I recently had the opportunity to join a Taiwanese wedding. It turned out to be an event that completely outdid my expectations. My friend Jean had a grand celebration in the 85 tower (the most significant building in the Kaohsiung sky-line. A coworker, Leah, and I were the only foreigners invited and we were in shock and awe the whole evening. After taking a taxi to the tower, we realized that neither of us knew Jean's Chinese name. How many weddings could there possibly be in one building right? We were soon informed that there were three weddings on different floors and our best bet would be to pop in to each until we recognized someone. Luckily we ran into our favorite person- Dora, the accountant (I say favorite because she's the one who hands over the paycheck every month). She didn't know exactly where to go either, but I felt safer knowing I had Chinese-speaker on my side... and sure enough she lead us through the maze and into the wedding.
The wedding gift is something entirely different here. You wont find the couple's wishlist at the local shops nor anywhere else for that matter because everyone gives the same thing. Money. The amounts vary but every guest brings a red envelope containing cash which is immediately taken and accounted for before entering the hall. The amount given is pretty important too. It has to be an even number (because odd numbers are unlucky for couples) and because the Chinese word 4 (si) sounds like the word for death, the amount can't contain the number 4. All this was made pretty clear to me by numerous Taiwanese friends.
After forking over the cash envelopes, we entered the beautiful hall which would be the site of the intimate gathering of nearly 700 people. We went downstairs to visit Jean before she came out. It is traditional for the husband's family to ado
rn the bride... and let me say, she was ballin'. She had gold rings on every finger, a big gold necklace, tiara- the whole nine yards. And the current dress was one of three she'd showcase that evening. After leaving Jean's room, we stopped to look at the wedding book. This professionally
crafted book was surreal. It was huge and contained pictures of the happy couple all over the city in more outfits than I could count. The book itself was surrounded with feathers, petals, and balloons.
The wedding book
During the wedding, we dined on about 12 courses of food. All the Chinese staples made an appearance: fried rice, roasted duck, pork, chicken, fish. I was pretty surprised to see "shark fin soup" on the menu because it's always seemed like a big cultural taboo. I tried a bit but couldn't get beyond the inhumane industry involved with acquiring shark fins.
Of course there was some karaoke. The best act was Jean's husband, Frank, who sang to her as they walked down the isle after a wardrobe change. Overall, I'd say that the evening was quite successful. I got the chance to experience an important part of the local culture and see one of my favorites on her wedding day.
Jean and I after the wedding. This was her final dress of the evening
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