The Bride Tea Ceremony

After he succesfully made it through the door game, the guys and his family piled into the house where the tea ceremony commenced. At the bride’s house, the groom’s family asks the bride’s family for permission to marry her to their son. (Full explaination of the ceremony here.)

These photos were taken by Mitch Ranger.

In a Vietnamese ceremony, the bride’s house has a sign at the front door saying "Du Quy" which essentially means "home of the bride".

Our ushers carried in the roast pig, a traditional dowry item.

In Asian culture, the mother of the bride is the one who takes her to her groom. My mother walked me down the stairs.

Then, my grandpa (the Bride’s representative), introduces the bride to the guests.

His parents tell my mother that they will love me as their own and wish to include me as one of their family members. At times, this was pretty emotional.

My mother was the tearjerker for sure, though. She said some private words and then granted him her blessing to marry me. They hugged, then I hugged =).

Caught little moment.

The representatives of each family light a candle and place it on the alter.

Jewelry, which is a significant part of the dowry, is then placed on the bride.

Earrings are of the most significance to a Chinese bride. The groom’s mom offers the jewelry to the bride’s mom. In our family tradition, the bride’s mom then offers the groom’s mom to help her put on the earrings. (If it looks painful, it was. They were the screw-on type and they both had claws.)

Then it was our turn to light incense to my ancestors.

After being accepted by the ancestors, we offered my family tea. Each family member accepted the tea and then offered us either advice or good luck wishes. The oldest couple goes first, then parents, then other immediate relatives.

If the room was dry, my mother changed that. She gave him an origami $2 heart, signifying that we were now two people with one life. In the middle of the heart was a dollar coin that my late grandmother had dipped in gold for her granddaughters’ husbands to hold safe.

More tea offerings

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After we offered the tea, he got a dose of what it takes to be a woman. He tripped all over his traditional Ao Dai.

Afterwards, the pig was cut in half to feed the guests. It is traditional to consum half of the offerings at the bride’s house and take the rest back to the groom’s house.