China Trip Day 4 The Wedding |

18th July 2009

Getting ready

The day of the wedding we were all up and showered nice and early, Jiaao arrived just as we had finished getting organized. Song had stayed the night at her Mum’s apartment. We had a bit of a photo opp with Peichen’s family while we waited for the cars to arrive. When the cars and photographer arrived we all loaded up and set off for Songs Mum’s apartment. The vehicle procession consisted of around 4-6 Audis one stretch and the photographer hung out of the back of a 4wd that led the way.

Having Fun

The convoy

The gang with the stretch

Once we arrived at Song’s place things started to get interesting, Peichen had to bribe and fight his way through no less than four doors with Jiaao’s help. To bribe the doorman Peichen used red envelopes with varying amounts of cash in them. Once Peichen had managed to get through all the doors he then had to find Song’s shoes so they could carry on to the next stage. Peichen searched everywhere in the room and again had to bribe people for clues to the shoes location. He also had to perform physical tasks like 20 pushups and eating various noodles. This was all very entertaining for the people watching though it appeared to be a lot of hard work for Peichen.

The lads fighting and bribing their way through the first door

All that fighting and bribing was worth the effort, now to find those shoes

Peichen working hard

Once the games were complete and the shoes had been found, the convoy made its way back to Song and Peichen’s unit so Song’s mum could pick faults with the decorations that would require fixing by the groom before they could get married. Song’s mum decided to take it easy on these guys this time and after a couple of minor alterations it was on to the hotel. One thing that was really cool was as Song and Peichen got out of the car people set off tubes full of streamers powered by a massive charge, kind of like a giant party popper on steroids. The effect was awesome and streamers rained down on a large area for a good 30 to 40 seconds after each tube was set off, more than enough time to get some really spectacular photos.

Confetti Chinese Style

Can’t trust those crazy Ausies

The ceremony was awesome a little different to the way we do it over here, for starters Peichen had to walk down to the back of the room to collect Song then they both walked up the isle together. The music was more what you would expect from a motivational session and the celebrant was more of a motivational speaker. I must say it was pretty awesome all in all certainly a lot of fun. Song and Peichen split the ceremony in two the first part was more the current style that they have in china and the second part was a bit traditional. Peichen said it was very difficult to find the traditional costumes in Beijing pointing to the fact that traditional weddings are seldom done any more. It was an experience never the less and goes along the concept that the Groom doesn’t see the brides face until the day of the wedding, I wonder how you would go with refunds or exchanges from either side.

Traditional Style

We sat at the back of the hall with other friends of Song and Peichen’s who had studied in Aus. Once the speeches and presentations were done Song and Peichen made their way around the various tables and drank toasts with everyone. As there were a couple of hundred people in the room this took a fair chunk of time. Tiff had a bit of a conversation with Song’s dad utilizing Peichen’s boss as a translator and Tiff and I drank a toast with Song’s boss. Once lunch was completed everyone parted company quite quickly, a bit different to the kicking on into the night like we tend to do here.

Hanging with Pi and his lady

After the ceremony we headed back to the unit for a siesta, Song and Peichen stayed at the hotel as they were given a suite with the hire of the venue. When we had all had a rest we met up to go out for dinner, this time there was a stack of us including Pi and His Girl, Jiaao and Xiao, Song Song, Jing, Han Fei and the tall bloke who spoke excellent English. There was one other bloke a work colleague of Peichen’s but he didn’t do or say much. The meal was awesome and once again the conversation, food and beer flowed easily into the night.

Unwinding at the restaurant

After the meal we made our way to a karaoke bar, we managed to get a small room with its own sound equipment. Amazingly enough most of the people we went with could actually sing, apparently karaoke is a popular past time in china and these guys had all had a lot of practice. We were all really appreciative to get home to bed that night.