Here is the lovely couple. Photo shamelessly borrowed from their wedding website.
I had the best time yesterday coordinating a wedding. The bride was a lovely Chinese-American woman. The groom was Cuban-American. They had a pretty simple church ceremony, but at the reception, their families’ heritages were on full display.
The reception had most of the usual traditions you would expect at a wedding. The bride and groom had their first dance together; the bride tossed her bouquet; and the groom tossed the garter. But after the first dance, the bride changed from her white wedding gown into a gorgeous red dress. (Red is a traditional lucky color in Chinese culture. Many Chinese brides wear red.) She also put on a heavily embroidered Chinese jacket called a kwa and some special jewelry. Then she and her new husband performed a traditional Chinese tea ceremony, which involved them serving tea to their parents and grandparents and receiving gifts from them. Her aunts made the special tea and her uncles read a description so everyone felt involved in the ceremony.
After the tea ceremony, the groom’s family’s culture came to the forefront. The groom’s mother is old friends with the leader of a hot Cuban salsa band. The band played a late-evening set that got the crowd out onto the dance floor to dance salsa, cha-cha, and cumbia. Everyone felt like celebrating–and there are some fine salsa dancers among the groom’s family and friends.
Finally, at the end of the evening, the groom had a surprise for everyone. He’s a big fan of Michael Jackson, and he came out dressed in a full MJ outfit to dance to “Billie Jean.” Let me tell you, this guy had all the moves. The night ended on a high note.
And where was your humble wedding coordinator during all this? I was in two places at once, most of the night. I was lining up the wedding party for their introductions; making sure the best man and matron of honor were in place to make their well-spoken toasts; getting a dad and a mom ready to dance with the bride and groom; moving chairs and tables for the tea ceremony; making sure the bride had changed in time for the tea ceremony and had remembered to put on her garter; telling the band leader when to start playing, and when to stop; keeping the bride from finding out that her new husband was going to do a surprise dance for her; informing the DJ, photographer, and videographer about the next event; working with the banquet hall staff; and making sure everyone was happy. It was a lot of work, but for such nice people, it was a pleasure.
I’m really looking forward to seeing the photos from this very special wedding. I’ll post them as soon as I get them so you can see for yourself how beautiful it was.
Chicago Green Wedding Alliance is established to encourage mindful weddings, commitment ceremonies, and social events by connecting a community of environmentally and socially responsible vendors with the conscious consumer. Members are united in their effort to continually grow and inform their responsible business practices through the support of their like-minded peers.
Technically, yes, it is possible to compost corn plastic. But the best authorities I can find (