Yesterday, I went to my dearest friend's wedding banquet.
She actually married her husband back on March 28th. That was the legal part; unlike in the west, the wedding reception can take place weeks or even years later.
With our official marriage certificates.
A few weeks ago, I was given this. It was no surprise. I knew of the plans over a year ago, but was sworn to secrecy!
So, yesterday afternoon, I hauled myself off to the city's largest, and I'm told, "most beautiful' park, where the wedding was to take place in a well-known ethnic minority restaurant. This is the building.
We were to dine on the second floor which is accessed by these stairs.
But the building is not popular for views of the building. It is popular for the views from the building.
The restaurant itself is set in a bamboo grove.
The couple stand at the foot of those stairs shown above to welcome their guests and complete the all-important handover of gifts (always in the form of cash in a red envelope).
Slowly, over two or three hours, the very red dining room fills up.
The couple make their ceremonial entrance, there are a couple of speeches and rituals, and then the eating can begin. J left the dining room at this point to change from the white western-style wedding dress into a more traditional red dress.
There have been small plates of cold, pickled nibbles on the tables since we arrived.
but now the real food begins to arrive, dish by dish. What follows is in the same order I photographed them, so I guess that's the order they arrived in.
Chicken consommé
Cantonese Style White Cut Chicken
Mixed Chinese Charcuterie
Roast Duck
Ribs (Half of these disappeared before I could photograph them. I was on the greedy table!)
Steamed Shrimp
Spicy Stir-Fried Squid
Turbot
Assorted Fungi
Mixed Vegetable in Broth
Braised straw mushrooms and oyster mushrooms with Shanghai bok choy
Nut and seeds cake (front); Osmanthus jelly cakes (rear)
Sweet soup
Watermelon
By this time, J had changed from the white wedding dress to the traditional Chinese red wedding dress and she and her husband visited every table and individually toasted each guest.
By now, she was totally exhausted after 14 hours of ritual, but happy! And I was happy to see her so happy.