With Chinese New Year celebrations taking place last month, we couldn’t help but show you this incredibly colourful and traditional Chinese wedding. Here at Zankyou we love all types of weddings, but we get extra excited when we come across something a little different, and this colourful wedding by wedding planner Carmen Yuen-Stevenson from Carmen Weddings, full of tradition with a Scottish twist has really brightened up our day.
Fiona and Raymond’s big day took place in the Scottish town of Glasgow, with a fantastic celebration full of Chinese wedding traditions in Glasgow’s own China Town.
On the morning of the wedding, Fiona’s bridesmaids (also known as Tze Mui’s) arrived at Fiona’s parents home. They began to prepare for the traditional yet fun ‘Door Games’. This involves them denying access to the groom and his groomsmen (Hing Dai’s) from entering the home until they have successfully completed all of the games, which included tasks such as eating chilli powder covered bananas and dressing the groomsmen with their girly hairpieces! The tradition behind these games is so that the groom shows that he is willing to ‘earn’ the bridesmaids’ good friend, the bride, by successfully completing all tasks they request!
These traditional games are light hearted fun and always a joy to watch, while the bride is hidden away! Traditionally, games will always include elements such as tasting various drinks or food which include sweet, sour, bitter and spicy as they believe a marriage may have to endure such moments. You of course hope that all marriages are just filled with sweetness!
Once the groom and his groomsmen passed their given tasks, they gave the bridesmaids red money envelopes as a sign of good fortune and Raymond was then free to go and find his bride… their happiness was more than evident in their excited faces!
With the games finished, Fiona and Raymond served tea to their elders as a sign of respect. Delicious sweet jasmine tea with lotus seeds and red dates are normally served at Chinese weddings, with the dates and seeds as a symbol of fertility in marriage. In return, the elders traditionally gift red money envelopes or gold jewellery to the happy couple. What a fantastic tradition!
Normally, tea will always be served to the bride’s family first, with the couple then moving onto the groom’s family home to serve tea to the groom’s side of the family.
Once the tea ceremony was over, Fiona and Raymond enjoyed a few special moments with their bridesmaids and groomsmen, posing for some memorable photos with their photographer Chantal Lachance-Gibson.
The bride looked spectacular in her her vivid red bridal gown shipped all the way from Hong Kong. In Chinese tradition, red is a symbol of good fortune and happiness and is always used during special events and ceremonies. Her bouquet of romantic red roses and bright yellow calla lillies by florist Endrick Blooms matched her bridal look just perfectly. In colourful contrast, her bridesmaids looked beautiful in short asymmetric dresses with contrasting sashes and stunning hot pink sandals, we love them!
The groom and his groomsmen looked equally handsome in grey and navy suits with pink ties matching the pretty bridesmaids.
Beautiful images were captured by their photographer with Fiona and Raymond being able to snatch a few moments away from their guests with the beautiful city of Glasgow as their magnificent backdrop.
The couple then re-joined their guests for their immense 12 course wedding reception. Each dish was created with a special meaning in mind, such as sticky fried rice, wishing the bride and groom have a wonderful marriage and ‘stick’ together forever!
Throughout the evening, guests were entertained with live performances. It truly was a traditional celebration with joy and happiness filling every part of the day.
Congratulations to Fiona and Raymond! A beautiful, colourful wedding steeped in tradition and love.
Credits: Wedding Planner – Carmen Weddings, Florist – Endrick Blooms, Photographer – Chantal Lachance-Gibson Photography
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