Wedding in November

I attended last night my first unique wedding in Shanghai. I'm not really very fond of attending weddings. But I was very amused and enthused how creative new generation Chinese locals are now.

It was very grand, different and fun for Chinese standards. The couple, Danny and Jessie are ur new age Chinese locals. Very young, hip, open minded, independent yet still confucian in certain ways, rich and cultured in their own way. Danny is an architect and is very much into music and photography. Jessie shares the same passion with music. Like other Shanghainese women, Jessie drives their car and enjoys the bounty of the husband. She's the subject of most of Danny's photos. Interestingly, they project an image of the "free as a bird" kind of lifestyle but during the ceremony, their parents were called to the stage and they perform the bowing to their parents. In return, their parents gave a few words of advice how to carry on a life of marriage. 5,000 yrs of history has rooted these even to these new age Chinese emperor/empress chinese locals.

I witnessed how far new age Chinese locals try to merge being very western but still Chinese. Here are a few details:

1. We were hearing pop American music while eating an entirely Chinese menu.
2. We had a garden wedding but held in Shanghai Zoo with elephants as they perform their stunts with the attendants!
3. The bride and groom are dressed the way Westerners have their weddings but they were shouting out loud (literally) that they agree to be together to the rest of their lives.
4. They were eating their wedding cakes with their hands.
5. There were fireworks and strobe lights in our table! hehehe!
6. The bride and groom wants to be in the "princess hours" series --very famous korean drama series.
7. We were asked to write some small notes while we were eating but it was just a "gimik" but were not collected.
8. There are chocolates, cigarettes and cute 'double happiness' matches on each table. How ironic, one kills and one for beauty!
9. The older crowd were placed in a "baofang" (private rooms) while the young are located separetely to enjoy the band music and other chinese related performances.
10. The party was done by exactly 9pm and everyone was gone in 10mins. hehehe!

It felt different from the weddings I have pictured in my mind. Maybe it has something to do with culture. They were trying to get the best of both worlds. Typically, weddings in the phils are done in Church with at least an hour of ceremonial/spiritual blessing from the priest. It makes more sense. But I cant blame the Chinese. At the end of it all, the clear message in marriage is that u acknowledge that u are willing to live with ur wife/husband for the rest of ur lives no matter what. It was a merry gathering. I wish them good luck and a life long commitment to be together.