Strange, I know!
But in my defense, a lot of the weddings I've gone to I've been in, so that's my excuse and I'm stickin' with it:). Today I planned on taking pictures and I was even seated with a good view:
But then the pastor's wife realized there were going to be a lot of people there, so she asked the church members to go to an overflow room upstairs and I meandered along up the stairs with Pookie. I still got to see the wedding, just not take any pictures. (How tacky would that have been to take a picture of an overhead screen?!?)The wedding was very nice... at least, I think it was nice! Most of it was in Thai, but the few parts that were in English were nice:). I noticed a few things that were different from an American wedding:
- They started decorating for the wedding on Tuesday. At first I didn't understand why, but then I realized they built some things and that required a lot of time.
- We got there around 1:15 and the place was already half-full, even though the wedding didn't start until 2:00. But then to go the other way, some people walked in 45 minutes late!
- The groom and bride had no attendants except for a ring bearer and a flower girl.
- Boutonnieres were pinned on every preacher, older person, and the next door neighbor... or so it seemed:). I've never seen so many boutonnieres. Seriously!
- When the choir or other groups got up to sing, the bride and groom sat down. I thought that was a great idea, because it hurts the feet to stand up there that long! (I know that from bridesmaid experience only!)
- Asian culture is very private with showing affection, so the couple didn't hold hands during the ceremony, except to exchange the rings. That also meant no kiss at the end.
- Everybody, and I do mean everybody, got their picture taken with the new couple. Everybody. Including the people who walked in late!
- Pookie and Berm were telling us the other evening that the groom has to pay the bride's mother at least $3,000.00 (three thousand dollars!) to marry the girl and then has to pay for everything else, including a 10-course reception meal! I don't know how the reception went, because we didn't stay for it. (Never mind the fact that there was a 2-hour "pause" between the ceremony and reception.) Once we found that out, we started earnestly praying for the groom!
It sure was pretty:).
1 comment:
Some interesting cultural differences there! David and I both were a little horrified at how much the poor groom had to shell out just to get married. That's a lot of money!
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