Yesterday, I received a lovely email from Thu Vu owner of My Little Work Shop.  She and Brynn were having a conversation on Facebook about Wedding and Party Network and how we discuss wedding traditions among other things on the Celebration Advisor.  The conversation turned to multi-cultural weddings of which Thu Vu knows quite a bit about, since she is planning one herself.  Here is what she shared with us about Vietnamese/Chinese Wedding Traditions.

I am here to talk about the Vietnamese and Chinese wedding tradition. I am pretty sure that in America and in Canada the wedding would have a ceremony and reception. Vietnamese/Chinese tradition is different from the American's and Canadian's ceremony, which takes place at the church or somewhere else but with a priest, friends and families when you exchange your vows.

In the Vietnamese/Chinese tradition is that we have the groom's side of the family members and friends to carry lacquered, round boxes; betrothal presents to the bride's house. Only the males on his side would stand behind/beside one another (depends on what you're carrying)to carry the presents to the bride's house. You have to be unmarried and the guys that the groom may pick could be his own brothers, ushers, best man etc…

These presents are to be in your choice of betel leaves, areca nuts, wines, jewelries, fruits, cake tea, tea set, whole pig etc…you are to carry about 10-12 of these presents to her house. You may have double of the same items if you wish. The gifts are to be covered by red cloths.

The bride's side of the family members and friends are suppose to be waiting by the door. Their jobs are to collect the presents. The groom then would ask for the bride's hand in marriage.

The groom then are to place the jewelries on her. Such as placing the earrings in her ear and the ring on her finger. The parents/gram parents are to be seated on chairs, you are to take the tea while you are in front of them on your knees. You basically bow and give them tea to have a sip.

This tea giving is a very respectful thing to do when joining two families in one. I thank you for taking the time to read this. I will soon put some pictures up of my engagement. I am doing the presents giving and not the tea ceremony. The tea ceremony is used at the wedding. I attached some pictures for you, so enjoy!

What a beautiful tradition, both in color and in sentiment.  Thank you for sharing such a wonderful wedding tradition with us. The photos are amazing.

We'd been dating for just over a year when my fiance surprised me one Christmas with a marriage proposal. It wasn't our first Christmas together so I wasn't expecting anything major.

We were playing "Dirty Santa" with my family when Josh asked me to trade gifts. We hadn't opened them but he seemed to know what was in the package that he held. I agreed to trade because he seemed really adamant about it.

I opened the package and laughed out loud. Inside was a big-mouthed bass. Continue reading "The Proposal That Got Me Hook Line & Sinker" »

When I saw the picture submitted to the Wedding and Party photo gallery by Levy, I knew I wanted to know more about her wedding and the theme that inspired such a beautiful wedding cake. I thought that others planning a wedding could get some ideas from her wedding story. I sent her an email asking out their wedding and its traditions and she was gracious enough to reply.

Hi there Ma'am, I apologized too for the delay of my replies. I have 4 weddings in a row this month and checking my emails is so hard hehehe. Anyway, I want to introduce first my self to you.. I am Levy B. Tkaczyk, a wedding coordinator/ planner for 11 years now. I am happily newly married last Feb2008. I just want to showcase my wedding coz i believe that its kind of unique and unusual.

Our wedding concept/ theme is a fusion of Ethnic/ tribal theme with canadian touch since my husband is from Canada. I live in an island here in the Philippines were the tribal/ethnic tradition is still intact. I am a Sociology graduate too and am fond of indigenous materials because i find it artistic and unique. Our Wedding Cake was inspired by different tribal groups of Mindanao namely Maranao, Higaonon and Subanen. It was 4 layered chocolate cake with 6 islands.

yes, Mr. Edwin Orbe is a professional photographer. He was the one who took beautiful pictures before and during our wedding. I recommended him also to almost of my clients here. I have a website too , feel free to view it ma'am.. mybrideandgroom.multiply.com —- i put some pics of my clients this year. we have a wedding website too its www.dannylevz.com, and we have some post nup pics at rlbphotography.multiply.com so till next, i am looking forward hearing from you soon Jam. thanks really for the email , it means so much. if there's anyway that i could help just let me know too…if its okay , i would like to link ur site too over my multiply account. please take care and God bless!

Submitted by: Jennifer from Missouri
Since junior high my best friend and I have prayed for a very specific sign that would let us know whether or not we were supposed to marry our current boyfriends. We call it our "pact with God." Part of the intimacy of this is that no one knows what the sign is except for us and God.

Well, the man of my dreams finally made his way into my life several relationships down the line. My Continue reading "Wedding Story: I Needed A Sign From Above" »

Submitted by Veronica from Kamloops, BC

Submitted by Kate from Little Rock Ar

Submitted by Kieana from Atlanta, GA
Brian and I have known one another for about 4 years, 2 of those years we were dating. He has always been that person who plans everything, never spontaneous…well up until last New Year's Eve. So here's how it happened, every New Year's Eve my family and I Continue reading "One Happy New Year!" »

Submitted by Donna from Fair Haven VT

Garden Flowers

While dating Neal, we entered into a business arrangement. We bought a lot and began building a "spec" house to sell. Being the frugal number cruncher, I evaluated every dollar going into the cost of the house. One afternoon Neal asked what type of whirlpool tub and fireplace I wanted. This began an argument. Continue reading "Surprise Proposal" »

Submitted by Quinn Ward From Illinois
My fiance and I decided on a simple civil wedding ceremony in lieu of the large church wedding my mother wanted me to have. We, both, like to be on time so we arrived at the courthouse about an hour ahead of schedule. After we signed in we had quite a bit of time on our hands to just sit and wait. Our wedding ceremony was scheduled for 1 p.m. When one finally rolled around we went to the assigned courtroom only to find out it was in use and we could not enter.

We took that in stride hoping it would be open soon. After about 10 minutes we began to get worried. We tried to call the woman who signed us in but she did not answer her phone and without her clearance we Continue reading "Murphy’s Law Civil Wedding Ceremony" »