Chinese Wedding – Tea Ceremony
I’ve been a part of a few tea ceremonies during Chinese weddings now, usually helping to get the tea ready or helping to organize the gifts received by the couple. At my good friend’s wedding she wanted me to be the person that actually passes the tea to the couple. Traditionally the “tea person” doesn’t just pass the tea, she also needs to say the name of the person(s) that’ll be receiving it. Something like “mom & dad drink tea” (direct translation from Cantonese) while the couple passes the cup of tea. For me it’s a very interesting experience as traditionally the tea person is supposed to also say good wishes while the people drink the tea. However I have no idea what to say and when I researched on the internet the phrases I found were a bit…interesting. I can only find Chinese versions so if you can read it, here it is. It’s a bit amusing and long…I don’t know if people actually say all this nowadays.
〈敬茶時〉(While pouring and serving tea)
斟茶比姨媽，出年幫手抱穌蝦
斟茶比姨丈，買六合彩中頭獎
飲過新抱茶，富貴又榮華
飲過新人茶，馬仔聽你話
飲過新人茶，麻雀聽晒話
飲過新人茶，子孫聽晒話
飲過新抱茶，出年做嫲嫲
今年娶新抱，出年有孫抱
飲過女婿茶，富貴又榮華
飲茶笑呵呵，好快做婆婆
飲茶笑騎騎，好快做爺爺
飲茶飲到尾，年頭賺到落年尾”
〈飲茶時〉(while drinking the tea)
茶到口，財到手，添福又添壽
茶到口，財到手，買田又買樓
茶到口，財到手，買車又買樓
茶到口，財到手，富貴榮華一齊有
飲深D，赚多D
飲深D，中三T
飲茶到口，橫財就手。
飲茶到口，得心又應手。
茶到口，財到手，今晚麻雀好摸(音:More)手
茶到口，財到手，財神黎到大門口
茶到口，財到手，半山買多幾層樓
茶到口，財到手，出年又飲滿月酒
飲深D，赚多D，中完孖寶中三Ｔ
〈戴飾物時〉(while putting on the jewellries received at the tea ceremony)
戴起金器，大喜大喜
戴起大囍，新娘好快有囍
戴起大囍，戴到風生水起
戴起大囍，戴到兒孫滿地
戴起大囍，戴到金銀遍地
戴起大囍，保你家肥屋潤笑嘻嘻
戴金戴喜，風山水起
戴過金介子，好快生對金童子
戴個大金牌，一世唔洗捱
戴起大囍，好快有新己
戴過金手摙，有錢又有面
戴過金戒指，生個金童子
戴過金頸摙，個個都比面
金扼夾到手，ＢＢ好快有
金鍊戴上頸,好快住山頂。
〈新人與長輩一起拿起金飾合照時〉(while taking pictures with the elders after the jewellries are put on)
八隻手，發到夠
八隻手，乜都有
其他 (other – if it rains and the red umbrella is use)
貴人出門招風雨、新郎份人好相與（如落雨）
I’m definitely going to have the tea ceremony for my wedding because I think it’s a nice tradition to have. But I think it’ll be simple such as just calling out the name of the person instead of saying such long phrases (plus the sayings are so funny that it’d probably make me laugh). However how do you determine who will be part of the ceremony besides your parents and grandparents? Do you have to include all your relatives such as aunts and uncles?
Wedding Venue: Vancouver Art Gallery
Recently I had the honor to attend a banquet at the Vancouver Art Gallery. I had been helping with the design for the wedding’s stationary, from invitations to maps to menus and table numbers, so I can’t wait to see how my design work ties in with the wedding decorations.
Because the gallery is open till 5pm, the caterers and decorators didn’t get to set up until then. Therefore, from 6 – 7 pm they had set up a small reception outside the gallery for guests to enjoy sushi and drinks with live music while final preperations are made in the gallery. They also have the place cards all lined up for guests to pick up. Behind the place card is the table number so guests can find their own tables once they are inside the gallery. Another interesting thing they had done was instead of using a guest book or signing scroll (popular in Asian weddings), they had a wish tree. Guests can fill out postcards with pictures of the couple on the front and hang it on the tree.
[Live band playing at the reception area outside the gallery.]
[The wish tree with the postcards hanging.]
The banquet space was decorated with very nice patterned table cloth, centerpieces, satin chair covers and towels.
[Table decoration, table number and menu.]
[Place cards. Look at the pattern on the table cloth.]
When you rent the gallery, you also have the option to rent just the main floor or the entire gallery. Renting the entire gallery allows you and your guests to visit the exhibits. This is a very unique venue, especially if you have a lot of out of town guests.
In the next post I’ll talk about the design for the place card, table number, menu and the origami menu stand.
Venue: Vancouver Art Gallery
Wedding Venue: UBC Boathouse
Friends of mine recently got married at the UBC Boathouse down in Richmond, BC. This is the first time I’ve been to the boathouse and was surprised to find it a very nice and unique location for weddings. The weather wasn’t so great so the wedding was held indoors in the function room instead of down at the docks.
[Function room facing the water.]
[The program]
[The dock area where we took pictures.]
The pictures turned out a bit dark as it was cloudy and we didn’t get a lot of natural light into the room. There’s only one thing that bugged me about the venue and it’s the noise. I’m not sure if it’s in the flight path to/from the airport but during the short ceremony we were able to hear planes that flew overhead and it was quite loud (maybe because the windows were also opened).
If you want to use the boathouse for dinner reception you’d have to provide your own catering. They don’t have stoves but they do have a fridge and freezer on location. A list of items are included with the rental price and they also have additional chairs/tables for rent at an extra cost if you require more.
Venue: UBC Boathouse
