What activities have you done at Chinese Weddings?

[simonlaing]

Hi all,

I and my significant other are currently planing our Fall wedding. We plan on having a Chinese dinner wedding with some games and perhaps a touch of western style like Best Man's speech and dancing.

Anyway I was wondering what are some of the activities that people have seen or experienced at Chinese weddings they have been to?

Some things like Bowing to parents, bowing to the audiance bowing to each other and call the in-laws Mum and Dad, are cute and definitely in.

I think toasting every table is universal as well.

I think things like running from the doorway to the stage in 10 seconds (said very fast) are cool. Can you suggest other games and activities?

Also do other provinces have the "Nao dong fang" (an after wedding party of young people who play dare or dare sexual innuendo games with the couple)? I am not sure if it is a Nanjing thing or not as some out of town weddings haven't done it.

Anyway it's a big day, and I need some suggestions.

Thanks,

Simon:)

[Luobot]

恭喜你！！！

I don't have a lot of personal experience with games at Chinese weddings, although I've been the best man at one (but it was a very western Chinese wedding); however, here are some ideas that I came across from here:

- Egg Roll - Yum! you think. This one sounds easy, like an eating contest. Actually, the bride has to get down on her knees, in front of her husband who is standing up. The emcee gives her a raw egg, and she has to roll the egg up one pant leg, through the sensitive crotch area, and down the other side. To increase the difficulty level, blindfold the bride.

- Kiss and Tell - The blindfolded groom sits in a chair at the front of the room. One by one, female volunteers kiss the groom on the cheek. After each kiss, the groom is supposed to say if that kiss was from his wife. To up the hilarity, mix a few guys into the line-up.

- Whose Bum is it Anyway? - A variation on Kiss and Tell, the blindfolded bride must feel a number of male rear ends. Add a couple of females to the line-up. The results are often hilarious as the bride has no idea which bum belongs to her husband.

- The Shoe Game - The bride and groom sit back-to-back at the front of the room. Each takes off one shoe. The emcee asks a series of questions, like "Who is the better cook" and "Who will end up taking the garbage out all the time?" and the bride and groom respond when appropriate with a raising of their shoe. It's especially funny when both of them raise their shoes.

[BrandeX]

You are not expected to call them mom and dad until "after" you are married? interesting.

[muyongshi]

You are not expected to call them mom and dad until "after" you are married? interesting.

Did someone delete a previous post or am I missing something.

But in regards to that subject I have seen in the weddings that they do the vows and everything and at the end the bride and groom alternatley towards the in-laws, call them mom and dad at which point (one by one by the way) the in-laws each hand a hong bao to their "new" child. Same for both in-laws...

[BrandeX]

Was referring to a comment from the OP, wherein he states he was asked to do it after the marriage, not while dating, like myself.

[imron]

Of the two weddings I've attended, there has been a formal part of the ceremony where the bride and groom go from calling the parents "Shushu" and "Ayi", to "Ba" and "Ma"

[LaoLiang]

Eat. Toast everyone. Get drunk.

[simonlaing]

I was wondering about cigarettes?

The first couple of years here I saw people giving out cigarettes at weddings to the guests. Also the Bride had to help light some of the guests cigarettes and one of the games was make it difficult for her to light it. Stand on a chair and not breathings so the bride has to get on a chair and reach.

Lately I haven't seen much of this. People are given big fake flowers and nice chocolates (which they were given before but sometimes not at the wedding.)

My partner is a nurse and I don't smoke. Would it be a big faux pas if we eliminated the giving of cigarettes and the whole lighting of cigarettes ritual?

Thank Luobot, those games are ones that seem to be done in after party in Nanjing.

Questions, questions, more suggestions about games and activities? What do people think about paid singers and dancers at weddings?

thanks,

Simon:)

[muyongshi]

Paid singers sounds okay but would never have thought about dancers (seems a bit weird to me). My vote is kill the cigarette ritual as you don't want to encourage them to kill themselves or yourself...

[Lu]

One wedding I've attended included singing and dancing. The singing was by the father of the bride, karaoke, unfortunately he couldn't sing but I suppose he meant well. The dancing was by two friends of the bride, who belly-danced (it's interesting how popular belly-dancing is here, I once saw a group of women practice somewhere outside, all pretty much my mother's age).

[simonlaing]

A friend of mine had a wedding over the weekend and I wanted to share some of the post wedding (nao dong fang games) we played as it could help others when it is their turn.

(We didn't do the bum or the shoe game though it sounds like a great game.

I tried to get them to make numbers on the bed with their bodies but it was not crazy enough.

We did do the egg roll, which was espicially amusing when it got stuck in the crotch area.

We did the blind fold the groom and find 5 chocolates on the bride's body . Without hands the trick was to smell them out.

We tied a string with a chocolate on the end to the groom's belt. The blindfolded bride on her knees had to catch the chocolate in her mouth while the groom gyrated back and forth. (it took some coordination and sexy hips)

The next game was rolling a towel. The groom lay on the bed with a face towel on his stomach, one end of the towel had been started to be rolled. The bride had to use her body to finish rolling the towel all the way up.

Last game was fishing a chopstick out of a bottle of water. Make sure the bottle's mouth is wide enough.

There was problem with the bride's dress, so we couldn't play cross dressing or undress in the bathroom and let us steal your clothes.

We also didn't play the Japanese invades the bedroom, as I think it is a bit racist, (and we didn't have props).

They vowed revenge on me when I have my wedding in the fall. But it was a good time.

Have fun,

Simon:)

[ms2002sss]

1st I had to buy off the family to get to the wife with the envelopes of money under the door

Then after carrying her for what seemed like ages to the car in a suit and summer heat we drove very slowly in our motorcade to the hotel. Then after photos with EVERYONE individually we sat down to eat.

After food I was forced into getting on stage and showing off my nonexistent Chinese language skills, I had to toast at each table downing a shot of a very strong, clear Chinese spirit. I got away with water until I got rumbled about 75% of the way round

Then onto the games;

1st I was taken off by the bride friends, stripped from the waste up, written on with lipstick, given a basket hat to wear and a fake penis made from a sausage.

Then in a room full of clapping people my wife needed to eat the sausage without using her hands!

Then we had a tray of flour with a ping-pong ball in the middle, we stood either end and on the "go" command we needed to blow it to the other person’s side. Obviously we got covered in flour and apparently this showed how we would look in old age, all greyed up!

We also did the hidden sweets/blindfold game, the swinging chocolate game, the two eggs up the trousers game, and another game where I had a chopstick in-between my legs and a bottle in between hers. I needed to get the chopstick in the bottle. And once the chopstick was in the bottle it was filled with water so only the tip of the chopstick was sticking out. We needed to get it out using only our tounges.

After that we were put in an adjoining room and both had to strip and chuck onlookers our clothes while hiding behind a blanket when everyone watched. Once naked, they threw our clothes back and closed the door, giving us 60 seconds to get changed before they burst in.

After the quick change, my personal fav I have to wear my wife’s bra (which wasn’t available so I used my mother’s) stuffed with two balloons, whilst walking round the very expensive hotel bashing cymbals and handing out cigarettes and sweet to random embarrassed hotel guests until the plate was empty. I met some very polite guests and some (army/police) guests who were way too serious and wouldnt accept my gift to them. They looked very annoyed and tried to avoid me and pretended they couldnt see me when I spoke to them

Add this to the karaoke, mah-jong and haggling for stuff even on the wedding day, and it was a very tiring day!

[baoluo]

Yeah same here. Eat. Toast everyone. Get smashed.

乾杯

乾杯

乾杯

乾杯

乾杯

etc...

Each had to come up with something that the bride and groom had to do. One involved an upsidedown glass of beer on a placemat, then the groom had to find a way to drink it all without lifting it. Eventually the father was helping him by holding him by his shirt collar and...er... "aiming him"... the bride handled the beer and moved the upsidedown glass to the edge to let the beer trickle out.

It was the only game they actually had a measure of success at.

[lilongyue]

Seems like I got off easy at my wedding! We didn't do the egg thing, or the strip game/cross dressing thing (weird!), but did the blindfolded candy search. I had to carry my wife under a red string three times without touching it. I also had to carry her on my back, running around the room shouting "我去媳妇了！" while my wife shouted "我去嫁人！" and beat a pot with a big metal spoon.

[simonlaing]

Bump

Since my wedding coming up very soon. And for most people in China the October May wedding season is here.

Do you guys know of rituals and games that are played during the wedding ceremony Things like carry the bride to the entrance an back, tongue twisters etc..

I'd appreciate any and all details you can give as I'd rather it not be a song wedding.

have fun,

SimoN:)