Certain types of food are commonly served at the Chinese wedding banquet, which include fish, roast suckling pig, pigeon, chicken cooked with red oil, lobster and desert bun with lotus seeds stuffed inside. The pronunciation of fish is the same as “abundance”, meaning the newlyweds will have plentiful of wealth. Roast suckling pig is usually served whole, a symbol of the bride’s purity (virginity). Pigeon implies peaceful future. Chicken also means phoenix, cooked in red oil to symbolize the wish for a prosperous life ahead for the newlyweds. Lobster is literally called “dragon shrimp” in Chinese. Having lobster and chicken together at wedding banquet indicates that the dragon and the phoenix are hormones together, and the Yin and Yang elements in this family is balanced.
Chinese Wedding Cakes
Chinese wedding cakes are called “Happiness Cakes”, also known as “Dragon & Phoenix Cakes”. These are baked cake with dragon and phoenix imprint on the surface. Some styles have fillings made of lotus seed paste, red bean paste or green bean paste.
The wedding cakes are usually presented to the bride’s family by the groom’s family as part of the proposal gift. Bride’s family will then present some of the cakes to worship their ancestors and send the rest of cakes to friends and relatives along with wedding invitations. Quantity of cakes to be sent depends on seniority of guest or relationship with the family. Nowadays, the wedding cakes are usually served to the guests at the wedding instead of the western style wedding cakes.
Article Source: http://kaleidoscope.cultural-china.com/en/8Kaleidoscope6082.html
Chelsea Clinton — the only child of the former US president Bill Clinton and the US secretary of state Hillary Clinton– has married her long-time boyfriend, Marc Mezvinsky on 31 July at Astor Courts, an historic 50-acre (20-hectare) estate about 100 miles north of New York City. This wedding was was dubbed America’s royal wedding.
Chelsea wore a white strapless wedding dress that was custom-made by vera wang, a famous ethnic Chinese designer. Manual sequins, diamond and bright pearl between the waist make the first daughter more beautiful and elegant. The groom, Marc Mezvinsky, wore a Burberry tux, and in keeping with his Jewish faith, a yarmulke. Clinton dressed in a smart black suit, and Hillary wore a purple dress.
Former US President Bill Clinton walks his daughter Chelsea down the aisle during her wedding to Marc Mezvinsky
So what was the highlight of the wedding weekend?
One guest told CBS News, “Seeing the bride and groom and how incredibly happy they are. They glow.”
Bonnie Fuller, editor in chief of HollywoodLife.com, said on “The Early Show” Monday, the wedding went off very well. “It’s fantastic,” she said. “It’s romantic, a love story. We have not had good news like this, an incredible distraction like this, in so long. I mean, we’ve just had a barrage of negative disappointing, disheartening news. You know, everybody loves to see a family that is really working and a young woman who we’ve seen since she was a gawky young child and teenager grow up.” She contined, “This wedding really was planned like a military operation. I mean, everything was thought about. The logistics went down as you guys said, without a hitch. But, you know, they — it was a wedding that was meant for young people. And it was a very personal wedding. So, you had the combinations of their tradition, you had them married under the beautiful chuppah and you also had Hillary and Bill inviting those close to them. And then you had them booking a deejay, we heard, until 5:00 a.m.” Fuller said there were even reports the couple actually did the tango for their first dance. “It actually doesn’t surprise me because they’re both fitness fanatics, in great shape so I’m not surprised they took dance lessons,” she said.
