After the wedding ceremony at Scandinavian Centre, we headed to Silver Dragon, where Nancie changed into her cheongsam for the tea ceremony.
From Teasenz:
Chinese Wedding Tea Ceremony History
In a traditional Chinese wedding, the tea ceremony is one of the most significant events. It includes very formal introductions of the bride and groom and shows respect to their families. The earliest written record of tea ceremonies emerged during the Tang Dynasty over 1200 years ago. It was initially called cha dao (茶道）or the way of tea. Some Japanese monks travelled to China and brought it back to Japan. Influenced by Japanese culture, the tea ceremony became more grave and formal.
In the very first documented versions of such ceremony, the couple would serve tea to the groom's family after exchanging vows. Then bride would have served tea privately to her own family that morning. However, such practice is rare today, and is only applied by very conservative families.
Today, many couples choose to show respect to both the bride and groom's families by hosting tea ceremonies for both sides.
The meaning of a Chinese wedding tea ceremony
In China, serving tea when guests come is a very traditional propriety. It is a significant way to show respects. In the wedding, this act is in respect and gratitude to her parents for all the years of love and care. Besides this, tea ceremony is much meaningful in a wedding. Tea is the symbol of purity, stability and fertile. The purity of tea represents the love is pure and noble; the stability of tea stands for faithful love; the fertile of tea represents the family will have many children.
Chinese wedding tea ceremony gifts guide
After the drinking of the tea, the following procedure is that gifts for the bride and groom will be presented. If it's your first time attending such a ceremony, you might be worried about what Chinese wedding tea ceremony gifts are suitable. Well you really don't have to, since gifts are usually in forms of red envelopes with money that can widely ranges from 50 to 500 USD. These red envelopes are also called 'lai see' in Hong Kong and the Guangdong province, while in other areas in China they're know as 'hong bao'.
Jewellery Gifts
Parents, grandparents and some closely related relatives sometimes also present jewellery as a gift. It's good to know that, the couple should wear the jewellery immediately as a sign of appreciation.
The photo booth from Xpressbooth was such a great addition! Guests received the prints immediately, and there is a website where they can download the photos from!
Even the bride was having fun at the photo booth!
Nancie and Victor's friends sang vivaciously to the wedding dance's songs :D
This is when they sing to "You Raised Me Up" accompanying Victor's dance with his mother :)
Even the groom sang to the song!
Another costume change for the bride :D
Cheering for Victor while he was trying to fetch the garter.
