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My big fat Beijing wedding

By Raymond Zhou (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-09 10:50

Another couple got to know each other online when she was in Paris learning music and he was in China doing business. They met up one year later, but she didn't feel much chemistry. To woo her, the previously tone-deaf guy took piano lessons secretly. They dated for six years before agreeing to tie the knot.

For their wedding, The Ritz built a special barrel on the stage, hiding him and a piano inside. When the ceremony started, the bride got anxious because she could not find the groom. Just then she heard music. As she stood wondering, the barrel was lifted, revealing who the player was. Imagine how moved she was! (I think they got the idea from the Chopin biopic.)

A lot of newly-weds are particular about certain details such as numbers. But that's not why the couple in the third story chose eight. They dated for eight years before the big day. So, eight became the leitmotif for their nuptial rite. At eight in the morning, by prior arrangement with The Ritz, they got their marriage registered at the government office. Then a Rolls Royce took them around the Olympic venue. Back at the hotel, they continued with their daily workout sessions and then had a massage. The hotel had attendants every step of the way. I'm wondering if they had eight attendants in the retinue.

At the Legendale, some guests bring their feng shui master before ordering the wedding service. One couple from Shanxi ended up booking three rooms all ending with the digits "01". It was not clear whether it was the number or the location of the rooms that was considered auspicious.

Different cultures have different symbols for good luck. For example, white is the color for weddings in Western countries, but here in China it is red. Young couples often clash with their conservative parents about these choices. Hotels in the wedding business have to be sensitive to these cultural and generational nuances to make everyone happy.

Regent once had such a guest who was torn between different opinions. The parents insisted on red as the dominant color and the Westernized youngsters preferred white. The Regent team explained to them that the carpet in the wedding area would be a compromise of purple - both the color of royalty in the West and part of the Chinese saying "purple air from the east", meaning great fortune. Both parties were satisfied.

Customs differ even within China. In Beijing the wedding banquet is held at noon. If you move it to nighttime, it implies it's a second marriage. But in southern China, this implication does not exist and many prefer dinner as it segues naturally to the Chinese ritual of nao dong fang, a kind of bachelor party depicted at great length in Ang Lee's comedy The Wedding Banquet.

"We hope Beijingers' habits will evolve so that dinner will also be a choice. That way, we can have two wedding parties in a single day," says Den Navarro, a manager at Regent.

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