A Huge Wedding Celebration in Dongguan
Orchestra, cheerleaders, clowns, magicians, angels, braised pig, and plenty of toasts. The wedding celebrations in This was to have been the second reception party I was attending for Lucia & Max. They held their first the night before in
Yes, I said 600! There were over 60 tables in the banquet room of the nearby Grand Oriental Hotel. Arriving I was in shock to find angels welcoming guests to the huge ballroom with an all girl orchestra playing unique Chinese musical instruments.
Everyone was greeted and given a balloon, for which I thought, was a nice feature, but really didn’t know its intended purpose until later. Soon a family member welcomed the audience, dancing girls performed a dance more attune to a cheerleading routine, and then the lights dimmed for the bride and groom to make their entrance between the six angels. Was that every unique!
This was a Decca celebration as much as the wedding celebration for Lucia & Max. She is the daughter of the vice-chairman, and Max works in our Contract Furniture group. So this night was principally a Decca event. The 
Lucia & Max were soon on stage cutting cake and pouring champagne. After a couple toasts, the emcee introduced the first course of the evening. And that was a spectacular entrance to behold too. All at once, a waiter for every table entered the back of the banquet room with a braised pig on a platter. What a procession! And good pig too!
The dancing girls performed several more times as the meal continued. There were a couple of surprises in the form of a clown doing juggling and magicians instantaneously switching opera masks, in a famous Chinese tradition. One even did an act with fire from under a mask.
Before long there were some special toasts, and soon the honored guests and family were passing through the crowd for toasts of wine at each table. That was a lot of toasting.
By the way, early in the evening, the emcee directed everyone to raise their balloons in unison for the bride and groom…… and pop them! Of course, I was listening, but didn’t understand the Cantonese and was jolted from my chair by the popping. At first, I thought it was fireworks, but soon realized it was orchestrated balloon popping. Now that was a good idea.
As so many Decca celebrations, it was a great night. And as wedding celebrations go, it was the biggest I had ever attended. Quite a night.
Photos of the wedding are available by clicking here. Be sure to visit all the sub-albums from the first page.
Labels: Dongguan, Life in China, Wedding
posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 5:54 PM
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