2009 Taiwan Trip — additional wedding receptions
John and I have returned from our big Taiwan + Singapore + honeymoon in Maldives trip for almost three weeks now so it’s time that I start a committed process to document the trip. 
Taiwan was our first stop, because we had a mission to do, and that was to hold two additional wedding receptions for our relatives, friends, and most imporantly, our parents’ friends who couldn’t make it to our real wedding in the U.S. in April. If you feel you can never finish reading about our wedding, don’t fret, you’re near the end, I promise.
I have to admit that the wedding receptions, which our parents organized, were a bit of a cultural shock to me, especially the first one in my hometown Taitung. My dad had booked a very large banquet room in the best hotel in our little town for the occasion. There were a lot of red in the banquet room (not my favorite color but what can I do?), and yeah, look at that big double happiness sign with our headshot in it. Invitations were printed and sent out to 300+ guests. While you may think that’s a large number, but given my dad’s influence on the community, 300+ guests is actually a small crowd for an occasion as important as his oldest daughter’s wedding reception. Although, technically, it’s only a follow up reception because the real one had taken place a whole month and half ago in California.
The banquet was set at lunch, and it went like this:
I woke up early to get ready. I had my hair done professionally but I did the make up myself in the room John’s parents stayed at the night before. When it was time, John and I took the elevator down to the banquet floor with our parents, plus my brother. At that time all the guests have already been seated and waiting for our grand entrance. I understood that prior to our arrival, my mom’s good friends (whom I called aunties), plus my dad’s employees, helped greeting and signing all the guests in.
There was a red carpet, which we were lead to walk on as the guests cheered for our grand entrance. My dad had asked one of his friends to be the MC, and his impressive job on memorizing our resumes was evident the way he introduced us. Then, we were lead directly onto stage where we stood for a long time while the so-called VIP guests, including politicians, community leaders, scholars, university chancellor, my junior high school principle…etc… all give their congratory speech. In the meantime, while we stood there, the servers began serving the food and people began eating, and talking among themselves. I don’t know if anyone paid attention to what was said on stage. Meanwhile, I had a good silent laugh about my own cultural shock.
The county governor, whom we’ve never liked nor supported, invited herself to our reception. She sent someone to deliver a wedding gift to my dad’s house! As a result, my dad was obligated to have an invitation delivered to her office, and offer a seat AT THE HEAD TABLE for her.
Hm… did I said I had a culture shock?
The moment we finally sat down, I wispered to John about how ironic it was that I haven’t attended a Taiwanese wedding reception since I left Taiwan 16 years ago, and the first one I attended after all these years was our own!
Including desert, a total of 12 dishes were served. But John and I didn’t get to eat all that much because a third of the way into the meal is when we needed to get up, go around, and toast to all guests at each table. This was actually the part that I enjoyed the most, because I got to see, recognized, and remember many old acquaintances that I haven’t seen in a very, very long time, including my junior high teacher and my former figure skating coatch from way back. Many people haven’t changed at all and it was such a joy to see them again.
They are my mom’s good friends, aka auties. The young girl is the daughter of one of the anties. She wasn’t even school age yet the last time I saw her and now she’s ready for college! Ah just how much I’ve aged…
Normally, in a Taiwanese wedding reception, the bride is requied to totally put on a fashion show by changing three times throughout the banquet. Yup, 3 times! One gown for the grand entrance (always the bridal gown), one gown for going around the tables to toast the guests, and one gown for bidding the guests goodbye. Well, since I really didn’t want the hassel, nor did I see the point really, I opted for the easier option of… only wearing two different gowns — my wedding gown and an evening gown for bidding the guests goodbye.
Look, that’s us standing by the exit door, holding candies in a tray. Honestly I was so clueless that I didn’t even know it was time to go change until the waitress told me so.
Overall, I enjoyed it. I knew the banquet made my parents happy, especially my dad, and that was the very reason why I did it in the first place — to make my dad happy! I was also very glad to see some familiar old faces among the guests. Their presence there showed that no matter how long it has been, no matter how far away I am, they still remember me, and wish me happiness. That’s pricesless.
—————
Ok, now, onto the second wedding reception.
Thanks to John’s parents, the second wedding reception was small and intimate. It was held in a private dinning room in Sheraton Hotel in Taipei, for only about 50 guests. With exception of one table which was dedicated to my relatives who couldn’t make it to the reception in my hometown, all other guests were close relatives and friends from John’s side.
I had my hair professionall done for real cheap, and did my make up myself again. Simplicity is the virtue here. But if you wonder if I had packed my wedding gown into my luggage and brought it all the way to Taiwan for those receptions… yes I did.
I liked that it was small. It’s small, and warm. This way, I actually got to engaged in converations with some guests.
Our little sign in table, with our photos on display, plus a simple sign-in book.
I liked the center piece too!
Because of the small size of the party, John and I got to greet every table twice, and stop for actual conversations (versus for our first, 300+ plus reception it was difficult to really talk to anybody). Here’s a picture of us with some of the valued friends from John’s family. Most people are still very new to me, but I am trying my best to remember them.
Here’s a picture of me with people that I do remember better. They are my uncles, anties, grand uncles, grand autie, plus younger cousins that I haven’t seen in a very long time. It was great to see such a good turnout of them!
I feel very loved.
Thus complets my write up for our… hm… additional wedding receptions. After our wedding in April, plus two additional wedding receptions in Taiwan, John and I are now very married to each other. What other couples have done only once, we’ve done three times. Oh, did I mention that our engagement party , which was held last year in June, was already like a wedding?
Although it may seem tiring (and it was), through those additional wedding receptions, we got to not only see precious people that we haven’t seen in ages, we also go to share our joy with them.
It was all sweet and good.
July 2nd, 2009 at 7:53 am
I am so happy for you!
July 2nd, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Hey Annalise,
Thanks for sharing your lovely wedding story to all of us. I enjoyed every moment of reading it, especially your own wedding reception in Taiwan.
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