you saw the guests from a whole variety of different groups - very different to a British wedding.

There was a compere who commentated as the bride and groom entered the room together to clapping from the audience, as disco style music played and coloured lights flashed - again a stark difference to the entry of a bride in a church in Britain. Then there was a ten course meal before the bride gave a speech. She also changed into her final three dresses at points throughout the meal - finishing off in a blue gown which she wore to wave off her guests immediately after the meal finished.

The whole event was really energetic and I was exhausted at the end, but it was really good fun and a great experience. Next time I go to a Taiwanese wedding maybe it will be one of my old classmates?

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Comments

[Cat]

Phew
I'm glad that I'm not getting married in Taiwan - finding one dress was quite exciting enough for me and my Mum! Sounds like fun though - lots of food is usually good! And I do like the sound of having three weddings - why not eh?!