Ceremony and Banquet

Candy plays several small but essential roles in any traditional Chinese wedding. Typically, candy is exchanged between the families as a traditional symbol of happiness and fruitful offspring. Wedding candy is also often handed out or displayed at the reception feast, or offered as a wedding favor to the guests.

The reception feast is the most important aspect of a modern Chinese wedding. Usually extravagant and opulent, receptions are a chance for the families (especially the groom’s family who, traditionally, pays for the feast) to show off their wealth and happiness about the new marriage.

Music is incorporated into many aspects of a Chinese wedding. More traditionally styled weddings opt for more traditional musical genres, while modern weddings may also feature jazz music or pop songs sung in Mandarin or Cantonese, depending on where the couple is from.

Food is one of the most important elements of Chinese culture, so it of course plays a crucial role in any traditional Chinese wedding. As the wedding banquet is the time for the parents and families of the bride and groom to celebrate the new marriage and display their wealth and happiness, Chinese wedding feasts are usually lavish and exorbitant.

Every traditional Chinese wedding includes the roles of bridesmaid and best man. Chinese couples, like Western couples, usually choose one or several good friends to be their attendants during their wedding. The bridesmaids and groomsmen have many duties and play an important part in keeping the wedding festivities going, as well as helping and honoring the bride and groom as they get married.