Dong Ming - Day 2 (11.25): Wedding Preparations

I must have been tired last night because I ended up sleeping until my phone rang just before 9:00. It was Jennifer and I said I would be ready at 9:30 to meet up with them for breakfast. I showered, changed and got my things together. At 9:30 they came and we went down the street to a small, local restaurant which served a lamb soup and bing combination that was to die for. The weather was cold and the restaurant wasn’t heated so we all huddled around our bowls of hot soup and big plate of bing while steam filled the room.

Steam filling the cold restaurant

After breakfast it was off to the Wang’s home (technically all the Wang’s live there, including Jennifer, so I could say it’s Jennifer and Wang Wei’s home too) to pick up 2nd Cousin for some clothes shopping.

One of the really nice things that Wang Fei is doing (aside from all the OTHER nice things he’s doing), is having two traditional Chinese jackets made for me. He mentioned it the night before during dinner and said that he wasn’t sure what to get me and decided on the clothes, but it was sort of coincidence considering my whole thing about wanting to get a suit tailored in Jinan but not being able to. I wasn’t sure it was kosher accepting a gift from the groom, but I was told by my advice committee (Jennifer and Wang Wei) that it was okay and not to worry about it.

Wang Wei gets measured for a suit

When we went to the tailors we picked out two patterns, one red and one a dark brown, both with brilliant designs and colors, and I was measured for both a thinner inside jacket and a thicker outside jacket. While I was there I inquired about getting myself other suit clothes (paying for it myself, of course) and they said suire. So I also got measured for a suit (with the “Fist of Legend” collar) and an overcoat. We had to go get fabric for my suits (they didn’t have good fabric for that there) but went back to the house and then Wang Fei and 2nd cousin went and did that by themselves.

We hung out at the house for a while until it was time for Lunch. It was quite the production with a long lineup of delicious home- cooked food and dozens of people making merry. Every once in a while someone would also drop by to leave a present for the groom or what not and they’d be welcomed in to the group, given a seat, a drink and some chopsticks and would join in the fun. I was pretty stuffed after that.

Home Made food is the bomb

The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out, greeting guests and preparing for the wedding. To be honest, it seems like the preparations were fairly easy compared to a Western wedding. They brought some tents out to cover people during the ceremony the next morning, and … that was mostly it. I’m sure there were some things going on behind the scenes, but it seemed practically stress-free compared to some of the productions I’ve seen. Simple is definitely the way to go.

Super cute cousin’s daughter

That isn’t to say the wedding wasn’t complex, with a variety of traditions and rituals that go along with it to increase the luck and good fortune of the couple. But for the most part, the traditions seemed pretty fun and interesting and the groom was amazingly calm and smiling the whole day.

After a while I was taken back to my hotel where I rested for a bit, unpacking my things a bit more and relaxing. But soon enough it was time to get picked up for dinner. I ate with Jennifer and Wang Wei, a variety of uncles and aunts, and a few of Lu Laoshi’s old wushu classmates as well. These were all people trained in wushu back in the 70’s as children in the countryside, so I’m guessing it was pretty hard core back then.

Old School Wushu Compatriot on the left, 2nd Aunt the Zhengzhou Police Woman on the right

After dinner (where they ended up da bao-ing a lot of things because none of us could eat all that food) we went back to the Wang residence and I met a few drunk, friendly guys and then filmed the tradition of making the bed for the bride and groom. Basically, two happily married men with the last name Wang have to make their bed in a certain order with certain types of bedding and other various things in order to make sure the couple has good luck. I was the videographer ( along with Jennifer) and took pictures of it so I got a pretty good view of what was going on. Tonight they are having a male born in the year of the Dragon sleep in the bed, which happens to be one of their cousins. Again, for good luck.

Making the bed. The material for the silky sheets were purchased back when Wang Fei was born!

After that Wang Fei, Wang Wei and Jennifer took me back to my hotel and after visiting for a few minutes I got settled and ready for bed. Of course, I worked on my blog for a bit too.

Tomorrow is the big day. I have to be ready at 8:00, which means I should wake up at 7:00. Apparently I’ve been given a fairly important role in the wedding in that I have to go with the groom, his brother and sister-in-law, to pick up the bride and bring her back to the Wang residence for the ceremony (bowing to the ancestors, parents, etc.). And then after that is the reception where I’m sure there will be an overabundance of food and merriment.

I’m going to sleep really good tomorrow night!

Once again, didn’t have time to upload my photos so I will do that tomorrow, time permitting, and link to them from my blog.