The Prelude
Among the things that we love about being wedding photographers in Montreal is the amazing variety of cultures that we get to witness here, especially when we cover ethnic-themed wedding ceremonies. So imagine our delight when we were asked to lend our photographic skills to a traditional Chinese tea wedding ceremony. Even with all this background work that we did to prepare ourselves, there is no way to describe how exhilarating the entire experience of photographing the Chinese-themed wedding is! The Chinese Wedding Tea Ceremony is a custom filled with generations of tradition. The whole idea behind it is a way for the Bride and Groom to thank and pay respect to their parents. The Ceremony also gives a chance for both sides to welcome the new members into their family.
Everything from the way napkins are folded to ward off bad Qi, to the Lotus Seed and Red Date tea served to symbolize sweetness for a sweet relationship and to welcome children into the couple’s lives quickly to the Symbolic Red Envelopes and sayings, everything has a place and its meaning.
Typically the bride serves tea in the morning to her family in a more intimate ceremony where the bride thanks her parents for raising her.
Later on in the day the bride and groom will serve tea to his parents and extended family. The Grooms parents will sit in chairs and the Bride will kneel in front of the Grooms father and the Groom will kneel in front of his mother.
They will say the traditional words: “Thank you for bringing us up. Now we are getting married, we owe it all to you” The Parents drink a small amount of tea and then hand the couple a red envelope often filled with money or jewelry to symbolize good luck.
The tea ceremony goes on to include the members of the extended family and each person is served in an order that has been preserved for generations. The younger members of the family will even serve tea to the bride and groom and in exchange they will give them small gifts.
The vibrant display of colors…
Chinese wedding ceremonies are pre-dominantly defined by the presence of a red color scheme, thought to bring good luck to the couple, as per the Chinese school of thought. Filling each moment with infinite exuberance, the red theme is followed right from the decorations to the ethnic Chinese dress that our bride donned for the wedding ceremony.
The liberal use of red as the defining theme for the décor caught our eye immediately and we found ourselves sketching a mental picture of how alluring the photo session in this ambiance will be. It was, however, the moment we saw our bride in her exotic, bright red traditional wedding outfit that affirmed our expectations of this wedding coverage turning out to be the most unforgettable photo shoots.
Let’s talk about our couple…
Paul and Queci are so in love with each other! couple! Queci’s beautifully designed bridal outfit was indeed a sight to behold! She had accessorized it with an elegantly embroidered black headwear that perfectly complemented her look. With minimalist makeup, she allowed her dress to shine through the entire wedding photography session and as wedding photographers, that was a treat for us to capture.
The presence of Chinese decorative items around the place provided a perfect balance to the pictures and made us look forward to how the rest of the day would turn out to be! But since that is another detailed story, we will be dedicating a whole new post to it. Stay tuned! 
