A Vietnamese Wedding

Mr Dung ( pronounced yum) our caretaker at the apartment is great we get on with him s and his family so well, despite the language barrier, and we were invited to his son’s wedding.   We got the invitation four days before the wedding – none of this months in advance type thing, apparently that is usual here.   It was on a Sunday at 11am so I could work and have have enough time to get changed and go.

The entrance to the wedding

Weddings here are big business – hell we live across the road from a six story restaurant which is exclusively  for Weddings and there is a whole row of restaurants that are only for Wedding ceremonies not for the general public round the corner.   What was nice about this wedding was that it was at Mr Dung’s house ( pronounced Yum) a more intimate setting.    He is not a wealthy man but the custom here is that the groom’s family pay for everything, so goodness knows how this has affected his family economics as they didn’t skimp on anything.

a packed house ( well an awning outside of the house) there were a couple of hundred people there

Chou’s family came to pick us up as Mr Dung (Yum!) lives outside of Da Nang, and she was wearing jeans!  I know that it is acceptable that  people don’t dress up for weddings but it seems so wrong,   I took the piss out of her for hours after!.   We got there and being the only Westerner I got so much attention it was a bit embarrassing to be honest.   In Vietnamese culture you give the Bride and Groom money rather than gifts and they made me go on stage with Hwa to give them the envelope so they could get pictures- phew I was so nervous.   I was going to give them a million Dong which is about $50 but i was told to only give them 500,000d  - I snuck in  750,000d.  I like giving money as gifts so they can really get what they want.

Vietnamese Champagne - not so good

So after selected families had their picture taken on stage with the Bride and Groom the food was served – lots of it,  chicken, huge prawns, soup, rice, fruit, and a couple of dishes that didn’t look too appetising to the western eye.  During all this the happy couple came round to every table to say hello and greet their guests, I’m not sure they managed to eat anything.   The beer and soda was flowing at this point, and as I was the only woman drinking our table soon filled up with men trying to get me drunk.  Mot, Hai, Ba …. something else in Vietnamese and you have to cheers and drink.   I showed restraint ( it was before noon) and stopped drinking too rapidly.

The happy families along with a priest ( next to the bride)

The bride all dressed in traditional Vietnamese costume was absolutely beautiful but she hardly smiled, apparently thats just the way she is – she wanted to get married.

Neu ( Mr Dung's daughter) didn't smile in any pictures..

So the last hour of the wedding was karaoke,  there was a live band and anyone who wanted to sing could.  Some were good some were downright awful but it was all over by 1.30pm   it really was a great wedding.

I love old Vietnamese ladies ... these are the grandma's, mothers and mother in laws so cute,lovely, and friendly