One of our poker buddies got married on Sunday to a local Suzhou girl. He had a traditional Chinese wedding ceremony at the Shila Hotel in SIP. Six of us and our families attended to give Brian (a.k.a. Huggy Bear) our support.There are certainly some interesting traditions to the Chinese wedding. The bride started out the ceremony in a traditional western white dress but later disappeared and reappeared in a Chinese red dress. When she appeared in red, her face was fully veiled. The groom led her across a threshold of bamboo to the front of the room where she was revealed for the next part of the ceremony. There was food, wine, and cake like a U.S. wedding, but no band or dancing. There was also baijiu, that vile flammable rice alcohol that burns going down and coming up. You can see us toasting the groom with shots of baijiu (I took a sip and threw the rest in a plant - god help the fern).
Later in the event, the bride and groom circulated to greet and chug a beer with each guest and light a Chenghua cigarette. It is supposed to be good luck for the smoker who gets his cigarette lit by the bride. All in all, it was a rather brief affair compared to a western wedding - only about two hours. It was an interesting experience and a very happy day for Brian and Demi.
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