After hanging out down town all day it was finally time for the real wedding festivities to begin and we headed over to the banquet hall.
The first thing we noticed was the wedding car outside; it was decorated in red ribbons. I have seen wedding cars around town many times in Changzhou and usually they are more elaborate than this involving lots of pink and red bows and ribbons.
The second thing we noticed was the immense size of the hall and the incredible number of tables that were set for the wedding. The guest list was 900 people! so the banquet hall had to have 90 tables of 10 - it was crazy. Each table had 10 place settings with a favor (candy), juice, bai jiu (alcohol) and two cartons of cigarettes. The wedding began at 7pm and while everyone was sitting down and getting settled, people came around to our table to give each kid a crown. Mickey and Minnie Mouse even made an appearance and handed out gifts and candy to all the children. I started to feel like I was in Disney World, but that was just the beginning . . .
At 7pm, we were welcomed and greeted by a friend of the groom who stood on a huge stage. Then we were treated to a pre-dinner show consisting of a scantily clad exotic dancer who danced on the elevated and colorfully lit runway and then on to the stage - the crowd loved it!
After the dancer the groom arrived on stage singing and walking toward the bride who was walking with her dad down the runway. She was wearing a traditional western white gown and he was wearing a suit. The groom met the bride and then walked her the rest of the way to the stage where they were introduced as a new couple. At this point there was lots of confetti, bubbles, indoor fireworks and sparklers and a fog machine working overtime - it was very dramatic. I would probably call it more of a wedding extravaganza rather than a ceremony.
The bride and groom performed some traditions on stage such as exchanging gifts (she gave him his favorite dessert and he gave her a guitar). Then they drank bitter coffee while their arms were entwined to symbolize the fact that "sometimes life is bitter but it is better to go through it together." After lighting some candles and feeding each other cake they stepped down and we all enjoyed a pretty incredible dinner.
During the dinner there were more shows onstage including: a yo-yo guy, a saxaphone player, a magician and a singer and Mickey and Minnie made another appearance. Dinner was an amazing banquet with lots of seafood - everyone was particularly excited about getting individual crabs though not everyone knew how to eat them. Things got a little messy. After dinner the bride changed into outfit number three for the day: a red and gold evening gown.
When things were winding down, we saw a video of the bride and groom acting out a few scenes in their future life together and then everyone left. We were the only foreigners there and the other guests were very curious and interested to know what we were doing there - including the bride and groom who wanted their own private picture party with us. They were very welcoming and gracious and invited us back to visit them in the future.
After the wedding we went to Qin Chen's house for the night and I thought a little about my upcoming wedding. Perhaps a Chinese person might be a bit disappointed that my wedding is not going to include dancers, fireworks, fog, confetti, bubbles or Disney characters and my guest list is nowhere near 900, but that's ok with me =)
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