Hi ladies,
Just thought of something wrt the tea ceremony and church wedding, and would like to hear your view. Traditionally, tea is served by the couple as a married entity where the bride/groom is formally introduced to each other's family during the ceremony.
Standard procedure:
1. Groom fetches bride
2. Couple goes to groom's place for tea ceremony
3. Bride changes into new outfit to symbolise the bride's home visit (三æœå›žé—¨)
4. Couple goes back to bride's place for tea ceremony
Question: Given that the couple hasn't ROM yet and the church wedding takes place later in the day (like 11am or 2pm), would you:
a) do the tea ceremony in the morning anyway; OR
b) do the tea ceremony in church after the wedding mass/in the hotel before the banquet?
If a), relatives have to shuttle to either homes, go to church, then at night go to banquet.
If b), the whole symbolism of the tea ceremony is lost in the sense that the bride cannot be expected to change into a fresh garment at either venue, neither is there the physical act of 'fetching the bride' or 'bride home coming'.
I'm a little split on this because i'm big on adhering to the Chinese culture and tradition, yet i'm concerned with the logistics and time management. Those who are married, what was your program like? Did you compromise the sequence or did you ignore the tradition altogether? Those who are getting married, anyone like me / has given this a thought / has parents who have very traditional mindset and insist you go by the book?