Saturday, June 11, 2022
The Wedding (followed by fishing)
The big day dawned, rain that was originally predicted held off and the sun came up. A full day of wedding activities was on the schedule, orchestrated by a wedding planner. My brother and I had decided to extend our stay in the cabins another day, so that we had more time for fishing after the wedding.
The day started with the bridal party getting their make up done, while the florists decorated the arbor and outdoor seating area, as well as the restaurant, for the reception and dinner later.
Late morning, the groom arrived with his party to gain entry to the bride's cabin. Following Chinese custom, the bridal party refused to let the groom in, and he was made to jump through hoops and pay penalties to get to his bride-to-be. The elders were not involved in this part of the ceremony although we had to stay around the bridal cabin because the tea ceremony would commence as soon as the groom got to his bride.
During the tea ceremony, the bride and groom, in traditional Chinese costumes, knelt on the floor and offered tea to the elders in the family, starting with the parents. The groom's parents were in China and unable to attend the wedding due to travel restrictions, so the tea ceremony participants were from the bride's side. The bride and the groom each offered a cup of tea to the elders, in return, the recipient(s) offered good wishes and a red packet containing money to the pair. Since there were only the parents, an aunt (me) and uncle and his wife, the ceremony was quite short.
After a break for lunch, the garden ceremony began at 3 pm. A number of the bride and groom's friends, mostly from Winnipeg, came for the wedding and took up seats in the garden. It was getting hot in the sun, I wished I had a hat in adddition to my sunglasses, but the only big floppy hat I have with me was for fishing. I did not think it would do for this event. The ceremony was lovely, the bride was beautiful as were the bridesmaids. There was a cocktail reception, where our waiter from the previous evening was the bartender. Andrew made me a Hecla Sling, patterned after the Singapore Sling.
And then there was the formal wedding dinner at 6:30 pm: the food and service were excellent. There were toasts, speeches, games and the bouquet toss, followed by the first dance.
By 10:30 pm, the elders in the party left the dancing to the younger generation, and went back to our cabins. We changed, grabbed our fishing rods and went out on the pier. It got cold and windy, which meant no mosquitoes! We were still fishing when the dancing ended around midnight. By the time we called it quits around 2 am, we caught 3 large pickerel; the mother of the bride landed the biggest one. I filleted the fish which went into our portable freezers. It had been an exhausting but interesting day.
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