Mr Pig has a date

I mentioned a few times our wedding involves a pig which Steph's mum thinks is an absolute scream.

I finally got us a quote a few weeks ago... And last night mum and I discussed the logistics of Mr Pig.

I asked mum how she was going to fit the pig in the hotel fridge. We laughed ourselves silly with the thought of chopping up the pig and distributing the parts in plastic bags amongst all the hotel rooms of the family members and friends.

But common sense prevailed and the pig will be handed over on Monday at the post wedding BBQ.

Suckling pig

We got our first pig quote today

Mr Wongs - the bright yellow sign outside, opposite market city is selling suckling piggies at $43/kg. At 4-5 kgs per pig... With one week notice. We'll call on them 2 weeks prior to the day to lock in Mr Pig.

Next Q will be who is going to look after Mr Pig?

Eva
avechoco at gmail . com

Lesson Learnt

Girls, if you have a chinky wedding, dont send your invites out in white envelopes. Any other colour is cool, but white is no go.

I was stuck as our invites were a unique size and I could only source white or bright mustard yellow envelopes.

Thank god mum has good humor and is searching for stickers/stamps in red to colour up the invite. If the worse comes, she'll stick them in red organza bags or wrap the invite in red wrapping paper..

Added: Apparently White envelopes and black text is what chinese use to give Death Money. When a person dies, the family is given "Bak Gum", another pocket of money that the family can use to pay for the funeral expenses.

We're having Pig tonight!

We have decided (cos we like pork) that Stephs parents will have to buy Eva's Parents a suckling roast pig. The deal here, is Stephs parents are getting a new daughter, and to compensate my Parents get a pig...

A poor trade off i reckon. but them the traditions.

We'll get to munch on the pork the following day. :)

I'm not sure how this will fit in. Normally its brought over to the brides house after the tea ceremony at the grooms house. But we're having the tea ceremony all at the brides house, i guess it can come over with the door games.

Tea Ceremony

This is a great article about why Tea is an important part of a chinese Wedding Ceremony.

This bit was taken from this article which gives more intricate detail...

Man on the left and Woman on the right, RIGHT?

The bride will stand to the right of the groom. The male elder being served will sit facing the bride. The female elder will sit facing the groom. The bride and groom will bow to the elders and greet them by their formal title in the family while serving them tea.

(putting it here so i remember for later!)

Tea Set for the Tea Ceremony

I popped into Victoria's Basement to look at a water jug for the office, when I realized I need to get a tea set for the tea ceremony!

Traditionally the groom brings it over with the dowry, but im a bit picky with my crockery so i think i better pick it out.

I searched all of Victoria's Basement and the only one I liked was a Wedgewood! *insert heartattack* The design was called Celestial Platinum with a soft grey tone with woven vines around the rim, edged with silver. and a pretty grey trim. But at $46 bucks a cup! (excluing the saucer!) Holy Moley! Crossing that off the list!

I really like the off white and silver patten but I'm not sure about the colour coordination with the BRIGHT RED Kwah!

Maybe ill stick to something simple and cheap or steal something from Dad's Crockery supplies. or use Mum's tea set. I think she would like that.

Oh and 1 hour later, I walked out without the water jug - it was too small anyway.

Chinese Wedding Tea Ceremony

This is a good article about the Tea Ceremony and then explains how to modernise it.
The tea ceremony (dont mix it up with the Japanese one!) Is a formal tradition where you are asking for the parents and elders blessing on the marriage and respect that you are now grown up and on the verge of marrigehood. Its a solemn occasion and i guess it would be akin to a christening. Its pretty important. EMPHASIS!

It does say that the tradition is to have the groom's parents first... However I wonder if it would be better doing my side first, (im the chink) so the other half have an idea of whats done?

Your Chinese Reception

Vogue Forum: Chinese Reception
A good Forum on The Chinese Banquets on offer around Sydney

Chinese Wedding by the Knot
And this is a Chinese wedding shopping site and knowledge base (American but still pretty good)

Chinese Traditions

Ive listed below some of the Chinese traditions we are thinking of following

• Buying Shoes for Eva's Bros - something about the chinese word for Shoe (Hai) means "younger members" (Hai Gee)
  
• My Mum buying a pair of Pants for Steph (Fuu Gwai)
• Stephs parents buying my parents a roast pig (just because)
• Steph and I buying a new bed - no we wont have kids rolling all over our new bed. Fertility isn't a core goal in this stage of our lives.
  
• Groom Games - Steph will have to work his way into the house
• Tea Ceremony - See link
• Bridal Party Games - A possibility dependant on time
  

No doubt there are more, but I think this is enough to keep us going for a full day