WEDDING DAY IN CHINA

First let me explain "Lucky money". These are little red envelopes filled with 1 or 2 yuan equivalent to 30 cents or so.  

    Christina stayed at her parents apartment last night.  CJ and I had to be ready to leave by 6:30 AM.  Christina's uncle came for us and we met some others where they decorate the cars.....

and us!

We then drove off to Christina's house where there a ton of people waiting inside. 

 They are all making such noise and the closer we got the louder!. CJ and his best men are armed with the Lucky money envelopes which the people inside are begging for before letting anyone in.  CJ throws some in the room and everyone makes a mad dash for them.

  He gets inside and now he has to get into Christina's bedroom find her shoes, put them on her and carry her out.  He was pushing Lucky money under the door to convince them to open the door to let him in.  Once he finally got inside he has to find her shoes. The bridesmaids and some friends are inside trying to keep him from finding her shoes.  He has to give out more Lucky money to persuade them.  One shoe is found and the other is in a locked drawer which now he has to give more envelopes out to get the key.  Once he has the shoes, he has to put them on her and giver her the bouquet of flowers.  They are each given a bowl of soup to eat. They go back into the living room where they have to kneel down in front of her mom and dad and serve them tea.  In return mom and dad hand them a large Lucky money envelope. 

CJ has to carry Christina down the stairs on his back. 

On the way to lunch we stop to take some photos

Once we get to where the wedding ceremony and lunch will be served, we all wait while people start coming in.  CJ hands out cigarettes to the men and Christina lights them. The bridesmaids have a tray with candy and sunflower seeds for the women and children. There is a table with a couple people who write down the guests names and the amount of money they hand them. Some have put them in red envelopes.  This all gets counted and the food that is served is taken out of that. 

There was a wonderful ceremony (which I couldn't understand) but it was really nice.  

to be continued...........