I had to get back to Taichung because I had been invited to attend a wedding on Saturday evening. I was invited to the wedding by one of my teacher friends Helen and her husband Joe. While I did not know the bride or groom, Joe was the best friend of the groom’s father so extending me an invitation was no problem.
The first thing that I can tell you is that Taiwanese weddings are huge! There were at least 400 people at the wedding dinner and they sat at more than fifty tables. It quickly became apparent that American and Taiwanese weddings are very different from each other. For example, there was no dancing during or after the dinner. Instead, guests were invited to go up on stage and sing karaoke while we were all eating our way through a twelve course dinner. The dinner was excellent, but it had some controversial seafood dishes. In Taiwan's culture, a wedding is an opportunity for a family to showcase its wealth and generosity. One of the ways they do that is by spending a lot of money on special foods, like shark fin soup.
Another difference is the Taiwanese custom of giving no gifts and only “Hongbao” or red envelopes. The red envelopes contain money from the wedding guests and are given to the bride and groom. The amount of money that you are expected to give to the couple is dependent on your relationship with the couple and their family. For example, since Joe was good friends with the groom’s father I am sure that he and Helen made a significant gift of money. Have you ever been to a wedding? What gifts did your family give the bride and groom?
At the end of the dinner, the bride and groom thanked all of the guests as they left and gave us sweets or candy.
