It was one of the most interesting and unusual weddings in planning and realization. The couple and guests were from the UK, but the bride is of Chinese descent, so it was imperative to split the wedding day into 2 parts: traditional Chinese and modern European.
A chic Sicilian castle was chosen as the venue, located on the seashore and with a breathtaking view of Mount Etna. The castle also had rooms where some of the guests were accommodated. There were several areas for the ceremony and banquet, the couple chose the Arabian Garden with a gazebo with a frontal view of the castle for the ceremony and the indoor Orangerie banquet hall for the wedding dinner, since the wedding was in early April, when the evening can be quite cool.
According to Chinese tradition, weddings are usually celebrated in the spring, so I designed a light spring decoration of the venue, taking into account the bride’s favorite colors – pastel beige, pink and mauve – which could be easily and quickly moved inside the castle in case of bad weather. But it was not needed, April 11, 2022 was sunny, dry and warm without a single drop of rain.
The bride Susie had 2 dresses, the first traditional Chinese Quipao wedding dress with gold embroidered Phoenix on red silk, and a classic lace European wedding dress for the formal ceremony. In the first part of the wedding day, the groomsmen with the groom had to woo the bride by going through a series of obstacles and pranks organized by the bridesmaids’ team. In the Chinese wedding tradition, it is called door games. The bride was “locked” in her room, and her girlfriends stood guard at her door and did not let the groom in until he had passed the whole circle of obstacles. Among the tests were songs, poems, eating sour lemons and red peppers, dried Chinese insects), push-ups and a number of other equally fun activities. By tradition, one could refuse and pay, but no one took advantage of this right, as it was a lot of fun. The bride watched it all live-streamed on her mobile phone. As a result, the groom proved that he was worthy and saw his beloved for the first time.
The Chinese door games were followed by a tea ceremony for the closest, a very important ritual in Chinese culture, when a couple offer tea to relatives from both sides, and in return receives heartfelt wishes for happiness and prosperity, as well as envelopes with valuable gifts.
The classic wedding ceremony turned out to be very intimate, despite the presence of 70-80 guests, with tears of happiness in their eyes and a lot of smiles.
After the ceremony and a light buffet, a surprise was performed to the guests in the form of an aerial acrobatic show, in which the bride also partly participated.
The wedding day ended with a banquet with exquisite Sicilian dishes, a disco with live sax and a Sicilian ice cream stand.
You can read feedback from the couple HERE
Photography and videogrpahy: Salvo Biglio Fotografo
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