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Planning the picture perfect wedding
By Andrew Chin |
September 19, 2012, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
OCTOBER is around the corner which means they'll be a mass rush of weddings. As Shanghai continues to grow as a multicultural hub, its wedding traditions are changing, which means more options. However, for many couples about to walk down the aisle, the essential question is whether to go with a Chinese or a Western style wedding. Shanghai Daily talks to public relations manager Karen Zhang about her recent Chinese wedding ceremony and Shanghai wedding planner Ariel Leanne Chen about the Western weddings her company, Newbury Wedding, specializes in.
Chinese or Western?
For Karen Zhang, who got married on August 26 at JC Mandarin Shanghai, wedding planning began more than one year before the big day. One of the first and biggest decisions she made was picking a traditional Chinese wedding and therefore a traditional Chinese wedding dress.
"I chose three traditional Chinese qipao and one white wedding gown in a Chinese style," Zhang says. "The qipao were the main dresses and my parents were dressed in Tang suits."
By sticking to the Chinese style, Zhang's wedding followed traditional lines in terms of decoration and wedding snacks.
"Our decorations for the wedding ceremony were red and yellow, which is very Chinese," she says. "We also included a lot of traditional Chinese wedding snacks like peanuts, melon seeds, red dates and sweet soups."
Another way Zhang's wedding followed tradition was in the wedding day events. Unlike the common Western wedding belief that it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride on the wedding day before being at the aisle, Chinese wedding customs dictate that the groom has to find his bride at her parent's home on the morning of the wedding. However, a series of tests await him.
"My husband had to do things like a push-up practice, find my wedding shoes, distribute red packets to my relatives and call out 10 of my nicknames loudly," Zhang says. "After that we will serve my parents tea to express our gratitude. In return, my parents will give us sweet soup."
Her marriage took place at a registry office with the couple saying vows to each other in "a Chinese style provided by the government official."
While Western weddings include a ceremony often featuring Champagne and wedding cake, Zhang followed the traditional Chinese program of nao dong fang.
"It's part of a tradition where friends get to tease the bride and the groom on the wedding night," she says.
Zhang still fondly remembers her wedding day, which she describes simply as, "amazing, gorgeous and touching."
Since opening her wedding planning service Newbury Wedding in Shanghai five years ago, Ariel Leanne Chen has been specializing in Western style weddings. She estimates that she's planned "around 100 weddings." Since her clients have ranged from Icelandic to Japanese, Chen takes pride in creating weddings that are unique and catered to the preferences of her clients.
"We offer a customized wedding service - that means everything is custom-made and we don't duplicate our weddings," she says. "Everything is one of a kind."
Wedding dress
She admits there is one thing that all her clients want: a wedding dress.
"All my weddings have involved white wedding gowns," she says. "It's something that all of the brides have insisted on since it's part of their wedding tradition. Not once has a client asked to wear a pink wedding dress for example."
Whereas Chinese wedding ceremonies see the bride change dresses several times, Western weddings usually see the bride have two changes of clothing.
Therefore, brides doing a Western style wedding find that perfect white wedding gown is extra important.
While red is the traditional color of Chinese wedding dresses because it's the color of happiness, the Western white wedding dress is a relatively recent twist. Queen Victoria in her 1840 wedding to Albert of Saxe was the first notable modern woman to break from the then tradition of wearing a blue dress with an elegant white gown. The trend took off in the 1920s with legendary designer Coco Chanel launching the knee-length white wedding dress style that became standard after famed actress Grace Kelly wore one during her storybook 1956 wedding to Prince Rainier III of Monaco.
Whereas Zhang followed cultural traditions for her wedding, Chen has found that many of her clients are trying to break free from the traditions of Western weddings.
"Most of our clients write their own vows because they don't want their ceremony to follow that stereotype of 'Do you take this woman's hand,' etc. In Chinese ceremonies, people tend to speak as little as possible but in Western weddings, people tend to speak more," Chen adds.
Another difference that Chen points out between the wedding styles is its emphasis.
"Chinese weddings are more about the food whereas Western weddings are about the ceremony," she says. For her clients, the wedding reception is a time to relax and collectively celebrate the couple's happy day.
Recently she's found that this desire for a festive wedding has led to an uptick in destination weddings with Chen citing Bali as being extremely popular with her clients.
Meanwhile, Chen says all of her weddings have differed in things such as the food served and the decorations to cater to the personal and cultural preferences of her eclectic clientele. The latest wedding trends are another factor to consider while planning.
"The trends change every yearfrom the theme style to the background," Chen says.
Chinese or Western?
For Karen Zhang, who got married on August 26 at JC Mandarin Shanghai, wedding planning began more than one year before the big day. One of the first and biggest decisions she made was picking a traditional Chinese wedding and therefore a traditional Chinese wedding dress.
"I chose three traditional Chinese qipao and one white wedding gown in a Chinese style," Zhang says. "The qipao were the main dresses and my parents were dressed in Tang suits."
By sticking to the Chinese style, Zhang's wedding followed traditional lines in terms of decoration and wedding snacks.
"Our decorations for the wedding ceremony were red and yellow, which is very Chinese," she says. "We also included a lot of traditional Chinese wedding snacks like peanuts, melon seeds, red dates and sweet soups."
Another way Zhang's wedding followed tradition was in the wedding day events. Unlike the common Western wedding belief that it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride on the wedding day before being at the aisle, Chinese wedding customs dictate that the groom has to find his bride at her parent's home on the morning of the wedding. However, a series of tests await him.
"My husband had to do things like a push-up practice, find my wedding shoes, distribute red packets to my relatives and call out 10 of my nicknames loudly," Zhang says. "After that we will serve my parents tea to express our gratitude. In return, my parents will give us sweet soup."
Her marriage took place at a registry office with the couple saying vows to each other in "a Chinese style provided by the government official."
While Western weddings include a ceremony often featuring Champagne and wedding cake, Zhang followed the traditional Chinese program of nao dong fang.
"It's part of a tradition where friends get to tease the bride and the groom on the wedding night," she says.
Zhang still fondly remembers her wedding day, which she describes simply as, "amazing, gorgeous and touching."
Since opening her wedding planning service Newbury Wedding in Shanghai five years ago, Ariel Leanne Chen has been specializing in Western style weddings. She estimates that she's planned "around 100 weddings." Since her clients have ranged from Icelandic to Japanese, Chen takes pride in creating weddings that are unique and catered to the preferences of her clients.
"We offer a customized wedding service - that means everything is custom-made and we don't duplicate our weddings," she says. "Everything is one of a kind."
Wedding dress
She admits there is one thing that all her clients want: a wedding dress.
"All my weddings have involved white wedding gowns," she says. "It's something that all of the brides have insisted on since it's part of their wedding tradition. Not once has a client asked to wear a pink wedding dress for example."
Whereas Chinese wedding ceremonies see the bride change dresses several times, Western weddings usually see the bride have two changes of clothing.
Therefore, brides doing a Western style wedding find that perfect white wedding gown is extra important.
While red is the traditional color of Chinese wedding dresses because it's the color of happiness, the Western white wedding dress is a relatively recent twist. Queen Victoria in her 1840 wedding to Albert of Saxe was the first notable modern woman to break from the then tradition of wearing a blue dress with an elegant white gown. The trend took off in the 1920s with legendary designer Coco Chanel launching the knee-length white wedding dress style that became standard after famed actress Grace Kelly wore one during her storybook 1956 wedding to Prince Rainier III of Monaco.
Whereas Zhang followed cultural traditions for her wedding, Chen has found that many of her clients are trying to break free from the traditions of Western weddings.
"Most of our clients write their own vows because they don't want their ceremony to follow that stereotype of 'Do you take this woman's hand,' etc. In Chinese ceremonies, people tend to speak as little as possible but in Western weddings, people tend to speak more," Chen adds.
Another difference that Chen points out between the wedding styles is its emphasis.
"Chinese weddings are more about the food whereas Western weddings are about the ceremony," she says. For her clients, the wedding reception is a time to relax and collectively celebrate the couple's happy day.
Recently she's found that this desire for a festive wedding has led to an uptick in destination weddings with Chen citing Bali as being extremely popular with her clients.
Meanwhile, Chen says all of her weddings have differed in things such as the food served and the decorations to cater to the personal and cultural preferences of her eclectic clientele. The latest wedding trends are another factor to consider while planning.
"The trends change every yearfrom the theme style to the background," Chen says.
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